Public Benefit – Andrew Hind – Chief Executive of the Charity Commission

Charities are unique amongst organisations. The core thing that makes them so is the benefit they deliver. After last year’s unprecedented response to our consultation on the principles of public benefit, we published our general guidance to trustees last month (January) to help them identify and report on the benefit they bring.

It comes down to two essential principles and, within each, key criteria which all charities have to meet to show their aims are for the public benefit.

The first principle is that carrying out the charity’s aims must deliver an identifiable benefit or benefits to the public. Identifiable doesn’t have to mean measurable. While charities which, say, provide shelter for the homeless can quantify their benefits, the benefits of appreciating fine art, for example, cannot be quantified. But as long as it’s clear what the benefits are, they will be taken into account.

Each of a charity’s aims must be beneficial and be balanced against any detriment or harm arising. In some cases there may be clearly more harm than benefit – promoting hated of others, for example. In others, the balance may be more finely struck – such as balancing the health benefits of participating in a dangerous sport against the risk of injury. In judging whether harm arise we’ll need to see real evidence, not just assume it.

The second key principle is that benefit must be to the public or a section of the public. What matters most is  not the actual numbers benefiting, but who has  the opportunity to benefit.

So, a charitable facility to help addicts may only offer a limited number of places, but anyone who could qualify must be able to apply for them. Where benefit is to a section of the public rather than the public generally, restrictions on who can benefit shouldn’t be unreasonable. What’s reasonable or unreasonable depends on what the charity is set up to do.

It’s also important that people in poverty are nnot excluded from the opportunity to benefit – particularly pertinent for charities charging high fees. the lower the fees the greater the number who can benefit, but that doesn’t mean that subsidy is the only solution. An arts charity, for example, might broadcast concerts via radio or an independent school work in partnership with a local state school.

Charities and Public Benefit  - the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit, provide greater detail on these principles and also explains the degree of public benefit we require.

Andrew Hind is the Chief Executive of the Charity Commission. see www.charitycommission.gov.uk/publicbenefit