> From: thomas.dalton@gmail.com
> To: wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Charity and Bank account information
>
> 2008/8/27 joseph seddon <life_is_bitter_sweet@hotmail.co.uk>:
> > I believe I can expand on the situation of wikimedia uk, some of it you are
> > aware of, some your not but its as complete as i could possibly make it with
> > the limited information i have. We need £5000 to get the Charity status,
> > however it is possible to get an account to handle this money. What has been
> > said about it being difficult is quite frankly a very simplified view of it.
>
> You've missed out one thing which the current board seems to be
> ignoring. It is possible to get tax free status without the £5000, you
> just have to fill in a form with HMRC and it's far quicker than the
> full charities application. That's all we need to begin accepting
> donations. We can also set up a bank account without worry about any
> of this, it will just require paying a few transaction costs, etc.
> (I'm not convinced the HMRC thing wouldn't be enough to get free
> banking, anyway). If we have to pay transaction costs for a while,
> then so be it, at least we can actually start doing something.
 
There is an account with Lloyds TSB that wouldn't require any transaction costs
and could be set up without charity status and can be easily changed once
that status is acquired.

>
> > 1) The foundation pledge this amount and then give it to us when the status
> > is achieved. There are no issues with an international organisation doing
> > this. This would be the quickest method and hold the most guarantee's to
> > getting enough money.
> >
> > 2) Funds raised during the annual fund raiser are redirected to WMUK. This
> > would be viable if up to or more than £5000 comes from the UK.
>
> Are you sure there are no issues with the foundation donating money to
> WMUK? Under UK charities law, I know we can't donate money to the
> foundation (once we're actually a charity) - the trustees have to
> actually have control over the funds they are trusted with. Is US
> charity law different in that respect?
 
There is no issue on the UK side with regards to money coming in from abroad,
this i checked with the charities commission and i spent some time talking to
them on the phone. I'm sure mike godwin would be able to confirm that there is
no issue from the US side.

>
> > 3) or we try and get the money ourselves in some way shape or form.
>
> Which we can do over a prolonged period, there is no reason for it to
> all be done at once. The £5000 requirement is designed to make things
> easier on small charities, not harder. We can remain a small charity
> until we naturally grow to a large enough size to require registering.
 
I believe the aim to achieving charity status is to allow donations from the uk to
be re-embursed from the tax and I think I can almost gaurentee that once we will be easily
over the £5000 threshold if that were to happen. However there is nothing holding us back
from setting up an account as i mentioned above.
 
>
> > So we have 3 methods of doing this or possibly a 4th one consisting of a
> > combination of the first 2 where the foundation simply tops up the
> > difference between what we get from the fundraiser and £5000. Now what
> > method we use is essentially down to the foundation and what they feel most
> > comfortable with. At the moment there are other things that need to be dealt
> > with first, so this isn't something that needs to be decided upon now. Just
> > something that needs to be considered over the next couple of months.
>
> It can all be discussed in detail at, or soon after, the AGM, once we
> have some competent people on the board.
 
Agreed

>
> > With regards to the bank account, when set up it would not allow us to claim
> > back tax until we got the charity status but it would allow us to take
> > payments. According to the person I spoke to on the phone they could easily
> > alter the account when the tax back charity status came through.
>
> The HMRC thing resolves that issue completely.
 
Also from what i said above

>
> > In regards to the timeline. Attaining charity status before the annual
> > fundraiser is honestly going to be doubtful. The application takes
> > approximately 40 days to complete if there are absolutely no hitches. I
> > would plan to get signatures at the next AGM which is planned for september
> > sometime. This would put completion of the charity status at the earliest
> > for early-mid november and that is purely on the basis that everything go
> > absolutely smoothly. The best approach would be looking for the application
> > to be finished by the start of 2009 and worst case scenario by the end of
> > the financial year 08/09.
> >
> > I hope this provides a clearer outlook on WMUK financially. Any questions I
> > could clarify are welcomed as it may spot areas or things that i havnt
> > thought about.
>
> What signatures are required? I wasn't aware you needed to collect
> signature (Chair and Secretary of the board, or something, I expect,
> but nothing more). And we can't do any of that until we have the
> £5000, so that's going to be some time after the AGM.
 
Those signatures have to come from all those registering as trustees.
But yes this would need to happen after the AGM

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