Sticklepath Fireshow July 2010 Application for Registered Charity status Q/. Why are Fireshow applying for Registered Charity Status? A/. Many people believe that to be a charity you have to be registered with the Charity Commission (CC), however this is not the case. If your organisation has charitable aims and objectives you are treated as a charity in law, as Fireshow has been since it first adopted it’s own Constitution. The CC has rules in place to decide when a charity must LEGALLY apply for Registered Charity status, which are based on annual turnover. For many years this limit has been much higher than Fireshow’s annual turnover, however last year this limit was reduced and Fireshow now falls within it’s scope. Q/. Why are we holding an EGM to change the Constitution? A/. Although Charity Law considers our existing Constitution be charitable the CC has it’s own interpretation of the wording of the law and so in order to meet their understanding of the law we need to make small changes to our Aims & Objectives (please see below for more detail). Included in this is that the CC does not let charities specify particular events through which to achieve their Aim & Objectives so we can no longer include the continuation of Fireshow the event on Nov 5 th as an Aim or Objective. Q/. Am I allowed to debate and vote on this issue? If you are 18 years old or over and you are interested in furthering the existing Aim & Objectives of Fireshow you are considered a member and can therefore attend and vote at the EGM. Q/. What does the current Constitution say and what are the these proposed changes?
The proposal is to change our current Aim & Objectives from: 2. AIM Is to maintain a self sustaining Community Initiative as a not-for-profit organisation and to organise all activities required for the effective and safe running of The Fireshow. 3. OBJECTIVES
To the following: 2. AIM Our aim is to advance the arts and culture 3. OBJECTIVES a. To encourage a wide participation by the community, especially children, by providing opportunities to work alongside professional arts workers b. To further encourage the participants by offering them opportunities to display their work publicly by providing events at which the wider public can attend Q/. What happens if the resolution is voted down? If this were to happen Fireshow would be left in a legal limbo and would not be able to continue in it’s current form, unless it were to drastically reduce it’s financial turnover, which would mean stopping the annual Bonfire Night event at the heart of the charity, or the Committee could call a further EGM at which the whole organisation would be closed down and any monies left in the bank account given away to like minded organisations. Q/. Who can I speak to find out more information or give my thoughts on this subject if I cannot attended the meeting? Please contact Dave Goodwin or Hilary Gillespie (both Committee Members) on 01837 840334. You may also wish to contact the Charity Commission yourself to confirm the details included in this Q&A document.
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