Regardless of its charitable status a voluntary organisation can currently adopt one of two legal structures, either Unincorporated or Incorporated (Company Limited by Guarantee).
Unincorporated organisations have no separate legal identity from the individuals involved in running them. In most cases, individuals hold the property of the organisation, and individuals must represent the organisations in any legal proceedings.
Incorporated organisations have a separate legal identity from the individuals involved in running them. Therefore the organisation can hold property, take legal proceedings and enter into contractual arrangement in its own name.
The most common form of incorporated organisations for the voluntary sector is a company limited by guarantee. These companies are organisations that aim to pursue some social cause. There are no shareholders and any benefits are reinvested in the company.
From April 2010, it should be possible to choose a new way of incorporating by becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). This will have all the advantages of a charitable company limited by guarantee. In addition, it should be simpler to form and run as it will only be registered with the Charity Commission, not Companies House as well
This page is a summary of the information contained in the full online toolkit.
