Registered charity 

An organisation that the law recognises as charitable and registered with the Charity Commission. 

Charity Commission 

The government agency that decides if an organisation is charitable in law, monitors how charities act and is a central space for a charities records and key information. 

Trustees 

The people with overall responsibility for a charity. 

Directors 

The people with overall responsibility for a company (including charitable companies) 

Members (of a charity) 

The “owners” of a charity. They elect the trustees and have other rights to vote and make decisions. 

Limited liability 

The law sees a limited liability company as an individual that can take on contracts, employ people etc. This means that if anything goes wrong the responsibility will be the companies, not the individual trustees. Trustees lose this protection if they do something deliberately wrong or illegal. 

Charity law 

The way charities are run is governed by laws that cover what is legally charitable, what benefits charities get and how trustees have to act. 

Charitable objects 

The objects (sometimes called “purposes”) of a charity define what the charity is set up to do. These objects have to fit with charity law, and only some things are recognised as charitable. 

Governing document 

The document that has all the details of what your charity is about, who has what powers, how trustees are appointed and what will happen if the charity closes. 

Governance 

The actions you take to oversee the control and direction of your organisation. 

Oversight 

Informed and responsible care for your charity. 

Delegation 

Giving someone temporary responsibility to act as your deputy. For example, the CEO of a charity is usually allowed to make decisions on spending money up to a certain amount without having to ask for the trustees permission.