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<DIV><<You can talk to the Charity Commission about registering as a
charity but be aware that they seem reluctant to bestow charitable status on
organisations that seem to exist to 'entertain' regardless of your social aims -
thus Jaqui's comment about charitable aims in your existing Mem &
Arts. Indeed, I'd recommend having the same front and centre of your
constitution, web site etc before approaching the Charity Commission. We
had recent experience that suggests that, in spite of the precedents mentioned,
there is not an open door for community radio stations to become charities
unless they box clever from the outset.>></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>I'd echo that sentiment entirely. We had a lot of
problems with the Scottish Charity regulator OSCR not wanting to register the
Highlands & Islands Community Broadcasting Federation as a charity, and
after a lot of delay it turned out to be because OSCR assumed wrongly that it
was itself a radio station, rather than a support, training and education body
supporting all the community stations.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>They seemed to have a very strong opinion that almost
whatever its motives, running a radio station was not a
charitable activity. Once they realized that our primary activity was
support of the stations operating for community benefit (which had been there in
the constitution in writing all the time) it all changed and they were happy to
register us. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>We didn't have to change our constitution's objectives
at all, they were already perfectly proper for a charity, but the fact that we
were associated with radio broadcasting somehow seemed to blind the
regulator to the facts of the situation at first look.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>Alex</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>