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Tartan Army Casualty
GET A LIFE!!! |
    
this site give you the pros and cons of charitable status.
http://www.scvo.org.uk/information/law/organisations/a1.html
Havent had a good look through it yet, but comments please.
Would it be beneficial to the TAMB Sunshine appeal?
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I may be daft, but I'm not stupid
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Total Posts: 1953 | Joined Sep. 2001 | Posted on: 12:32 am on Dec. 13, 2002 | IP
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Mazzy
GET A LIFE!!! |
At first look at the site you found TAC it doesn`t appear as daunting as I thought it might 
Can`t see any major disadvantages at the moment other than volunteers having to take on more "formal" responsibilities.
I think a time is going to come when sorting out what`s occurring with the Appeal is no longer practical purely through threads and posts on this Message Board and emails.
Whilst I like the historical notion of the disorganised organisation that is the Tartan Army, it has to be recognised that lots of people are donating and should feel comfortable with how their donations and the Sunshine Appeal generally, are managed. Hopefully the majority do at present and whether registering the Appeal as a charity is what is required to maintain that probably does need consideration.
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Free Syringes In The Fringes
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Total Posts: 1160 | Joined May 2002 | Posted on: 10:10 am on Dec. 13, 2002 | IP
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ColinG
GET A LIFE!!! |
To be honest it is the informality of the whole thing that appeals to me. I am totally happy for the lads and lassies who do all the work to use the money in the way that they deem fit. I also trust these people who take up their own time to do this and raise a glass to them. 
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Is that the time, must get on with some work!!
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Total Posts: 361 | Joined Feb. 2002 | Posted on: 11:18 am on Dec. 13, 2002 | IP
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Mazzy
GET A LIFE!!! |
That`s good to hear/read ColinG
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Free Syringes In The Fringes
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Total Posts: 1160 | Joined May 2002 | Posted on: 12:35 pm on Dec. 13, 2002 | IP
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fringo
GET A LIFE!!! |
I've copied two main parts from the weblink .........
Benefits of charitable status
The principal benefits of charitable status are tax-related. Special advantageous reliefs and schemes concerning Income Tax, Corporation Tax, Council Tax/Rates and others are available to recognised charities. Charities do pay VAT although there are exemptions available for various activities.
In addition, charitable status is beneficial to fundraising. Many grant-giving trusts and foundations can only give funding to recognised charities. "Charity" is a very emotive word and can be very persuasive in encouraging the general public to donate in a variety of ways.
Limitations of charitable status
By becoming a charity, an organisation places itself within a particular legal and institutional framework. Each nation within the UK has different charity law. In Scotland, charities are principally governed by the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990. By accepting the tax benefits and public trust which comes with charitable status, charities must also accept that they are publicly accountable. Measures in the 1990 Act go some way towards ensuring accountability by requiring a charity to make information about its activities available.
Charitable status can also place restrictions on an organisation's 'political' campaigning activities.
As ColinG says it's the informality of it all that adds so much to the appeal.
I think the more formal legal requirements would limit the way we go about the current Appeal .
The possible benefits (tax exemptions etc) are less significant since the current way it is organised it by-passes this due to generous personal donations and the various ways money & gifts are raised. It might require getting lawyers, accountants etc invloved and put allot of our activities on ice perhaps (and costs ) , which would be a step backwards.
This idea has been discussed before (and as I recall) put aside - unless or until we reach that requirement stage.
Just my thoughts :tuppenceworth:
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"Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others"Groucho Marx
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Total Posts: 1431 | Joined Oct. 2001 | Posted on: 12:47 pm on Dec. 13, 2002 | IP
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footsoldier
GET A LIFE!!! |
Problem you might find is that the tax man might not be so charitable - not sure how it would work if say the appeal is sitting with funds in the bank at the end of a tax year.
Revenue are not known for their charity, and there's a possibility they would come after profits from appeal organisers as a de-facto business if nothing has been done to establish/formalise charitable status.
Eg, if the appeal has "made" £5000 to year end, which has still to be distributed - it could be seen in same way as a sole trader making a profit of £5k. And tax is due each year- they won't let you off with it because you plan to give it away the following year. You will also have to justify expenses incurred, provide records, information on non-cash contributions and disbursements etc etc. The higher profile the Appeal gets, the more likely this is to happen, and intentions will probably not carry much weight with them unfortunately  You only have to come on to this board to read all about appeal, how much cash has been raised etc, and sooner or later they will probably want to ensure rules are being followed - it's just the way they are
I'm no expert, maybe someone else on here is, but it's definitely worth looking at, because theoretically you could be looking at IR chasing organisers personally for unpaid tax after all the cash has been distributed.
