[Osmf-talk] Community Interest Company

[Peter Miller]

On 18 Aug 2009, at 17:31, David Earl wrote:

> On 18/08/2009 16:09, Jonathan Bennett wrote:
>> One possible problem is that CICs cannot carry out "political"
>> activities[4], which campaigning for release of public data could be
>> seen as. I've tried wading through the legalese of the regulations to
>> see if this is the case, and there does seem to be a clause that says
>> such activities are allowed as long as they're "incidental", but  
>> IANAL.
>
> The same is true of charities, but the rules are much more relaxed  
> than
> they used to be. You can campaign for political change that will  
> further
> the aims of the organisation, but the campaigning can't be an aim in
> itself. Campaigns can't be indefinite either: they need to have a  
> goal.
>
> Charitable status is on top of whatever organisational structure you
> might choose for an organisation, and basically gives certain
> concessions (like tax breaks) in return for the organisation doing a
> public good, defined fairly generously by the rules.
>
> Charitable status also gives access to many sources of grant funding
> that you can't otherwise get. Funders often use charitable status as  
> an
> indication that the commissioners have given a stamp of authority to  
> the
> validity of the organisation.

For the record, it is possible for non-charities to receive charitable  
funds as long as the project done with a charitable 'partner'. The  
OSMF has already received at least £6K of charitable funds which came  
via the Campaign for Better Transport here in the UK about 2 years  
ago. They would be very supportive of additional relevant projects  
that supported sustainable transport. All they need is a project that  
is compatible with their charitable aims who they can trust to use the  
funds appropriately. There are other charities that might be more  
appropriate for other activities in other situations, for example the  
funds for Gaza photography went through a different charity as that  
job wasn't compatible with CBT's objectives.



Regards,


Peter


>
> David
>
>
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