Charity Newsletter Winter 2020

Welcome to the November 2020 edition of Mitchell Charlesworth’s charity newsletter.

The Covid-19 crisis has presented charities with an incredibly challenging set of circumstances. In this edition we cover some of the key issues you may be facing and how to deal with them, including remote auditing and financial reporting considerations, filing charity annual returns during the pandemic, where and how to access funding, and managing your finances effectively by going back to basics.

The responsibilities of trustees are heightened in the pandemic and we explore some of the governance issues trustees need to have control of in order to run their charities as effectively as possible. We also look at a new set of guides designed to help trustees run their charities in accordance with charity law, which have recently been launched by the Charity Commission.

VAT partner, Alison Birch, outlines HMRC’s brief on VAT and digital advertising by charities, which confirms that many forms of online advertising will now be zero-rated.

We report on research from the Fundraising Regulator which found that just one in five charities fully comply with fundraising reporting duties, and we also share some tips on how charities can become fraud aware and remain safe online.

Finally, we have news on some of our new client wins.

As always, we hope you find the articles in this issue useful. If you have any suggestions for topics for inclusion in future editions, please do let us know. If you have any questions about any of the articles, or would like to arrange a meeting, please contact one of our charity partners here.