There are five ways to set up a charity in Jersey: an unincorporated association, an incorporated association, a company limited by guarantee, a charitable trust or a foundation. This page explains what each one is, who it suits, and what you have to do to set it up.
If you want to call your organisation a charity in Jersey, or claim exemption from tax, you must register with the Jersey Charity Commissioner under the Charities (Jersey) Law 2014. Read the Commissioner’s guidance for charities before you decide what to do.
You can also get guidance and help from the Government of Jersey at gov.je.
See our page on becoming a member
Setting up a charity is a serious commitment. Work through these four questions first.
- Is a charity the best way forward?
- You can raise money for a cause without setting up a charity at all.
- There may be simpler ways to achieve what you want.
- An existing charity may already do what you have in mind.
- Is there an existing charity set up for your chosen cause?
- Search our member directory and the Jersey Charity Commissioner’s public register. Jersey has over 1,000 recorded not-for-profit organisations.
- If your cause is UK-wide, check the Charity Commission register for England and Wales as well.
- Setting up a branch of an existing charity is often easier than starting a new one.
- Do you know what setting up a charity involves?
- There are five legal structures to choose from.
- The right structure depends on what your charity will do.
- Setting up costs money. The amount depends on the structure you choose.
- Do you know what running a charity involves?
- You must be a member of the Association to apply for most of our grants. We hold a limited fund for non-members.
- Several laws govern how a charity is set up and run.
- A charity must be set up and run for stated charitable purposes and for public benefit. Raising money for a good cause is not enough on its own.
- You need enough committed people to fill the roles. Most structures require at least three unpaid officers.
- You will need a bank account. Most Jersey retail banks offer charity accounts.
- If you decide to go ahead, the guide below covers the main points but not everything. Always take advice from a qualified lawyer, accountant or Chartered Secretary before you commit.
Unincorporated association or ‘club’
An unincorporated association, or club, is the simplest way to set up a charity. It is cheap to start and easy to run, and you can convert it to a more formal structure later as the organisation grows.
It is a group of people, called members, with a shared purpose. It has no legal identity of its own. That means the members are personally responsible for what the organisation does and for what it fails to do. Your constitution sets out what each member is responsible for.
Suitable for organisations:
- with few assets and few members
- that want to stay informal and keep set-up costs low
- whose work is done mainly by members volunteering, mainly for the benefit of those members
Unsuitable for organisations:
- with substantial money or assets, or that employ staff*
- that will sign significant contracts*
- whose charitable work carries commercial risk*
- that may want to borrow money
- that may want to bring a legal claim
- that will own property, rent it for more than nine years, or expect to inherit property under a will
* You can still do these things as an unincorporated association. But because the association has no legal identity of its own, the members personally carry the risk of any contract and are personally responsible for the association’s debts.
Requirements:
- A constitution. We provide a template you can adapt.
- To join the Association you need a management committee of at least three unpaid officers — a Chair, a Treasurer and a Secretary — and at least 10 members in total. The officers count towards the 10.
- You must prepare annual accounts, but you do not have to file them with any authority. If you have them audited, the auditor must be independent and appointed by the members.
- You may appoint a Patron.
- We strongly recommend trustee liability insurance to protect the charity and its officers.
Registration procedures:
- You must register with the Jersey Charity Commissioner by sending the documents and information the Commissioner requires. After that you must send an annual return every year.
- Our annual membership fee depends on your charity’s expenditure and ranges from £27 to £501. See Becoming a Member for the bands.
- To claim income tax exemption, send your constitution to the Comptroller of Taxes for approval.
- You must also register with the Jersey Financial Services Commission under the Non-Profit Organizations (Jersey) Law 2008.
You can download a template 'unincorporated association' constitution here
Incorporated Association
This is a legal entity incorporated under the Lois (1862 et 1963) sur les teneures en fidéicommis et l'incorporation d'associations (the “1862 Law”). Unlike the Unincorporated Association it is a legal entity with an existence independent of its members. The Incorporated Association is able to acquire and own immoveable property whether by sale contract, lease or by testamentary disposition (i.e. being left under a will).
Otherwise, the Incorporated Association is run in a similar way to an unincorporated association, having a membership and management committee or board of trustees (‘the governors’). The governors have joint and several unlimited liability and liability indemnity insurance is therefore recommended.
The Incorporated Association is a relatively inexpensive and easy to administer vehicle and is the principal vehicle for a charity that intends to own or has the potential to inherit immoveable property.
