Charity Commission's Rejection Letter of CTC Application to Register as a Charity in England and Wales
Most of you will know that the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales have rejected out of hand the application by the CTC Club for registration as a charity.
The Chairman and Chief Executive have been fighting what I consider to be a discreditable and determined rearguard action to conceal from members the comprehensive rejection of the CTC's case and disguise the importance of this outcome. Their duty is to answer to the membership and keep us informed. However, they have steadfastly refused to publish the contents of the Charity Commissioners' rejection letter.
Thanks to a Freedom of Information request to the Charity Commission, the content of the letter detailing the reasons for rejection is now available for all to read, see link:
CC's Rejection Letter to CTC request for registration as a charity in England and Wales. (see pages 2 and 4)
Kevin Mayne's gloss on October 25th was:
"...it's certainly not something I assumed we would be putting on the web site, most members have told us they are rather bored with the internal workings of CTC...... if we need to make some changes to smooth our way past the Commission we will do so in due course."
IF??? Does he not understand what the letter says, or is he trying desperately to disguise its importance?
It is quite clear that the Commission sees the CTC as essentially a Members' Club that also indulges in politics. Hardly surprising, since that is what it is. It cannot understand why the application has been made in the first place. The application for registration as a charity has been unambiguously rejected.
The Charity Commissioners recognise that the CTC already has a charitable arm and their rejection letter states: "..the Club itself is not established for exclusively charitable purposes for the public benefit. It is a members' organisation established to promote the interests of its members and provide them with benefit. It is not therefore established for exclusively charitable purposes for the public benefit."
How much clearer could that be?
Not the End of the Story
However, the CTC also made an application for registration as a charity to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. This application was accepted in Scotland on 29 August (and not reported to members at the time). What therefore, is the constitutional status of the CTC Club in England and Wales?
The technical term is 'a mess'! We now really know where we stand, don't we? No doubt the CTC will be appealing against this decision. With Kevin Mayne's imminent departure, who now will inherit this poisoned chalice?
Jeff
The Chairman and Chief Executive have been fighting what I consider to be a discreditable and determined rearguard action to conceal from members the comprehensive rejection of the CTC's case and disguise the importance of this outcome. Their duty is to answer to the membership and keep us informed. However, they have steadfastly refused to publish the contents of the Charity Commissioners' rejection letter.
Thanks to a Freedom of Information request to the Charity Commission, the content of the letter detailing the reasons for rejection is now available for all to read, see link:
CC's Rejection Letter to CTC request for registration as a charity in England and Wales. (see pages 2 and 4)
Kevin Mayne's gloss on October 25th was:
"...it's certainly not something I assumed we would be putting on the web site, most members have told us they are rather bored with the internal workings of CTC...... if we need to make some changes to smooth our way past the Commission we will do so in due course."
IF??? Does he not understand what the letter says, or is he trying desperately to disguise its importance?
It is quite clear that the Commission sees the CTC as essentially a Members' Club that also indulges in politics. Hardly surprising, since that is what it is. It cannot understand why the application has been made in the first place. The application for registration as a charity has been unambiguously rejected.
The Charity Commissioners recognise that the CTC already has a charitable arm and their rejection letter states: "..the Club itself is not established for exclusively charitable purposes for the public benefit. It is a members' organisation established to promote the interests of its members and provide them with benefit. It is not therefore established for exclusively charitable purposes for the public benefit."
How much clearer could that be?
Not the End of the Story
However, the CTC also made an application for registration as a charity to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. This application was accepted in Scotland on 29 August (and not reported to members at the time). What therefore, is the constitutional status of the CTC Club in England and Wales?
The technical term is 'a mess'! We now really know where we stand, don't we? No doubt the CTC will be appealing against this decision. With Kevin Mayne's imminent departure, who now will inherit this poisoned chalice?
Jeff
3 comments:
Thank you, Jeff. I haven't kept up with events and didn't know the outcome of the application to the Charity Commission.
After this debacle, it is difficult to have any confidence in our Chief Executive or his advisors. How much of our money and other resources have been wasted so far (and will be wasted if an appeal is made)?
Given the phrasing of the rejection letter, an appeal in E & W seems unlikely to succeed (although you can never be sure). Can we make our views known if an appeal is launched? Perhaps that would be unduly divisive?
I wonder why the Scottish Commission allowed the application there. Is charity law different in Scotland?
PS. Kevin Mayne's comment about members being bored with the internal workings of the CTC is both inaccurate (these are external matters), patronising and insulting.
Julian, I believe that it is important that we do make our views known to the CC before any appeal is lodged. They must understand that CTC management has opened up a futile,damaging, corrosive and totally unnecessary schism in the Club.
Scottish law is different from English law. Significantly, they have different definitions of "public benefit".
I think that the CTC does not understand the constitutional mess that it has created by registration in Scotland and rejection in England and Wales
Jeff
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