Charity - Is it normal for the CEO to be paid.

jamesmorgan

assj wrote: »

Would it be unfair for me to go into the charity with the view that I would eventually become a full time employee, reliant on the charity for my income, whilst giving it my best too!
:

You need to be clear what type of role you would be performing. Most full time roles within charities require specialist skills and/or qualifications. A lot of people within charities are employed in fundraising roles (essentially sales and marketing). Charities involved in social services may require social workers and nurses. Animal charities may need vets or people trained in animal welfare. Most charities also need IT workers. Most unskilled roles within a charity can be undertaken by volunteers.

Charitymanager

daveyjp wrote: »

As soon as a charity needs paid staff it needs to set up a trading arm.

Sorry that is totally incorrect. A charity can quite legitimately employ people and certainly doesnt need to set up a trading arm to do so. The only situation in which it must set up a trading arm is when its non primary purpose trading exceeds set limits.

daveyjp

Its not incorrect. Full time paid staff require a salary, holidays, pension payments etc etc. Once a contract of employment enters the frame it moves away from charity to trading.

One off payments can be made to trustees for particular servces they give over and above being a trustee, but this does not make them full time paid staff as alluded to by the OP.

Charitymanager

It is I am afraid incorrect. It may require you to incorporate in some way, but that is not the same as having a trading arm. A charity can employ staff without 'trading' in charity law terms. There is absolutely no need to establish a dedicated trading subsidiary, otherwise the vast majority of the voluntary sector are breaking regulations.

Charitymanager

daveyjp wrote: »

Its not incorrect. Full time paid staff require a salary, holidays, pension payments etc etc. Once a contract of employment enters the frame it moves away from charity to trading.

One off payments can be made to trustees for particular servces they give over and above being a trustee, but this does not make them full time paid staff as alluded to by the OP.

A charity can quite legitimately employ ft paid staff and remain a charity. You only have to read charity commission guidelines to evidence that.

[Deleted User]

Ok well I don't know whos going to win the above...

Anyway, whos got a small charity (shop or like) here?

heretolearn_2

Hi

My firm specialises in services for charities and our boss is one of the people who is consulted on charity legislation changes, ...so we know our onions.

It is absolutely not necessary to have a trading arm to employ people. Employing people is completely within the remit of a charity, whether it's a charitable company or a charitable trust makes no difference either.

We work with many small charities who have employees; it's not just the very large ones. It may be only one admin person for a few hours a week, it may be one full time manager, or it may be a whole team, but there is no restriction on charities employing people in a general sense (there are some restrictions on employing trustees of the charity).

Anyway OP, you do sound all a bit vague about it. You can't set up a charity with the aim of raising funds for other charities. I also think it's unlikely that a charity would be interested in a volunteer who makes future employment a condition of their volunteering, to be honest. There are lots of ways to 'do your bit' but you don't even have a cause you are interested in supporting.

Was your query as it initially seemed - can I set up a charity as an easy way of giving myself a job? No, it doesn't really work that way. Not saying it never happens, but it shouldn't work that way. And the damage to your reputation should it all come out (and people do take an interest in how charities operate) isn't worth it. Or the risk of prosecution for fraud if you aren't clever enough about it. I know a lady who set up a charity and ran it for several years perfectly honestly then fell foul of temptation and started using it to employ herself and her partner...she was then making personal gain from the charitable funds...things got a bit odd financially...long term volunteer went to police and the founder ended up in jail. (not one of my clients, this was a charity I got involved with briefly in its early days as a volunteer and read about all the events in local papers).

[Deleted User]

Thanks for your reply, I haven't really got anything in mind, I was just asking some questions for my own knowledge really.

I didn't want to set up a charity to fund another, I was simply saying that I wouldn't start a charity, when I could pay another to do the same work.

I was trying to get to the point of, do people just create charities to earn quick £'s or even lazy £'s. Now I am NOT saying that's what all do, but I have seen some rather odd ones opening on my local High Street over the last few years and most seem to have little or no custom...

Savvy_Sue

assj wrote: »

I was trying to get to the point of, do people just create charities to earn quick £'s or even lazy £'s. Now I am NOT saying that's what all do, but I have seen some rather odd ones opening on my local High Street over the last few years and most seem to have little or no custom...

Setting up a charity is not a way of 'earning' quick or lazy bucks. It's hard work, and there are rightly hoops to jump through, to check it's really for charitable purposes and to ensure it's going to be run properly.

I think you also need to distinguish between a charity, and a charity shop. Charity shops may well be run by the trading arm of a charity, but again, it's not an easy way to raise money.

Charityworker

I am the paid manager of a charity. Sadly by salary is £5056 though, not the £100,000 salaries mentioned earlier in the thread.