Suitable for organisations:
- Established to principally benefit their own members;
- wanting the ability to acquire and own immovable property in Jersey, either by donations, purchase, rental, or testamentary disposition; or
- wanting a legal identity separate from that from its members for example because of its intending to enter into substantial contracts or potentially wishing to borrow money.
- By way of example, all the so-called “housing trusts” in Jersey are associations incorporated under the 1862 Law.
Unsuitable for organisations:
- which have no intention of acquiring immoveable property; or
- having a purpose other than set out in Article 1 of the Law (see below). However the Court in practice takes a wide construction of the word “bienfaisance” (philanthropy) so that a dog club for example has been incorporated as a société de bienfaisance. It is uncertain whether an application for the incorporation of an association for conservation or ecological purposes would be successful as a strict interpretation of the 1862 Law might require the Court to refuse to grant an act of incorporation. An alternative route to incorporation for organisations that the Court does not have jurisdiction to incorporate under the 1862 Law (e.g. for a religious or educational purpose) would be the passing an Act of the States sanctioned by Order of His Majesty in Council.
Requirements:
- Advice should be sought from a lawyer, an accountant, a Chartered Secretary and / or Jersey Business before creating an Incorporated Association.
- To become incorporated under the 1862 Law, an association needs to have any of the following purposes: (i) any cause of public utility, which is generally interpreted as meaning anything which may be useful to the public (ii) the use and profit of commercial or industrial associations, societies for bienfaisance [philanthropy], fine arts or sports. Bien-faisance has a wider meaning than the strict legal definition of charity, and can encompass activities which are philanthropic rather than charitable (iii) for service in Anglican worship or that of another religion or (iv) for the establishment of schools and other places of learning.
- A constitutional document, a sample of which is available from the Association of Jersey Charities.
- In order to qualify for membership of the Association of Jersey Charities, an Incorporated Association must have a Management Committee (which should not be paid positions) consisting of at least 3 officers - a Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary, and have at least 10 members, which can include the officers of the Incorporated Association.
- Annual accounts are to be made, but without the requirement to submit such accounts to any authority. If the accounts are audited this must be done by an independent person appointed by the members.
- The Society may have a Patron.
- Obtaining trustee liability insurance to protect the financial position of the charity and its officers is strongly recommended.
Registration procedures:
- Once the relevant section of the Law has been brought into force registration of the charity will be required by submission of prescribed documentation and information to the Commissioner. An annual return detailing prescribed information is to be sent to the Commissioner each year.
- An application will need to be made to the Judicial Greffe in accordance with the Law for the incorporation of the association. A draft demande and declaration can be found on the Association of Jersey Charities website. The application must be submitted with these documents and draft constitution. The Court stamp fee is currently £60.
- Once the unincorporated association has been constituted a declaration is to be made to the Royal Court stating the name of a designated person representing the association, and in due course any replacement of that person.
- The constitution of the incorporated association may not be amended without the permission of the Court.
- The Association of Jersey Charities annual membership fee for Incorporated Associations is currently £15.
- To apply for Income Tax exemption on the basis of the charitable purposes of the organisation, the Association’s constitutional documentation is to be submitted to the Comptroller of Taxes for his approval.
- An application must be made to the Jersey Financial Services Commission to register under the Non-Profit Organizations (Jersey) Law 2008.
You can download a template 'incorporated association' constitution here
Company Limited by Guarantee
The use of a company limited by guarantee provides for legal separation and limitation of the liability of the members. It may be that a company is included as part of the overall corporate structure of a charity.
Suitable for organisations:
- intending to undertake trading activities;
- employing paid staff;
- delivering charitable services under contractual agreements; or
- wanting to have legal identity and liability separate from that of its members.
Unsuitable for organisations:
- intending to own or rent for a term of more than 9 years Jersey real estate or that hopes to benefit under Wills of real estate;
- wanting to be run with relative informality and minimum set up costs; or
- having a wider membership which it is intended should vote on important decisions.
Requirements:
- Advice should be sought from a lawyer, an accountant, a Chartered Secretary and / or Jersey Business before incorporating a company.
- A company, limited by guarantee has founder members who guarantee to provide an agreed amount to pay for the liquidation of the company. The amount of the guarantee is recorded in the company’s Memorandum of Association and is usually £1.
- The constitutional documents of a company are its Memorandum and Articles of Association.
- A company is controlled by a board of Directors. The initial Director or Directors are appointed by the members. Thereafter the Directors may appoint additional Directors. Directors can be removed from office by the members in General meeting (or in writing, if provided for in its Articles).
- In order to qualify for membership of the Association of Jersey Charities a company must have a minimum of three (3) Directors who should not be paid for performing this role.
