Charity Constitution Document Templates

This Charity Constitution Document Templates subfolder provides a range of constitution document templates for various types of legal structure for use when forming a new charity.

The different legal structures which a charity can adopt are as follows: company limited by guarantee, unincorporated association, charitable trust, or charitable incorporated organisation (CIO).

The choice of structure and template to be used will depend on a number of factors. The various document descriptions consider some of those factors and they also outline for founders of a new charity how they might decide which type of legal structure to adopt, and which template may be most appropriate.

The type of legal structure chosen by founders of a new charity will to some extent dictate which of the various legal requirements (under charity, trust, and/or or company law) will apply to the new organisation.

The Guidance Note: Charitable Incorporated Organisations in this subfolder explains how a charity should decide whether to establish as a CIO or as some other type of charitable entity, and where they do decide to establish as a CIO, which type of CIO constitution will be suitable for its needs.

This subfolder includes one form of constitution (Memorandum and Articles of Association) for a charitable company, one for a charitable trust, two for an unincorporated association, and four for a CIO.

Two of the CIO constitutions are the model forms that the Charity Commission publishes, and two are versions which are those same model versions but with amendments that we have made to make them more suitable for small and medium sized charities. Each of those two amended versions are included as “clean” copies and, for ease of use, also with marked changes to show how they differ from the Charity Commission model versions. The Commission’s own model forms are comprehensive, and they meet the needs of large and/or complex charities. However, they are lengthy and complex, and they include a number of optional and other clauses which may be unnecessary for small and medium sized charities organised and run in a relatively simple way. Our amended versions, whilst based on the Commission’s forms, are shorter, more streamlined, omit optional clauses and will be better suited to the needs of many charities. This subfolder also includes a Guidance Note: Adapted versions of Charity Commission Model CIO Constitutions which explains the reasons for, and the effects of, the changes made to the Commission's model forms in our amended versions.

We recommend that you consider the document descriptions and take legal advice before finally deciding which structure and which template to adopt.

• Memorandum - Charity Company Limited By Guarantee
• Charitable Company Formation Checklist
• Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) Formation Checklist
• Charity Articles of Association - Private Company Limited By Guarantee
• Constitution for an Unincorporated Charitable Association
• Unincorporated Charitable Association (UCA) Formation Checklist
• Short Form Constitution for a Small Unincorporated Charity
• Trust Deed Constitution for a Charitable Trust
• Charitable Trust (CT) Formation Checklist
• Guidance Notes - Charitable Incorporated Organisations
• Constitution for a CIO whose only voting members are its trustees (‘Foundation’ model)
• Constitution for a CIO with voting members other than its trustees (‘Association’ model)
• Constitution for a CIO whose only voting members are its trustees (‘Foundation’ model) – marked-up adapted version
• Constitution for a CIO with voting members other than its trustees (‘Association’ model) – marked-up adapted version
• Constitution for a CIO whose only voting members are its trustees (‘Foundation’ model) – clean copy adapted version
• Constitution for a CIO with voting members other than its trustees (‘Association’ model) – clean copy adapted version
• Guidance Note: Adapted versions of Charity Commission Model CIO Constitutions

Charity Constitution Document Templates is part of Corporate Documents. Just £35.00 + VAT provides unlimited downloads from Corporate Documents for 1 year.