Press Release
Charities should plan ahead now to demonstrate public benefit
31 January 2008: Charities should start planning ahead now to ensure they can demonstrate their public benefit, was the advice given at the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) Charity Secretaries Conference held in London yesterday. Speaking at the conference, Nick Brooks, Head of Not for Profit at Kingston Smith LLP, said that charities must ensure they were clear about the differences between their aims and objects and be able to illustrate that the public benefits they provide arise from carrying out the charity’s aims. The recommendation comes ahead of the requirement to start reporting on public benefit from March 2009.
‘All charities will face difficulties if they don’t give consideration as to what their public benefits are, and clarify their aims, before their new financial year starts.’ said Louise Thomson, Head of Not for Profit Policy at the ICSA ‘For the new financial reporting periods starting after 31st March 2008, they are going to have to demonstrate this aspect in their annual report in order to satisfy the new regime’
The ICSA conference, which was chaired by David Brindle, Public Services editor of the Guardian, was an inaugural event for company secretaries working in the not-for-profit sector. It brought together speakers from the Office of the Third Sector, the Charity Commission and the CIC Regulator in order to provide an update on the amount of legislation currently affecting the third sector.
Representatives from the three regulators in the UK, Scotland and Northern Ireland shared a platform at the conference and stated their aims to work together constructively to minimise the bureaucratic burden on charities operating across the different jurisdictions. This commitment was particularly relevant for the introduction of the CIO, which is currently being developed by the Charity Commission.
The latest in the series of ICSA’s best practice guides, which looks at improving accountability in charitable organisations, was also launched at the event.
A further conference is planned for later this year.
For further information please contact pressoffice@icsa.co.uk or call 020 7612 7062
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