PTAs and PTFAs: running the committee properly
Governance for parent fundraising groups: whether you need to register in England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, what being a trustee means, handling money and Gift Aid, raffles and licences, and the AGM handover.
Read the guide →Northern Ireland charities: CCNI and what is changing
Why every Northern Ireland charity registers for now, the agreed registration threshold, annual reporting by income band, and what the Charities (Amendment) Bill would change.
Read the guide →Closing a charity properly
The steps for winding up or merging a small charity in the right order: OSCR consent, Charity Commission and CCNI notifications, Companies House strike-off, transferring what is left and the final accounts. Includes a 15-step checklist.
Read the guide →AI in trustee meetings: what small charities need to decide
What the board should agree before an AI note-taker joins its meetings: notice, lawful basis, confidential items, checking the draft and deleting transcripts. Comes with a free one-page meeting protocol.
Read the guide →Everything changing for small charities in 2026 and 2027
Four separate changes are landing between now and 2027, each with its own dates. A one-minute triage table to work out which apply to you, then what to put on the agenda of your next three board meetings.
Read the round-up →The treasurer's report: what the board actually needs
The whole board is responsible for the charity's finances, not the treasurer alone, which only works if the rest of the board can understand what they are shown. Why the bank balance is not a finance report, the restricted funds point small boards most often get wrong, and a one-page structure that gets trustees asking real questions.
Read the guide →You've just registered as a charity. What happens now?
Registration goes through, the emails stop, and nobody sends you a manual. What to get in place before your first board meeting, the records that stop being optional, the four policies that matter in year one, your first deadlines, and what can safely wait until year two.
Read the guide →How to set up a charity: a step-by-step guide
Setting up a charity is a sequence of decisions, and taking them in the right order makes the registration itself largely administrative. The nine steps for England and Wales, with notes on where Scotland and Northern Ireland differ.
Read the guide →CIO, charitable company or trust? Choosing a structure
The decision that sets who is personally liable, who regulates you, and how much administration you carry forever. The four structures compared, what should tip the balance for a new charity, and why changing later is real work.
Read the guide →Scottish charities: OSCR, SCIOs and the 2023 reforms
Most charity guidance online is written for England and Wales and quietly assumes it. The Scottish position: no income threshold, OSCR's charity test, single and two-tier SCIOs, and what changed when trustee names and unredacted accounts went public on 9 March 2026.
Read the guide →New charity thresholds from 30 September 2026
Higher audit and examination thresholds in England and Wales: audit over £1.5m, independent examination over £40k, receipts-and-payments accounts up to £500k for charities that are not companies. The full before-and-after table.
Read the guide →The new Charities SORP 2026, explained
The charity accounting rulebook has been rewritten: a three-tier framework, leases on the balance sheet, and an explicit going-concern statement. What trustees need to ask about.
Read the guide →Martyn's Law and your village or community hall
The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 will bring many community venues into scope around 2027. Who's covered, what the standard tier really asks, and what to do in 2026.
Read the guide →Keeping your name off the public register
Trustee names are published in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and Scotland only started in March 2026. What each regulator shows, the two fixes that cost nothing, and how to apply for your details to be withheld if being named would put someone at risk.
Read the guide →Companies House ID verification: what charitable-company trustees must do
Trustees of charitable companies are also directors, and identity verification is now mandatory, with existing directors' deadlines set by their confirmation statement through 2026.
Read the guide →Charity law across the UK: England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland
There's no single "UK charity law": three regulators, three Acts, and real differences on registering and reporting. Who you answer to, the cross-border trap, and what changes in 2026.
Read the guide →The six trustee duties, explained like a human
CC3 without the fog: what each duty means on an ordinary Tuesday, with examples of getting it right and wrong, and the reassurance about personal liability nobody gives you.
Read the guide →Conflicts of interest, and how a small board handles them
Declare, step out, write it down: the four steps both regulators expect, a model minute you can copy, and the trustee-benefit rule that a declaration alone does not satisfy.
Read the guide →Your annual return, step by step
What the Charity Commission asks, what changes at £10k and £25k income, the new thresholds from 30 September 2026, and the dates that matter for your year end.
Read the guide →Recruiting trustees when nobody replies
79% of boards in NCVO’s survey carry a vacancy. Role descriptions people answer, free places to advertise, and the process that turns a maybe into a yes.
Read the guide →How long should we keep minutes and papers?
Charity law says keep things; UK GDPR says don't keep them forever. A ready-to-adopt retention schedule that satisfies both, in one board meeting.
Read the guide →Charity board minutes template — with a plain-English guide
A Charity Commission–friendly minutes layout, free to download, plus what minutes must (and needn't) record and five habits that make them painless.
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