Our team has both a depth and breadth of expertise in relation to complex trusts advice, non-primary purpose trading, contract advice in the context of the day-to-day work of churches and national denominations, restructures, asset transfers, commercial participator agreements, professional fundraising agreements, liaising with the charity commission to obtain their consent when necessary, advising on serious incident reporting, registering charities, trustee training and development.
THERA TRUST – Trustee training
We provide training twice a year for the trustees and directors of Thera Trust and its associated companies. Thera is a national charity that provides support for adults with learning disabilities. Its directors and trustees come from a wide range of backgrounds – those with learning disabilities, carers and leaders in commerce. The training we provide takes place over a 24-hour period and we explore the aim and ethos of Thera as well as looking at day to day applications of the legal structure, duties, responsibilities and liabilities of the trustees and directors.
LOCAL CHURCHES – Church amalgamation
We have worked with two churches that were in the process of amalgamating to become one new church. This was particularly complicated and included advising on the transfer of assets and liabilities for both of the churches into a new entity, together with advice on the property trusts for each property owned by the churches. We liaised with the churches’ holding trustees together with the ultimate beneficiaries under the trusts to bring about the amalgamation. There are many stakeholders to satisfy in this transaction, and we carefully ensured all parties’ needs were taken into account on such a sensitive issue locally.
STEWARDSHIP – Charity formation
We work with Stewardship, a large Christian charity serving the needs of churches and other Christian charities. In partnership with Stewardship, we have developed a streamlined and affordable charity formation package for smaller charities and churches. We work with the organisations to ensure that they comply with the Charities Act 2011. The language and decision-making processes reflect the practice and theology of the church and have a solid structure to enable them to carry out their work for their beneficiaries. As part of our role with stewardship, we register around 50 churches and Christian charities each year.
CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY CHARITY – Complex grant terms and conditions
A Christian missionary charity was awarded a large grant with complex terms and conditions. Potentially the terms and conditions prevented the charity fulfilling its Christian objectives and employing Christians in key leadership roles. We worked with the charity to establish innovative ways to meet the terms and conditions of the Equality Act 2006, whilst managing the potential risk of being in breach.
For more information
Please contact Edwina Turner.