On top of that, I'm pretty sure that businesses can get tax relief on official charity donations, making them more likely to contribute.
All depends where you want the appeal to go, and how much organisation you want to introduce, but either way it seems like a good time to find out options/implications.
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"We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilization." - Voltaire
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Total Posts: 965 | Joined Sep. 2001 | Posted on: 1:02 pm on Dec. 13, 2002 | IP
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Mick North Croy
GET A LIFE!!! |
I would keep this appeal going the way it has been going since it`s inception. Don`t want to get bogged down with rules and regulations and red tape.
All of our fundraising so far has been kept pretty much in-house i.e. amongst people and places with Tartan Army links. Charitable status may be beneficial for larger charities that are looking for donations from trusts and foundations, but that is not our aim.
Were not looking to run raffles and door to door or street collections.
Charity status would maybe raise the profile of the appeal but I don`t think that anyone involved in the appeal is looking for this recognition or publicity. There are no "look at us and what we do " folks among us, so keeping it status quo would be best.
I am happy with the way it is proceeding and would be against applying for charity status.
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Mick. Support the TAMB Sunshine Appeal
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Total Posts: 1588 | Joined Sep. 2001 | Posted on: 11:29 pm on Dec. 13, 2002 | IP
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JimFaeKdy
GET A LIFE!!! |
Feckin hell,another serious posting fae the Croy crew............................have they run oot o swally?
Seriously though a agree wi Mick..........
That`s a pint you owe me.
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http://www.ktarmy.co.uk
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Total Posts: 2267 | Joined Sep. 2001 | Posted on: 11:42 pm on Dec. 13, 2002 | IP
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Mick North Croy
GET A LIFE!!! |
i`m just in fae work and still got ma sensible heid on  time for a drink now 
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Mick. Support the TAMB Sunshine Appeal
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Total Posts: 1588 | Joined Sep. 2001 | Posted on: 11:45 pm on Dec. 13, 2002 | IP
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Lamia
GET A LIFE!!! |
I visited the site garypritch posted a link to about what the Welsh fans did in Azerbaijan and are aiming to do in the future. It is very similar to the SA and they have now become registered.
I have e-mailed them to find out how they found the process and why they chose to go down that route rather than remain informal.
Hopefully that can give us some more information or pointers to help us decide what we should do.
I will report back if or when I receive a response.
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Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter because nobody listens.---Nick Diamos
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Total Posts: 4283 | Joined Dec. 2001 | Posted on: 1:25 pm on Dec. 14, 2002 | IP
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Battlebus Commander
GET A LIFE!!! |
If you are registered as a charity, you can claim tax releif back ontop of donations (Which is worth another 28%), it needs a simple "Gift Aid" declaration form to be completed by the giver to confirm that they pay tax on thier earnings, this is normally re-claimed on a quarterly basis, but I doubt it would work retrospectively.
If you became registered, I would suggest that you start a new bank account from zero funds then pay the existing money in over the first few months. Then everybody could print off a copy of the "Gift Aid" saying that we had donated amounts of £10 / 25 / 50 etc. to cover the total of the fund, and you could instantly boost the fund by 28 %.
Definately worth considering, not really fraudluent, just using the system to the advantage of the charity.
I've got a copy of the required form if you need it let me know.
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Slainte Tom
How am I a traitor cried Wallace ? When engerland is foreign to me !
http://mysite.freeserve.com/menta/
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Total Posts: 643 | Joined Mar. 2002 | Posted on: 5:30 pm on Dec. 14, 2002 | IP
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dangrenade
Something to say |
Hi
The company I work for operates a matched giving scheme, where if i take part in any fundraising they will double whatever is raised up to the value of £3000 per calendar year.
The only downfall is it has to be a registered charity.
So i hope you decide to go down the registered route..
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FALKIRK TARTAN ARMY
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Total Posts: 52 | Joined Oct. 2002 | Posted on: 6:52 pm on Dec. 16, 2002 | IP
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Lamia
GET A LIFE!!! |
The following is my response from gary received with thanks.
Hi Susan,
sorry to take so long to reply, but I've been away for thew weekend - by the way I am the 'garypritch' who wandered on to the TA message board!
