Charity Governance & Policies

Our charity lawyers ensure that your charity is governed effectively and in-line with the latest legal developments.

In this section

Our specialist lawyers provide tailored, strategic legal advice to charities on structures, policies and processes, ensuring the very highest standards of governance.

A well-governed charity is usually a successful one. In an ever-changing landscape and evolving society, charities are constantly required to adapt to new demands and challenges. Policies and processes must be constantly reviewed and refreshed to ensure that governance frameworks can continue to drive long-term success.

Bad or outdated governance can leave your charity vulnerable to incidents that may ultimately lead to scrutiny from the Charity Commission. Ensuring that your charity is governed effectively and in-line with the latest charity law developments should be a key consideration for every trustee body.

Our multidisciplinary charity legal team — headed up by experienced charity lawyer Graeme Hughes — has over 15 years’ experience in advising on the governance structures of charitable organisations of all types and sizes, including those that operate internationally.

As a certified B corp and purpose-led law firm, we provide the full range of legal services to charities, not-for-profits and social enterprises. We're deeply immersed in and passionate about the work performed by the third sector and are proud to have our own independent charity, The Brabners Foundation.

Governance reviews

You should perform a governance review at least every few years. This is considered good practice and demonstrates to beneficiaries, the public, the Regulator and other stakeholders that you’re committed to high standards of governance.

We can assist you with this. Our full and comprehensive governance reviews enable us to identify and resolve any weak spots, gaps or risk areas in your charity’s governance. These are carried out against the standards outlined in the Charity Governance Code — a document endorsed by the Commission and used to benchmark ‘good’ standards of governance.

A governance review might typically include:

A review and update of the organisation’s governing document.
A review and update of existing policies.
The introduction of new policies.
A review of the organisation’s overall structure (and relevant documents that underpin this structure).
An assessment of charity processes (including feedback and advice on how your charity conducts trustee meetings and how trustees manage conflicts of interest).

Policies

The parameters in which a charity has to operate are ever-changing. For example, the Charity Commission issued new guidance on the use of social media in 2023 which highlighted the need for many charities to introduce a social media policy. Given that the vast majority of charities have a social media presence, such policies are now considered crucial.

While some policies can be recognised as being important for all charities — for example, a complaints policy — for the most part, every charity will have different needs when it comes to deciding which policies to implement.

Our team offers expert advice on the policies that your charity should have in place to create a comprehensive and robust governance framework. We can also review your existing policies to ensure ongoing compliance with the latest standards and legislation.

A lawyer conducts an investigation and collates documents

Amending a charity's governing document

As the ‘rulebook’ of a charity, a governing document underpins how a charity should be governed. It lays the foundations of the organisation and dictates how trustees should manage the charity.

That’s why having a governing document that works for your charity is critical to your continued success. At times, you’ll need to amend it — and how complex this can be will vary depending on the provisions that already exist, as well as the type of change that trustees wish to make.

Our charity lawyers have a wealth of experience in navigating the complexities that can come with making amendments to governing documents. Whether we’re dealing with a CIO’s constitution or Trust Deed dating back to the 1800s, our team can help to ensure that your governing document caters for your charity’s needs.

Trustee training

Becoming a trustee of a charity can feel daunting. The best way to ensure that a trustee feels confident in their position is to ensure that they’re fully acquainted with all their legal duties and the basics of charity governance.

This can be achieved through training sessions, tailored to each charity’s needs. These give trustees the opportunity to fully understand the requirements of their position. Having a confident and competent board of trustees will ensure that your charity is governed effectively and help to avoid scrutiny and intervention from the regulator.

Our charity law team has experience in designing and hosting all manner of trustee training sessions. We also produce information packs to support trustees throughout their terms.

Permanent endowment

Permanent endowment can be difficult to identify and complex to untangle. In some instances, your assets may no longer serve the charity in the way that they were intended to when originally gifted. As such, permanent endowment sometimes needs to be freed from its restrictions to continue benefiting a charity.

The process of freeing up permanent endowment requires (among other things) permission from the Charity Commission, which will only be given if the trustees can illustrate that the right conditions have been met. We can advise on this process and manage the submission of all relevant applications with the Charity Commission on your behalf.

Meet our team

Graeme Hughes

Partner, Head of Charities, Not-for-Profits and Social Enterprises

Imogen Trafford

Associate

Ciara Lawlor

Graduate Solicitor Apprentice

“Brabners has real expertise in charities and dealing with the Charity Commission. This is quite rare to find. Establishing a charitable publisher is hard, because there isn’t a clear line between what is charitable and what isn’t. Brabners did this successfully. Its fees are affordable by the sector.”

Client feedback, The Legal 500, 2024

“Graeme Hughes competently advises on charity law, governance and regulatory issues, as well as overseeing matters requiring insights from his corporate, property and employment colleagues.”

The Legal 500, 2024

“We have valued the long-term relationship with [Brabners]… [its] understanding of our company structure — and the market, regulation and jurisdiction in which we operate — supports the delivery of exceptional advice. Graeme Hughes and Imogen Trafford provide outstanding support around charity law.”

Client feedback, Legal 500, 2024

“[Brabners] is interested in knowing your business and understanding the culture and nature of what you do. This leads to bespoke solutions… not simply ‘off the shelf’ advice that you may get from any firm.”

Client feedback, The Legal 500, 2024

“Ex-Charity Commission lawyer and Charity Tribunal Judge Stephen Claus continues to influence departmental and client decisions through his role as a consultant.”

The Legal 500, 2024

“The ‘outstanding’ Imogen Trafford is highly active on mandates concerning the registering, merging and dissolving of charities.”

Legal 500, 2024

Charity governance & policies FAQs

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