- There are requirements to hold various documents at the Registered Office of the company (which must be in Jersey). These can be found detailed in the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991.
- Accounts are required to be produced on an Annual basis. Accounts should be submitted to the tax office, no taxation is due on income if exemption is granted. The requirement for audit can be disapplied in the company’s Articles of Association.
- A company limited by guarantee as a vehicle for a charity cannot distribute its surpluses to its members and can only use its assets to carry out its charitable purposes.
- A company limited by guarantee as a vehicle for a charity must operate in a way which is in the best interests of the charity.
- Obtaining trustee liability insurance to protect the financial position of the charity and its officers is strongly recommended.
Registration procedures:
- Once the relevant section of the Law has been brought into force registration of the charity will be required by submission of prescribed documentation and information to the Commissioner. An annual return detailing prescribed information is to be sent to the Commissioner each year.
- Details in connection with the applications for the Registration of a Company can be found at The Jersey Financial Services Commission Registry.
- The Association of Jersey Charities’ annual membership fee for companies is currently £15.
- To apply for Income Tax exemption on the basis of the charitable purposes of the organisation, the company’s constitutional documentation must be submitted to the Comptroller of Taxes for his approval.
- An application must made to the Jersey Financial Services Commission to register under the Non-Profit Organizations (Jersey) Law 2008.
Charitable Trust
A Jersey trust is a vehicle frequently used for charities, both discretionary trusts with a class of beneficiaries and trusts having charitable purposes instead of beneficiaries. Both are governed by the Trusts (Jersey) Law 1984 (the “Law”) and case law.
The charitable purpose trust was first established by case law, and then enshrined in the Law, to ensure that the trust might not fail due to lack of certainty about the identity of the beneficiaries, and to provide for the compulsory appointment of an enforcer to ensure that the trustee performs its duties properly. However in practice purposes trusts are used less frequently than the discretionary trust with a class of beneficiaries, as the constitutional vehicle for a charitable trust.
The Trustees have both joint and several unlimited liability and it is prudent therefore for charitable trusts to have trustee liability insurance in place.
Suitable where:
- an individual settlor is seeking to establish a tax efficient vehicle for charitable giving through a trust structure; and
- it is intended that the trust is to have either a clearly defined class of beneficiaries or is to be restricted to applying the whole of the trust property to charitable purposes. “Charitable purposes” here may be broadly defined by reference for example to the meaning of “charitable” according to the laws of Jersey from time to time.
Unsuitable where:
- it is intended that the trust will acquire, hold or dispose of immovable property in Jersey.
Requirements
- Advice should be sought from a lawyer, an accountant, a Chartered Secretary and / or Jersey Business before creating a Trust.
- The activity of a Charitable Trust is governed by its Trust Instrument.
- A Trust has one or more Settlors who provide the initial funds for the Trust. Once funds are Settled into a Trust they are held by Trustees to be used for the specified purposes or for the benefit of the specified beneficiaries.
- In order to qualify for membership of the Association of Jersey Charities the trust must have a minimum of three (3) trustees who should not be paid for fulfilling this role.
- For a charitable purpose trust, the trust instrument must provide for an Enforcer.
- A Board of Trustees which may act either by unanimous or majority vote.
- Accounts are required to be produced on an annual basis. Accounts should be submitted to the Comptroller for Taxes.
- The requirement for audit can be included in the Trust Instrument but is not compulsory.
- Obtaining trustee liability insurance to protect the financial position of the charity and its officers is strongly recommended.
Registration procedures:
- Once the relevant section of the Law has been brought into force registration of the charitable trust will be required by submission of prescribed documentation and information to the Jersey Charity Commissioner. An annual return detailing prescribed information is to be sent to the Commissioner each year.
- To apply for Income Tax exemption on the basis of the charitable purposes of the trust, the trust’s constitutional documentation must be submitted to the Comptroller of Taxes for his approval.
- An application must be made to Jersey Financial Services Commission to register under the Non-Profit Organizations (Jersey) Law 2008.
- Membership fee for the Association of Jersey Charities, currently, £15 annually. In order to qualify for membership of the Association of Jersey Charities a Trust must have a minimum of three (3) trustees.
Foundations
A Foundation is a legal entity that is a hybrid of a Trust and a Company. It is similar to a company in that it is governed by a council in accordance with its charter and regulations and is a body corporate, but is also like a trust in that a foundation must have one or more objects which may be a purpose (charitable or non-charitable) and/or be for the benefit of one or more beneficiaries.
There are costs associated with the establishment of a Foundation. The Foundation will exist for a period of one hundred years or shorter period as determined in the Foundation documentation.