The reason we chose to register with the charities commision was mainly for tax reasons - with the amount of money we managed to raise in such a short space of time to go to Azerbaijan, we thought it might be prudent to become a charity and avoid paying tax on any of money we might have in a bank account before or after a trip.
We were also advised of Gift Aid, whereby if someone contributes a sum of money, we could claim (I think) 28% of that gift in tax relief.
Another reason was the sort of schemes that Barclays Bank were doing last year whereby they would help a fundraising event and match £1 for £1 what was raised - as long as it was for charity.
On top of that we thought that registering with a charity would make it easier for us to deal with the FAW with regards fundraising stunts, as well as making it all "above board" for anyone who wanted to know how much money was raised, and where it went.
The actual registration itself is far less daunting than you think - the majority of the form does not apply to us - if you send me your address I'll photocopy our constituiton and sent it on.
The registrration hasn't made it too formal - it still all the usual boys and girls who are involved and nobody is having to attend meetings and the like - it's just that if anyone asks we can show them exactly what we've been doing.
We also got a fair bit of publicity out in Baku, mainly because the news crews and newspapers out there were looking for stories - we were all there for 5 days and they had air time/newspapers to fill, as well as the fact that no other home nation was playing a competetive match so we were the no.1 story for a change!
Radio 5live and BBC TV were falling over themselves to cover our story - they all came to the first orphanage we visited - and as soon as we made the TV, all the newspapers out there were on to us asking for details and pictures.
Bearing in mind that the publicity out there wasn't really sought, we are very grateful for it as the amount of donations and interest we have received has been phenomenal - normally we are battling against the rugby tide here in Wales for any attention and to get so much good press was excellent.
We have now sent out a press release since coming home to all the people who covered the story in Baku, outlining exactly what we did and how just to keep everyone informed.
Hope this helps, and please do not hesitate to get in touch if you want to know anything else.
Gary
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Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter because nobody listens.---Nick Diamos
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Total Posts: 4283 | Joined Dec. 2001 | Posted on: 9:33 pm on Dec. 16, 2002 | IP
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fringo
GET A LIFE!!! |
Following Lamia's post from garypritch I'm now thinking it might be beneficial to register and that any "cons" would now be outweighed by the "pros".
Very interesting.
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"Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others"Groucho Marx
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Total Posts: 1431 | Joined Oct. 2001 | Posted on: 7:17 pm on Dec. 17, 2002 | IP
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Thistledown
Talks too much |
It seems to make far more sense to register than not, especially if there is free money for the appeal on the go!
It's good of garypritch to give advice after their experiences which seem to be relatively painless. 
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Total Posts: 106 | Joined Feb. 2002 | Posted on: 7:36 pm on Dec. 17, 2002 | IP
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Mazzy
GET A LIFE!!! |
Yep its good hearing how Welsh supporters doing much the same as the Sunshine Appeal dealt with registering. It seems to have been pretty straighforward.
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Free Syringes In The Fringes
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Total Posts: 1160 | Joined May 2002 | Posted on: 9:04 am on Dec. 18, 2002 | IP
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Pheasant Plucker
Fresh ideas |
My works got same thing about matching fundraising but I checked and it has to be an official one so hope you decide to do that too.
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Total Posts: 3 | Joined Oct. 2002 | Posted on: 6:11 pm on Dec. 19, 2002 | IP
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Mazzy
GET A LIFE!!! |
Is it acceptable that we delay doing anything major on this until after we have got stuff sorted out and taken to Lithuania?
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Free Syringes In The Fringes
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Total Posts: 1160 | Joined May 2002 | Posted on: 9:15 am on Dec. 20, 2002 | IP
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Tartan Army Casualty
GET A LIFE!!! |
I think we should have a discussion about this after all the Christmas and New Year festivities are past.
Have a good festive season, one and all ( even CUFC, Kernie & Clifton) 
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I may be daft, but I'm not stupid
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Total Posts: 1953 | Joined Sep. 2001 | Posted on: 11:24 am on Dec. 20, 2002 | IP
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Lamia
GET A LIFE!!! |
It looks like the procedure is slightly different in Scotland than it is in England and Wales in that you need to be recognised by the Inland Revenue rather than be registered by the Charities Commission.
Anyway there is some further information on the IR site and some contact points which I am sure could help clarify the requirements just in case its felt that looking into this option is worthwhile.
http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/charities
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Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter because nobody listens.---Nick Diamos
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Total Posts: 4283 | Joined Dec. 2001 | Posted on: 7:41 pm on Jan. 14, 2003 | IP
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Tartan Army Message Board
registering as a charity
