Charities - is two signatures compulsary?

DemiDee

Does anyone here know if you need a minimum of two siggys in order to register a charity with HMRC and, later, with the Charities Commission? Or is one signature acceptable? We all live quite a distance apart and not only is this going to a pain with regards to meetings, but also with regards to joint signatures.

Savvy_Sue

You may be able to get 'virtual meetings' into your constitution / governing document with the Charities Commission.

Banks can be more of a problem, I'm not sure if it's compulsory but it's certainly normal, for very good and obvious reasons. Also if you are applying for grants / funding, some funders will only fund organisations which do have an account which needs two signatories.

That problem is easier to work around if you can do most of your banking online: I'm currently throwing out old cheque books (over 10 years old!) and we used to get through one every couple of months. Now it's far less than that because we make nearly all our payments online: one person submits the payment, the other authorises. In an emergency, I've even had the details emailed to me so that I can make a payment from home. Unity Trust is our bank, but CAF I know also offers an online account.

DemiDee

Thank you, Sue. You give such invaluable advice on here, and I know you have been doing so for some time. If there was a 'double thanks' button, I'd use it! Our local voluntary advice organisation said to me that virtual meetings could not be put into a constitution unless you could 'see' each person (ie. via webcam). Of course, that would be difficult.

Savvy_Sue

DemiDee wrote: »

Thank you, Sue. You give such invaluable advice on here, and I know you have been doing so for some time. If there was a 'double thanks' button, I'd use it! Our local voluntary advice organisation said to me that virtual meetings could not be put into a constitution unless you could 'see' each person (ie. via webcam). Of course, that would be difficult.

Thanks!

your local voluntary organisation are well placed to advise you. However, is 'seeing' each person via webcam that difficult? webcams aren't that expensive, Skype and VOIP are not too hard to access.

Mojisola

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Banks can be more of a problem, I'm not sure if it's compulsory but it's certainly normal, for very good and obvious reasons. Also if you are applying for grants / funding, some funders will only fund organisations which do have an account which needs two signatories.

Although it's going to be difficult, it's essential to have things set up like this. You know you are honest and wouldn't take advantage of the charity but what about the next person and the one after that?

vka1

Ditto all that's been said above. Two signatures are required for fraud prevention and ensuring any financial or other decision is made collectively and in the best interests of the group, and it's not just one person's pet project. Grant funders are likely to insist on this as basic eligibility check (i.e they won't even read your application and reject you immediately if you don't have two minimum), same with banks in my experience, when opening an account. They'll also ask you for an exceprt of minutes confirming that the people signing the form have been given permission to open the bank account by the committee.

Re virtual meetings - I think this is ok. As long as a meeting is properly organised, it should be possible i.e. time and notices issued in advance, a record of the meeting and those involved noted. It wouldn't, however, be recommended for AGM or other general meetings.

This stuff is techincal and dull in the early stages of setting things up, but will stand you in very good stead for the future,

V

Horace

I know of a charity that made the mistake of having one signatory on the cheques, they thought it was great until they couldn't get hold of the Treasurer and they soon discovered that she had been busily writing cheques made payable to either herself or members of her family - the charity lost thousands and nearly went under if it wasn't for the fact that the Trustees each contributed something to keep it afloat and they changed the constitution and voted in a new Treasurer and they now have two signatories on the cheques.

DemiDee

Horace, that's terrible, and a warning to us all really, as to why it is better to have two signatories.

My big problem is that members of the group are scattered around the country, so any account would need to be conducted over the internet rather than via cheques, ideally. I am wondering how Paypal payments and suchlike are made if two people have to confirm?

rb10

DemiDee wrote: »

My big problem is that members of the group are scattered around the country, so any account would need to be conducted over the internet rather than via cheques, ideally. I am wondering how Paypal payments and suchlike are made if two people have to confirm?

Bank accounts:

CAF Bank, and see in particular their section on online banking.
Unity Trust Bank