Trustpilot
ISO 27001 Certified
Welcome to Simply-Docs
Business
Corporate
Employment
Health & Safety
Property
Samples & Free
Charity

Clubs and Other Not-for-Profit Organisations

This section is for organisations that are run for the benefit of their members or a community, do not distribute profits and are not charities. Typical examples are sports clubs, social clubs, hobby and interest clubs and community associations run by a committee on behalf of the members.

Why does it matter that a club is not a charity?

A members' club of this kind is usually an unincorporated association owned by its members rather than by a proprietor. It is subject to the general law but not to charity law or company law. That means less regulation, but it also means the members and committee have no company or charity structure standing between them and the club's liabilities. A clear, well-drafted constitution is the main protection, because it defines what the club is, what the members' rights are as between themselves, what the committee can do and how the club is run day to day.

If your organisation's purposes are exclusively charitable and it is intended to benefit the public rather than its members, it may be a charity in law whether or not you call it one. In that case use the Start Here: Charity or Not-for-Profit? section.

Which section do I need?

Clubs: Guidance and Constitutions contains guidance on clubs generally and long and short form constitutions for a private members' club.

Community Amateur Sports Clubs and HMRC Requirements is for a sports club that wants to register with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as a community amateur sports club (CASC) to obtain tax reliefs and contains the CASC constitution, the application and HMRC's fit and proper persons requirements for those who run the club.

If your club needs to borrow money, simple loan notes and promissory notes drafted for clubs as well as charities are in the Loans and Promissory Notes section under Fundraising, Grants and Charity Finance.

Clubs and Other Not-for-Profit Organisations is part of Charity. Just £38.50 + VAT provides unlimited downloads from Charity for 1 year.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is our members' club, legally speaking? +

An unincorporated association: a group of people bound together by their rules, with no separate legal personality. The club cannot own property, employ staff or sign contracts in its own name, its officers or trustees do those things on the members' behalf, and company law and charity law do not apply. That makes the club's rules (i.e. its constitution) the club's entire legal framework. The templates in this group exist to make that framework solid.

Our club has run for years on handshakes. Do we really need a written constitution? +
Yes, and the longer you have run without one the more you need it. The constitution is the contract between members: it settles who owns the club's money and equipment, what the committee can spend, how officers are chosen and removed, how disputes and expulsions are handled and what happens to assets if the club folds. Without written rules every one of those becomes an argument. The long and short form constitutions here suit different sizes of club.
Should our sports club register as a Community Amateur Sports Club? +
If you qualify, the tax case is strong: Gift Aid on donations, at least 80 percent relief on business rates and corporation tax exemptions. Weigh two things first: your club must genuinely meet the conditions, open to the whole community, amateur, mainly sporting, and registration is effectively permanent, a CASC cannot voluntarily deregister and leaving the regime triggers a tax charge. The CASC constitution and application documents in this group support a considered registration.
Would our club be better off as a charity instead? +
Only if your purposes are genuinely charitable and for the public benefit, and most members' clubs are not: a club run for its members' own recreation is a private benefit body, which charity law does not accommodate. Sports clubs sit at the boundary, and the CASC regime exists precisely for clubs that serve community sport without being charities. A club cannot be both a CASC and a charity, so choose one route. The guidance note in this group compares the options.
Who is personally on the hook if the club is sued or runs up debts? +
The people who acted: because the club has no legal personality, contracts and liabilities land on the committee members or officers who incurred them, and in some cases on the wider membership. Manage the exposure: keep proper accounts, insure the club's activities, put property in the names of holding trustees under the constitution and think about incorporation if the club takes on staff, premises or serious contracts. The constitutions here include the protective structures.
Charity Buy Only £38.50 + VAT!
Unlimited Downloads for One Year
No Auto-Renewal
All Charity

Simply-4-Business Ltd Registered in England and Wales No. 4868909, 20 Mortlake High Street, Mortlake, London SW14 8JN

Trustpilot
Top