when is a Trust not a Trust?

[BAJR Host]

Wish Uo1 was here now

If you call your organisation a Trust.. do you have certain legal obligations you must fulfil.. ie register with charities commission OR provide details of your accounts publicly? If you use the neam Trust, what are the implications... for example, could I call BAJR a Trust, if it had members, a committee etc.. :face-huh:

?When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.?
William Blake

[monty]

mmmm....tricky one this .. i always assumed charitable and educational status ?????

[kevin wooldridge]

Wikipedia tells you all about this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charitable_trust



With peace and consolation hath dismist, And calm of mind all passion spent...

[BAJR Host]

But can you be a trust and not a charity?

?When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.?
William Blake

[RedEarth]

quote:Originally posted by BAJR Host

But can you be a trust and not a charity?

?When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.?
William Blake

I'm probably wrong but I think that a trust has to be a charity - is trust not just a shortened version of 'Charitable Trust'? Otherwise something with a committee would be a society! I'd be interested to know myself.

[Manuport]

The following text is extracted from the booklet GBF2 Company Names as issued by Companies House and covers the specific circumstances in which the word 'Trust' can be used in a company name:

trust - the word 'trust' can be used to suit a range of different situations and the requirements for such trusts are explained below:

o charitable trust - these companies need to have charitable objects and a non-profit distribution clause in the memorandum of association. We will ask you for confirmation that you have made, or will make, an application for registration as a charity with the Charity Commission. Scottish companies wishing to use the expression 'charitable trust' will need to apply to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in Edinburgh as the Charity Commission has no jurisdiction in Scotland.

o educational trust or artistic trust - such companies should have a non-profit distribution clause in the memorandum of association and the name should reflect the nature of the trust. The promoters should be of high standing in the field.

o enterprise trust - these companies must have a non-profit distribution clause in the memorandum of association and they must be able to provide evidence of support from, for example, local authorities, businesses or banks.

o family trust - such companies must be non-profit distributing and the objects must reflect the nature of the trust. Names of family trusts will usually be approved if the name as a whole identifies the company as a family trust.

o financial trust or investment trust - if you wish to use these expressions, you will need to provide a written assurance that substantial paid-up share capital or other funds will be achieved within a reasonable period after incorporation.

o pensions or staff trust - the names of such companies must include the name of the parent company, and the objects of the company must include the operation of pension funds.

o unit trust - if you wish to use this as part of your company name, you should seek the advice of Companies House in Cardiff or if the company is to be registered in Scotland, Companies House in Edinburgh or via our website at http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk.

I trust this is clear?


The Devil to pay and no pitch hot

[gonetopot]

Great work Krafse.

From this can we assume the archaeolgical units who use the word Trust are in fact Charitable or Educational Trusts. It would be very interesting to see if archaeolgical units could be run as Enterprise Trust, though I haven't come across this set-up before.

The unit I work for used to be a Trust, though I am unsure which, but had to stop when it became clear it if it took on enough developer funded work to balance the books and be able to afford to do educational/outreach work then the level of educaltional/outreach work was not sufficient to satisfy those who ruled on charitable status. Hope that made sense.

I would be very interested to know or speculate on what practical/day-to-day measures Units that are still Trusts must do to justify their status (rather than just register with the appropriate bodies. I don't intend to criticise any units working practices but am curious as to how units not attached to local government or larger sector consultancies might aim to operate in the future.

[monty]

There is at least one Trust who dont appear to let big profits get in the way and just about cover the educational side of things........:face-stir:

[voice of reason]

Not another knee-jerk 'archaeological charities aren't really charities' bash - this was dealt with ad nauseam in a previous thread - the practice of archaeology is considered a charitable aim per se by the Charity Commission (sse item f below) - the misconception that you have to 'do education' is plain wrong. Surplus (not profit, as charities are not-for-profit) is considered perfectly acceptable and indeed necessary to the operation of a charity.

The Charities Act sets out the following descriptions of charitable purposes:

a) the prevention or relief of poverty;
b) the advancement of education;
c) the advancement of religion;
d) the advancement of health or the saving of lives;
e) the advancement of citizenship or community development;
f) the advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science;
g) the advancement of amateur sport;
h) the advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation or the promotion of religious or racial harmony or equality and diversity;
i) the advancement of environmental protection or improvement;
j) the relief of those in need, by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage;
k) the advancement of animal welfare;
l) the promotion of the efficiency of the armed forces of the Crown, or of the efficiency of the police, fire and rescue services or ambulance services;
m) other purposes currently recognised as charitable and any new charitable purposes which are similar to another charitable purpose.

[BAJR Host]

actually.. all this is intresting... and has nothing to do with knocking arch charities.. i am just looking at whether a group can call itself a trust... without some legal and publicly accessible finicial transparancy.

?When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.?
William Blake