Over 100,000 charitable bequests are made each year. However, every year, over £1 million is left to misnamed charities. This note explains the eight ways that personal representatives can work out who should receive an ambiguous charitable gift. The problem It is not unusual for a testator to misdescribe a charity in their will. The most common mistake is to try to leave money to ‘cancer research’ ...
The Charity Commission enjoys a range of protective powers under the Charities Act 2011. This note looks at the conditions that must be met before the Commission may exercise those powers, with a specific focus on the powers contained in s76 of the Act ...
To mark Charity Fraud Awareness Week on 21 October Shoosmiths hosted a webinar with Jonathan Taylor, head of charities and care at Innovation Broking, entitled ‘Charity fraud and cybercrime: prevention and cure’. New figures show charities reported £8.6 million of lost funds in the last financial year and more than 1,000 incidents of fraud to Action Fraud, but the true scale of fraud against charities is believed to be much higher ...
A summary of the key takeaways from a recent webinar Charities legal and regulatory preview. "Prevention rather than cure: understand and embrace the quiet revolution in charity regulation" Not our words, but those of the Chief Executive of the Charity Commission back in April when she spoke of the potential of My Charity Commission Account being rolled out for all charity trustees ...
The Charities Bill has been a long time coming. More than ten years ago the Law Commission set out to undertake a targeted review of areas of charity law identified as causing uncertainty and carrying a disproportionate regulatory or administrative burden ...
Despite the risk of ‘greenwashing’ and some calls for business to row back from ‘non-essential’ commitments to focus on the bottom line of shareholder return, surely on a small planet of limited and dwindling resources which is getting ever hotter, a focus on ESG remains the general direction of travel, and Planet and People continue to count, not just Profit ...
There is much scope for charities to work more closely with business for mutual benefit, going beyond the provision of traditional CSR support, in order to address big problems facing all of us. The latest annual survey commissioned by the Charity Commission found that trust in charities had increased: the past 18 months have concentrated attention on how certain national institutions and prominent organisations have responded positively in a time of crisis ...
The Management and Supervision of Legal Entities Act (Wet Bestuur en Toezicht Rechtspersonen, hereinafter referred to as the "Wbtr") aims to improve the quality of management and supervision of various Dutch legal entities, such as associations, cooperatives and foundations. A number of articles of law in the field of management and supervision, which now only apply to Dutch BVs and Dutch NVs, will also become applicable to these legal entities ...
Trusts are used as a structuring mechanism in a range of legal contexts including wealth and succession planning, pensions, philanthropy, investment funds and various other commercial settings ...
The Threats California is used to wildfires. But the Golden State's record-breaking 2020 wildfire season was particularly brutal. A blistering heat wave fueled dozens of simultaneous fires – conditions that spurred Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a statewide state of emergency. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their residences. But, was not – and is not – the only threats California residents face ...
In February 2012, the FATF published the revised FATF Recommendations (also known as the Standards). The Standards continue to develop to detect and prevent new money laundering and terrorist-financing techniques impacting the international financial system, such as misuse of virtual assets and COVID-19 related threats ...
