Finding support to complete a UK charity registration application

  • Thread starter Thread starter TensorCalculus
  • Start date Start date
AI Thread Summary
A nonprofit organization focused on providing free hackathons for teenagers in the UK faced rejection in its application to become a registered charity. The rejection stemmed from a lack of clarity regarding the organization's charitable purpose and how its activities would deliver public benefit. The application did not adequately explain the practical implementation of its events or provide a detailed framework for ensuring safety and appropriateness. The organization is seeking guidance from others who have successfully navigated the charity registration process, emphasizing the urgency of reapplying to gain credibility with universities and access to essential resources. Users in the discussion offered advice on finding relevant resources and navigating the application process, highlighting the importance of clearly defining charitable objectives and activities.
TensorCalculus
Gold Member
Messages
265
Reaction score
337
This one is pretty random, but I honestly have no better place to post this request than on PF so... here I am.

Basically, a nonprofit that me and a couple of friends made submitted an application to become a UK-based charity. We offer Hackathons to teenagers for free in essence.

When filling in that application we, obviously, had no idea what we were doing: we just filled in the information boxes how we thought fit.

3 months and a lot of anticipation later, the application gets rejected. Apparently, the UK charity registration process is a tough nut to crack. But we need that application: the universities, for some reason, won't collaborate otherwise.
I asked a while ago about how I should get hackathon sponsors, and @jack action gave me a lot of really useful feedback which I took into account when emailing sponsors. Long story short: it worked for companies but not for Universities: ghosted by Cambridge Uni even after multiple follow-ups, and the rest of the Universities? A couple were actually willing to help... on the basis that we are a UK registered charity. They told us that if we come back with a charity registration, they'd support us. Alongside this, multiple perks like free google workspace, charity discounts on various assets... etc... require us to be a UK registered charity. And it gives us more credibility with sponsors, of course.

The applications take at least 3 months to process and we want to be a charity ASAP so we really need to not mess this application up, we can't afford to be rejected again: is there anyone here who's done this before and could provide support? Or who knows somewhere where I could get some help? If anyone can help then I'll post the details (probably on DMs, though mentors tell me if this isn't allowed since I remember some sort of rule about not asking for help in DMs, don't know if this violates that) - I'm a bit reluctant to post too much detail and even more reluctant to post it on a thread which is publicly visible so I'll only do it if someone knows they can help, if that's fine (no personal information in it, but just cautious).

Just realised that the decision doesn't contain as much sensitive information as I thought so here it is:
The application form tells us the following only in relation to how the proposed CIO will
carry out its objects:

- “We will organise in-person and online hackathon events at venues in the UK, for
teenagers, where they make technology projects to promote coding and creativity.
For in-person events, we will secure venues at established technology companies.
We will work with schools to invite students to these events. Supervising volunteers,
for safeguarding purposes, will be DBS checked, and will complete online
safeguarding training. Venues will be risk-assessed, and parents will be sent
consent forms for teenagers to attend the event”.

The application form does not identify a clear charitable purpose which is being advanced
by the organisation. At ‘how the organisation carries out its purposes’ you provide a broad
overview of the activities, but there is a lack of explanation of how the activities are
delivered at a practical level, what the activities consist of, and importantly the application
does not clearly link back the activities to a clear charitable purpose.

We would expect to see a detailed and carefully considered framework and/or planning
that the proposed CIO has in place to ensure that the services/activities that the proposed
CIO will provide would meet the public benefit requirement (in that it is delivered in a
manner that will be beneficial, appropriate and safe). No such framework/planning has
been submitted as part of the application for registration.

The application and the proposed CIO’s official website do not demonstrate a charitable
purpose for public benefit.
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
Can you post a link to the blank application form web page or PDF? That will give us an idea of what you are up against.

TensorCalculus said:
If anyone can help then I'll post the details (probably on DMs, though mentors tell me if this isn't allowed since I remember some sort of rule about not asking for help in DMs, don't know if this violates that)
If other users think they can help and they contact you via DM to start a conversation, there is no problem with that. If you started sending initial DMs to others to request help, that is where the problem would be (and I know that is not your intention).

Good luck! :smile:
 
  • Informative
Likes TensorCalculus
berkeman said:
Can you post a link to the blank application forum web page or PDF? That will give us an idea of what you are up against.
Annoyingly I can't find it blank online :cry: , my friend filled it in on his laptop because his dad was the trustee, and I think you have to log into something to get a blank application form... but the questions to which there is not one defined answer are along the lines of:
The organisation's purposes are:
Explain how the organisation carries out its purposes:
the best I can find is this long document explaining what is asked: https://assets.publishing.service.g...39c/Apply_to_register_a_charity_questions.pdf
berkeman said:
If other users think they can help and they contact you via DM to start a conversation, there is no problem with that. If you started sending initial DMs to others to request help, that is where the problem would be (and I know that is not your intention).

Good luck! :smile:
oh, okay, thanks for letting me know :D
 
  • Like
  • Informative
Likes berkeman and TensorCalculus
Maybe I should switch to duck duck go, Google never showed anything like this (or maybe it's a searching... skill... issue)!

Thank you for the resources, I'll take a look :)
 
Similar to the 2024 thread, here I start the 2025 thread. As always it is getting increasingly difficult to predict, so I will make a list based on other article predictions. You can also leave your prediction here. Here are the predictions of 2024 that did not make it: Peter Shor, David Deutsch and all the rest of the quantum computing community (various sources) Pablo Jarrillo Herrero, Allan McDonald and Rafi Bistritzer for magic angle in twisted graphene (various sources) Christoph...
Thread 'My experience as a hostage'
I believe it was the summer of 2001 that I made a trip to Peru for my work. I was a private contractor doing automation engineering and programming for various companies, including Frito Lay. Frito had purchased a snack food plant near Lima, Peru, and sent me down to oversee the upgrades to the systems and the startup. Peru was still suffering the ills of a recent civil war and I knew it was dicey, but the money was too good to pass up. It was a long trip to Lima; about 14 hours of airtime...
Back
Top