How to receive online donations for small unregistered charity

PlutoinCapricorn

There is something else that you may not know that is worth thinking about:

the largest, household-name overseas aid and development agencies have their own offices in many countries, but smaller ones often transfer money to local partner charities who run the actual projects and aid programmes and distribute the funds. The UK charities work with, monitor and guide their overseas partners, who are often registered as charitable organisations in their own countries.

As you are still under the £5,000 threshold, the arrangement you already have may be your best option for the moment. In the meantime, looking at what other small (but registered) Tibet charities do by reading through their Trustees' Annual Reports on the CC Register and looking at their websites is a good idea.

Helper_d

I would contact Paypal, they are quite good at this sort of thing, they will probably ask you to provide some sort of documentation to support the fact that you are a charity, but because they work across many countries this doesn't necessarily mean you have to have a registered charity number.
I would definitely phone them up to ask as their website is a bit confusing and contradictory.
If you are successful they will essentially take your payments for free, or a very nominal charge, I believe.

Brassedoff

I sit on the board of three charity organisation. They are all registered with the Charity's Commission, but one which was just a local sports club did sit under the £5,000 threshold. It as a short term measure was registered with the Small Charities Coalition..

It has certain rules, is a stepping stone to going over the £5K and as a formal stepping stone will, I hope help you on the journey.

I do agree that it may be better to join forces with another national organisation. Costs can vary, but the Sports club I mentioned above published costs of £16,500+ this year on a take of only £48,000. You can see, the costs can and do rack up.

You have the Tibet Foundation
Tibet Relief Fund
And The Offical Tibet Charity, Tibet House Trust, started by the Dalai Lama

ustvmad

Sorry but you can be a charity whose income falls below the threshold to register. The Charity Commission website has a dedicated section of guidance for these small charities.

The Institute of Fundraising also has good guidance pages on methods of fundraising and legislation