RCN to no longer be a charity

Governance | Vibeka Mair | 10 Nov 2009

The Royal College of Nursing has decided to no longer be a charity.

Members of the RCN voted last week to no longer have charitable status and instead to set up a separate charitable foundation.

An RCN spokeswoman said that the changes to its legal structure were necessary to comply with the requirement that all objectives of a charity have to be charitable. The RCN has one charter objective that is not charitable – its trade union objective.

Under the new structure, the RCN will continue to fulfil its professional and trade union functions. The RCN will also be able to apply to the new Foundation for grants to fund those activities it carries out that are charitable.

The RCN will now seek Privy Council approval for the changes agreed by members.

Dr Peter Carter (pictured), chief executive of RCN said: “These changes are essential to the future of RCN. While the amendment changes the legal structure of the RCN, members should be reassured that they will continue to receive the same high quality services as now.”

Some 22,488 RCN members (99.5 per cent of members) voted for being no longer a charity and setting up a RCN charitable foundations as a separate legal entity. Some 1,047 voted against and 525 abstained.

A RCN spokesperson said the charity was in the process of agreeing it with the Charity Commission and there would be more details in the new year.

A Charity Commission spokeswoman said: "The Commission has been in detailed discussion with The Royal College of Nursing (registered charity number 273463) since July 2008 about formally separating the charitable and non-charitable elements of the RCN's work. We had reached agreement in principle on a number of issues and, following the RCN members' and the Privy Council's agreement, we are working with RCN to authorise and implement specific elements of the separation process that require formal authority from the Commission. That will include considering registration of the proposed new charitable Foundation."

Meanwhile, the Scottish charity regulator OSCR has released guidance on how it intends to apply the public benefit test in future to charities and applicants that are apparently not carrying out activities, including ‘anticipatory’ charities such as shell trusts.

Directory: Royal College of Nursing
Who's Who: Vibeka Mair

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