Write your charitable purposes

This step you will help you to set out in writing what you want to do as a charity.  Your purposes explain:

• WHAT your charity is going to do
• WHERE you want to do it
• WHO will benefit
• And HOW

Before you start, think about the following:

Think about WHAT

What is your charity set up to achieve?  Make sure that the WHAT is an allowed charitable purpose. You can find the full list of the 13 allowed charitable purposes.

Think about WHO

A registered charity must benefit a significant section of the public (or animals). This is called ‘public benefit’.  Of course, you can specify which section of the public, like ‘those in poverty’; or ‘children with rare diseases’ (or children with a specific rare disease), or the homeless.  And you can specify which animals – elephants or tigers or dogs or cats or a rare breed. The point is, your charity must be open to anyone or any animal that fits the description of your charitable purpose. It must be public and not private.

Think about WHERE

If your purposes don’t say where you plan to operate, the assumption might be made that it will include the whole world. That might raise questions about your capacity to manage or deliver services on a worldwide basis.  It makes better sense to think about the geography in which you will operate: a town, a county, a region, a country.  If it is only a local area, it might be helpful to use wording like ‘…anywhere in the district of (enter name of your local authority area) and especially (enter name of locality).  This gives you the opportunity to expand at some later stage.

Think about the HOW

This is about what your charity will DO to tackle the problem of WHAT it was set up to achieve. Try to be as clear as you can without being too restrictive. See the QUICK TIP below.

We suggest that you look at examples before writing your own charitable purposes.  

You can also follow the Charity Commission’s guidance on how to write charitable purposes.

If those Charity Commission options don’t fit with what you want to do, you might find it useful to look at the objects (purposes) of charities that are already registered.  You can find charities doing similar things on the Charity Commission website using their advanced search tool.

You can use this to narrow down your search by area, activities, classifications, or the year the charity was registered, for example. Then, when you have a list of charities to look at:

1. 1. click on the link to a charity
2. 2. click on the ‘Governing Document’ tab on the left hand side
3. 3. there you will find the charity’s objects.

Choosing a name for your charity is the fun part, but don’t rush into it. Firstly, there are some rules.

• You can’t use the same name as another charity – search the charity register to double check.
• The name of your charity shouldn’t suggest that you do something that you don’t.
• You can’t use words you don’t have permission to use, such as a trade mark or ‘royal’.
• You can’t use words like ‘British’ unless you really do cover the whole of Britain.
• If your organisation is a CIO, you need Companies House to approve the use of certain words in your name.
• You can’t use any words which are offensive.
• You can’t register initials as your name, but you can use initials (abbreviations) as an additional name. For example, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

Secondly, you don’t want to make a decision you later regret. You may want to avoid names that are difficult to pronounce or a name that is patronising to your beneficiaries.

Read the Charity Commission’s guidance on how to choose a charity name. Make sure to take your time!