Military charities

We can help you chose the right structure for your organisation, tailor your constitution to meet your needs and the needs of the Armed Forces community and registering your organisation with the Charity Commission.

We also advise on the establishment of social enterprises and other not-for-profit organisations that benefit the wider community, including not-for-profit companies and Community Interest Companies (CICs).

We frequently advise on the conversion of unincorporated bodies into corporate structures, so trustees can benefit from limited liability. This includes the transfer of assets and liabilities to the new organisation (including TUPE transfers of employees) and updating the constitution to comply with modern charity law. This can be particularly relevant where regiments are being reorganised.

Effective governance is key in ensuring both regulatory compliance and the ultimate success of your organisation.

We can help tailor your governance structures and policy documents so that they ensure best practice but also reflect the practical workings of your organisation. Many of us are ourselves trustees of charities, meaning we understand the practicalities of governance and how this is put into practice.

Governance and policy are an area that the Charity Commission expect charities to keep in constant review. Please therefore do get in touch to discuss our fixed fee arrangements for governance reviews of your military charity.

Military charities are often in the public eye and there are no guarantees that your charity will never face a crisis.

We have extensive experience of assisting charities in difficulties to provide sensitive and timely advice and how to work with regulators to secure the best possible outcome. We help charities with Serious Incident Reports (SIRs), internal investigations and complaints as well as dealing with Charity Commission investigations if they occur.

Our primary aim is always to help clients avoid a crisis in the first place, and therefore we can help draft robust policies, procedures and governance frameworks to ensure that if an incident occurs this can be dealt with in a way which helps reduce any negative impact to a charity’s reputation.

Charity trading can be an excellent way to raise funds, but if it’s not linked to your primary charitable purpose, you will need to think about establishing a trading subsidiary. We have extensive experience helping charities structure and manage their trading activity and can take you through the options to decide on the best approach for your operations.

We have a particular specialism in advising charities that hold substantial property assets and the complex historic trust arrangements that these can entail.
We are experienced in dealing with property issues that are bespoke to charities, such as first registrations of land, permanent endowment issues, Charity Commission Schemes in relation to property, mortgages of charity land as well as offering a full range of property and planning services to charities. You can visit the section here.