Fundraising for a Community Interest Company

fengirl_2

I understand that CIC's can't register as charities as the directors/trustees are allowed to benefit.
It is a myth that charities are not allowed to trade. In the case of the organisation in question, if the charity was set up to provide training for beneficiaries and the vehicle for that training was the running of a business, eg a cafe, gardening, odd jobs, whatever, then that would be classed as primary purpose trading and is allowable within the charity.
Other charities might sell some of their expertise to others and this is fine provided the income from these sources does not exceed 25% of their turnover in any year.
Charities such as Oxfam have set up trading arms as clearly the income they get from shops and online tradining gives them a huge income, but for smaller charities, it is usually not necessary.
I used to work for a charity which provided a variety of learning opportunities for people with learning difficulties and in fact just over a year ago they started a computer recycling and IT project for people with Aspergers. The key to the beneficiaries' involvement in the project is the gaining of NVQ's, etc in not only IT, but customer service, basic skills, etc. As such, the work is wholly charitable and the trading income can go back to the charity.