The Revitalising Trusts Programme was set up in 2018 by the Charity Commission, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to help those charities that are inactive or ineffective.
The programme works with charities such as UK Community Foundations (UKCF) for charities operating in England and Community Foundation in Wales (CFW) for charities operating in Wales.
Which charities can get support?
The Revitalising Trusts Programme will contact charities that have been identified as being inactive or ineffective:
o Inactive – charities have either not submitted the Annual Return for 5 years or they have reported nil income and nil expenditure for 5 years.
o Ineffective – charities are up to date with Annual Return submissions but have spent less than 30% of its combined income over the last 5 years.
There might be a number of reasons why charities find themselves in the above categories, such as:
o Struggling to find new trustees.
o Struggling to identify suitable beneficiaries.
o Struggling to spend income in furtherance of the objects.
o Struggling to find time to run the charity, or
o Struggling to access funds in the charity’s bank account.
How can the Revitalising Trusts Programme help your charity?
The programme can help trustees to ensure their charity’s funds can be used in furtherance of its objects and for the public benefit.
Some options available are:
o Transfer its assets to another similar charity – How to transfer charity assets to another charity
o Close down, or ‘wind up’ if there are no assets remaining – How to close a charity
o Change its purposes to work more effectively – How to make changes to your charity’s governing document (CC36)
For any trustees struggling to access funds in the bank account, the Commission might be able to use its powers to direct the bank to transfer the funds.
For further information about the Revitalising Trusts Programme, please visit the GOV.UK website.
