The Charity Commission has recently updated its model Articles of Association and Trust Deed for charities. Several of the changes have been made so that the governing documents for charitable companies and charitable trusts will be consistent with the model constitutions for Charitable Incorporated Organisations when they are rolled out (hopefully later this year).
The amended governing documents can be viewed on the Charity Commission website but the main changes are as follows:-
provisions have been included to allow a minority of trustees to receive financial benefits as beneficiaries of their charities. These provisions were contained in the previous model documents but now expressly apply to only a minority of the trustees (consistent with the relevant provisions in the Charities Act 1993);
provisions have been included to encourage charity trustees to try, in good faith, to resolve internal disputes by agreement or by mediation before resorting to litigation; and
provisions have been included to allow notices pursuant to the articles to be given by being placed on a website if the members give their consent to receive notices in this way. Please note that giving notices electronically requires the consent of the members and cannot be done without this.
The Charity Commission says that these changes are designed to allow trustees to run their charities in a flexible way, while being guided and advised on what is good operational practice.
If you would like more information or advice or wish to have your constitution documents reviewed in light of the above changes, please contact Mark Lewis.
