Applying for Charitable Status

5 August 2010

I thought Friends of the Earth local groups were charities?

Local groups aren't automatically charities, nor can they use Friends of the Earth EWNI's charity number for their own purposes. This is because local groups are independent, autonomous organisations linked to Friends of the Earth England Wales and Northern Ireland (EWNI) via the Partnership Agreement.

Your group can apply for charitable status from the Charity Commission, but it's a fairly lengthy and complex process and usually you'd also have to have a specific purpose for doing so (e.g. setting up an educational project) because political campaigning isn't classed as a charitable aim. You also now need the consent of Friends of the Earth EWNI to apply for charitable status under clause B16 of the Partnership Agreement.

Why do we need the consent of Friends of the Earth to apply for charitable status?

The Board of Friends of the Earth has requested that any local group or network wishing to apply for charitable status must first get their permission to do so and then allow them to closely monitor the process of application. This is because the Board has a responsibility to protect the reputation of Friends of the Earth EWNI.

The Charity Commission will consider any application by a group with the name of Friends of the Earth to be closely associated to the functioning of the charity of Friends of the Earth Trust, and a new application or any issues surrounding an application by a group may result in an investigation of Friends of the Earth Trust.

We've decided we want to apply to the Charity Commission for charitable status. What do we do now?

With effect from March 2009, clause B16 of the Partnership Agreement specifies that local groups must not apply for charitable status without the consent of Friends of the Earth. If you wish to apply for consent, please contact the Activism Support Coordinator on 0113 389 9952 or via email to discuss the process.

The clause also requires groups to allow Friends of the Earth to actively monitor the process of application if consent to apply is granted. The Activism Support Coordinator will discuss with you how this will happen in practice if you are granted consent to apply, but at the very least, it will include:

• notifying us of each stage of the application;
• providing us with a copy of all correspondence between your group and the Charity Commission when submitted or received; and
• informing us of the outcome of the application once known.

Find out more about the actual process of applying for charitable status by contacting the Charity Commission.

Our group or project has had charitable status for some time. Do we need to apply to Friends of the Earth for consent?

Clause B16 was added to the Partnership Agreement in March 2009 and came into immediate effect. However, it is not a retrospective clause - i.e. if your group already had charitable status, whether in full or in part (e.g. for a specific project), before March 2009, you don't need to apply for retrospective consent from Friends of the Earth Trust. The clause only applies to future applications.

We want to set up a bank account for our group. Do we need a charity number to do this?

No, your group doesn't need to be a charity in order to set up a bank account. Instead you are a voluntary group (legally classed as an "unincorporated association") and should be able to open a community group style account relatively simply. We can provide letters of authorisation and/or proof of identity if required - contact your Network Developer if you need these.