Developing Your Charity or Community Group

A respected local voluntary sector organisation which understands its neighbourhood and supports other community groups to collaborate with Council/ Health partners to address local priorities and needs.

A Community Anchor helps local groups to make great things happen.

They do this by helping local groups to:

• Get Support – that will help them grow sustainably, and access resources, information, advice and opportunities that can help them do this.
• Connect – with each other, local people who need their activities and services, and key local stakeholders and decision-makers (such as local Councillors, Kirklees Council, GPs, NHS trusts and community health services) who can help and support them.
• Unite – in order to grow stronger by creating partnerships, trust and collaboration

There are five Lead Anchors organisations, each covering one of five areas of Kirklees – Huddersfield, Batley and Spen, Dewsbury, Denby Dale and Kirkburton, and the Holme and Colne Valleys.  (We’ve split the ‘Rural’ area of Kirklees into two as it’s a huge area to cover with several distinct communities.)

The Lead Anchors will be supported by a number of Local Anchor organisations, who will help them cover the whole of their area.

Huddersfield

• Lead Anchor: Local Services 2 You (LS2Y), Contact – Lisa Newbold: 01484 516444, lisanewbold@ls2y.co.uk 
• Local Anchors: The Branch, Locorum, Thornton Lodge Action Group, Huddersfield Mission

Dewsbury

• Lead Anchor: S2R Create Space, Contact – Paula Wood: 07933 353 487, paula@s2r.org.uk
• Local Anchors: Ravensthorpe Community Centre and one other to be confirmed

Batley & Spen

• Lead Anchor: Yorkshire Children’s Centre, Contact – Ryan Cross: 01924 479082, ryan.cross@yccuk.org.uk
• Local Anchors: Indian Muslim Welfare Society (IMWS), plus one other to be confirmed

Denby Dale & Kirkburton (MAST PCN)

• Lead Anchor: TIME Together (powered by the Denby Dale Centre), Contact – Paul Jones: 01484 860077, paul.jones@ddc.org.uk
• Local Anchors: to be confirmed

Holme & Colne Valleys (Valleys PCN)

• Lead Anchor: Valleys Anchor Network, Contact – Duggs Carre, 07973 961159, talktoduggs@pm.me
• Local Anchors: to be confirmed

As a community group or voluntary group, it’s likely that you fall into the category of ‘unincorporated group or association’. If your aims are wholly charitable, then you are an ‘unregistered charity’. This is the Charity Commission’s list of accepted charitable aims or purposes:

• relieving poverty
• education
• religion
• health
• saving lives
• citizenship or community development
• the arts
• amateur sport
• human rights
• religious or racial harmony
• the protection of the environment
• animal welfare
• the efficiency of the armed forces, police, fire or ambulance services

If your income reaches £5000 then you need to register as a charity with the Charity Commission and you can follow their Step by Step Guide to do that. Once you’ve done this, your organisation is subject to Charity Law. This is the responsibility of your Board of Trustees.

Please note, some charities are exempt from registering (but do still have to adhere to Charity Law). These are mainly educational establishments, museums/institutions of national importance, and registered societies (as they come under a different bit of law). There are also excepted charities that only have to register if their income goes over £100,000, and this includes Scout and Guide groups, armed forces funds and student unions. It did also include churches and chapels of certain Christian denominations, but this exception will end at the end of 2021.

See the Charity Commissions list of Exempt Charities and the Charity Commissions list of Excepted Charities.

In theory, you can be any type of organisation that you want to be, depending on what you want to do, including a:

• registered charity – registered with the Charity Commission and subject to Charity Law. Has a board of trustees
• limited (private) company – registered with Companies House and subject to Company Law (but may be registered with the Charity Commission too). Has a board of directors
• community interest company (CIC) – a special type of limited company that benefits the community rather than it’s shareholders. This is a good model for a ‘social enterprise’. You must register with both Companies House and the CIC Regulator, and you are subject to both Company Law and accountable to the CIC Regulator. Has a board of directors
• co-operative – registered with the Financial Conduct Authority because this model has members that hold shares and have voting rights. Ideal for running a community building or asset such as a pub, grocery shop or care service where making a profit for owners/shareholders isn’t the main aim.
• sole trader – an individual running and trading as a business.
• partnership – a company where partners share the risks and responsibilities. They share the company profits and each partner pays their own tax on those profits.

Please note though – TSL Kirklees does not offer support to private businesses. We only work with third sector organisations, and so you will need to be an unincorporated association, registered charity or social enterprise to receive our help. For business support, please contact Kirklees Council’s Business Support Team.

There are lots of different legal structures, defined by law, and sometimes there are only very subtle differences between them, and it can be confusing. If you’re not sure, then it’s always good to get some proper legal advice. Some of the more common options are:

• A Registered Charity – there are 4 types of charity in England:
  1. A charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) – TSL Kirklees is a CIO. When you become a CIO, you are a registered charity from day 1.
  2. A charitable company limited by guarantee – this is a type of company without shareholders, which is also registered as a charity
  3. An unincorporated association – the sort of organisation you probably are now (as a community or voluntary group), but you must officially register as a charity if you income goes over £5000 per year.
  4. A charitable trust – an organisation that holds assets for charitable purposes. This could be a building, land or money that’s donated to good causes.
• A Social Enterprise
  1. A Community Interest Company (CIC) – a special type of limited company that’s set up for the benefit of the community rather than shareholders. This type of company can be know as a ‘social enterprise’, but this isn’t a legally recognised term.
  2. A Company Limited by Guarantee – a company without shareholders
  3. A Limited Company – a company with shareholders
  4. A Community Benefit Society – a type of co-operative business that’s run for the benefit of the community
  5. A Co-operative Society – a type of co-operative business that’s run to meet the social, economic and cultural needs of it’s members.

If your income mainly comes from grant funding and/or donations, then you are a charity. A social enterprise is generally a business with a social or community aim and so has to have a way of earning money through trading or selling services. The profits, or a proportion of them, can then be reinvested in social or community projects.

Just to confuse things though, charities can earn money through trading too or charities can own companies that trade and make profits that are given to the charity to help fund it’s work – think of charity shops, charity cafes etc.

You can find out more about social enterprises and the different options for becoming one on our Social Enterprise page.