Suitable where:
- a settlor is seeking to establish a tax efficient vehicle for charitable giving; and
- individual settlors wish to retain a level of overview and control of the management of their private wealth structure, whilst not retaining any direct ownership or interest.
Unsuitable for:
- an entity that intends to acquire, hold or dispose of immovable property in Jersey or engage in commercial trading that is not incidental to the attainment of its objects.
Requirements:
- Advice should be sought from a lawyer, accountant, a Chartered Secretary and / or Jersey Business before creating a Foundation.
- Charitable Foundations can be formed in Jersey under the Foundations (Jersey) Law 2009.
- A Charitable Foundation has the following:
- a Charter that complies with the requirements of the law;
- a name that is detailed in the Charter, there are restrictions on the name to be used;
- charitable objects;
- Council members, these may be included in the Charter;
- a “Qualified Member” amongst its Council members, i.e. someone who is registered with the Jersey Financial Services Commission (“JFSC”) to carry on trust company business. This is an obligation with potentially significant financial cost.
- an initial endowment, funds to be used for the objects of the Foundation;
- details of what is to happen to any assets of the Foundation upon a winding up; and
- a Guardian, who cannot also be a member of the Council. The role of The Guardian is to ensure that the Council carries out the objects of the Foundation.
- In order to qualify for membership of the Association of Jersey Charities a foundation must have a minimum of three (3) Council members who should not be paid for fulfilling this role..
- Obtaining trustee liability insurance to protect the financial position of the charity and its officers is strongly recommended.
Registration:
- The Charter is to be filed with the Registrar and available for public inspection at the JFSC.
- Once the relevant section of the Charities (Jersey) 2014 has been brought into force registration of the charitable foundation will be required by submission of prescribed documentation and information to the Commissioner. An annual return detailing prescribed information is to be sent to the Commissioner each year.
- To apply for Income Tax exemption on the basis of the charitable purposes of the trust, the foundation’s constitutional documentation must be submitted to the Comptroller of Taxes for his approval.
- An application must be made to the JFSC to register under the Non-Profit Organizations (Jersey) Law 2008.
- Membership fee for the Association of Jersey Charities, currently, £15 annually. In order to qualify for membership of the Association of Jersey Charities a Foundation must have a minimum of three (3) Council Members.
Glossary
Accounts – Historic records of the financial activities of an entity
Association of Jersey Charities – The representative body for charities in Jersey. We distribute Jersey’s share of the profits from the Channel Islands Lottery.
Audit – Independent review of the Accounts and or Statutory Records of an entity
Auditor – A qualified individual who makes a living from providing an Audit
Beneficiary – Person or group of people who can benefit from the assets held in a Trust
Chairman – Person who heads up the committee
Vice Chairman – Person who steps into the Chairman’s role at meetings if the Chairman is unavailable
Committee – Group of individuals who manage the affairs of an entity
Company – A separate legal entity with statutory rules to control its operation
Constitution – Set of rules for an organisation
Corporate Governance – The way in which companies and legal entities are governed, directed and controlled and to what purpose. It refers to how the entity is perceived by it Stakeholders
Director – A person who manages the affairs and activities of a Company
Donations – Amounts given by members of the community to the charity. These may be money or assets or services
Founders – The equivalent of the first/subscriber shareholders in the Company limited by Guarantee
Memorandum and Articles of Association – The set of rules for the control of a Company. The memorandum of association is the document that sets up the company and the articles of association is the document that sets out how the company is run, governed and owned.
Patron – A figurehead for the charity. This may be a well known member of the community or celebrity or member of the Royal family
The Royal Court – The highest Court in Jersey to which all disputes involving Charities are to be taken
Secretary – Person responsible for the administrative records of the entity. Works closely with the Chairman and the board of Directors or Trustees
Settlor – Person who provides initial assets for the creation of a Trust
Shareholder – A person or entity that invests in and provides capital for a Company
Stakeholders – Wider group of people connected with the entity, shareholders, staff, local and national government, pressure groups, charities etc
Statutory Records – The papers of an entity that required to be kept by law
Treasurer – Person responsible for the financial records of the entity and preparing the Accounts
Trust – A separate legal entity where one person, The Settlor, gifts assets to a second, The Trustee, for the benefit of a third, The Beneficiary. Once assets are gifted to a Trust there is no further legal ownership or entitlement to the assets.
Trust Instrument – Written document that governs the activities of the Trust and the Trustees
Trustee – Person who looks after the assets settled into a Trust to ensure the purposes are achieved
