Set up a charity: Ensure your charity has a charitable purpose
Your charity must fall under one of the 12 descriptions of charitable purposes.
To be a charity in Northern Ireland, your organisations must have a charitable purpose that is for public benefit.
The 12 descriptions of charitable purposes, under the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008, are:
- the prevention or relief of poverty
- the advancement of education
- the advancement of religion
- the advancement of health or the saving of lives
- the advancement of citizenship or community development
- the advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science
- the advancement of amateur sport
- the advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation or the promotion of religious or racial harmony or equality and diversity
- the advancement of environmental protection or improvement
- the relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage
- the advancement of animal welfare
- any other charitable purpose
If any of your purposes are outside this list, then your organisation cannot be a charity in Northern Ireland.
Public benefit rules for charities
Your charity’s ‘purpose’ is what it is set up to achieve. For an organisation to be a charity, each of its purposes must be for the public benefit. The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland has produced statutory .
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