Charity and NGO
We have extensive experience of advising charities and NGOs. While charities are subject to charity law and trustees have particular legal duties, we also appreciate that many charities are complex businesses that need advice on a range of commercial, legal, governance and risk issues. With our complementary skills in governance, finance, international development and social enterprise, we are particularly interested in organisations and projects that seek to use innovative structures and funding mechanisms to achieve social goals.
Issues we can help with include:
- Use of a suitable legal structure to reduce risk of personal liability
- Setting up a charity or not-for-profit organisation
- Updating your constitution
- Establishing and operating trading subsidiaries
- Legal audit/health check
- Grant agreements and funding contracts
- Negotiations with the Charity Commission
- Merging your charity
- Employment issues
- Trustee duties and responsibilities
- Managing public and donor funding
- Winding up your charity
Case studies
Enterprise for Development
Established a charitable company limited by guarantee and registered a charity whose mission is to contribute to the achievement of inclusive economic growth and elimination of poverty by promoting socially and environmentally sustainable private and social enterprise.
Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust
We advised the charity on the terms of grant and loan funding arrangements with related charity Joseph Rowntree Foundation, including advice on constitutional documents and negotiation of grant and loan agreements.
Children’s Food Trust
We advised the charity on a range of commercial and governance issues, including establishment of a community interest company (CIC) trading subsidiary, registration with the Scottish charity regulator, employment and intellectual property issues.
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