FOI re-Common Purpose being a charity

Andrew Park
Charity Commission for England and Wales

2 October 2008
Dear Ms Buxton,

Thank you for your e-mail of 25 September. I have set out my response to your question below.

Why is Common Purpose allowed to operate as a charity?

I thought it might be helpful to set out the general principles we follow when registering a charity. In order to be charitable in law an organisation must be set up:

* for a purpose which is charitable in law; and

* for the benefit of the public generally
Common Purpose is registered as a charity with the following objects:
"The advancement of education for the public benefit and in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, to educate men and women from a broad range of geographical, political, ethnic, institutional, social and economic backgrounds in constitutional, civic, economic and social studies, with special emphasis on civil and social awareness and responsibility in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, provided always that nothing contained in the Memorandum and Articles of Association shall authorise, or be deemed to authorise the carrying on of any activity for any purposes save those regarded as charitable by the laws of England and Wales"
Advancing education in the named topics is charitable, and the class of people to be educated is broadly defined enough to demonstrate public benefit.

As a registered charity with income of more than £5 million a year, Common Purpose is required to submit its accounts annually to the Commission and we publish these on our website www.charitycommission.gov.uk so that the public can see them. Charities with income of more than £1 million a year are also required to submit a Summary Information Return, which sets out key information about the charity's aims, activities and achievements, and again we publish these on our website. I have provided a link to the charity's entry on our Register, where this information can be found:
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/reg...

I hope that you find this helpful.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Park

Large Charities Division

Charity Commission Direct
PO Box 1227
Liverpool
L69 3UG
T: 0207 674 2355