Well, that’s a good question. We receive many enquiries about how much money is required to start a charity. The answer is, as much money as you can raise. The difficulty comes when trying register with the Charity Commission, as the Charities Act 2006 requires that to become a registered charity you need to have an income of £5000.
This doesn’t stop you starting a charity though and receiving all the financial benefits of a registered charity. As long as you have a suitable “governing document” and objectives that are “exclusively charitable” and demonstrate “public benefit” then, in law, you are a charity.
HMRC (the tax man) will then recognise you as a charity and you can receive all the tax benefits as a registered charity. Once you have started your charity you will be able to claim Gift Aid.
So, what is Gift Aid. Well, it’s money from the tax man, for free!! For every pound that is donated to you by your supporters , the charity can claim the tax back that person has paid, which means for your charity every £10 that is given to you, the tax man will give you and extra £2.50.
There are also other tax breaks available to charities.
So, what happens after we have started our charity and we achieve the magical £5000? Well, the good news is you can then apply to the Charity Commission to register as a charity with your own registered number. In fact, not only can you apply, the law says you have to apply.
So, how do you start your charity? Well, quite simply you can contact us and we can do it all, making it very simple for you. We can provide your governing document, with exclusively charitable objects that demonstrate public benefit. And what does this cost you? Well, we can provide a thoroughly professional and expert service for just £295, and the even better news is once you have raised £5000 we will deal with the fiddly application process with the Charity Commission for just another £100.
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