Finally, before deciding to set up a new charity, it is important that you understand the basic requirements about how a charity must operate.

• All charities must operate within the constraints of charity law.
• Charities must have, and carry out, wholly charitable purposes and activities. Not all purposes, even those that may be beneficial or philanthropic, are necessarily charitable.
• All charities must also be set up for the public benefit.  You must read the Public Benefit guidance on this legal requirement.
• People who run charities are called charity trustees (even if their group is called the management committee, or something else). You need to be confident that the people who will run your charity (the proposed trustee body) understand what is expected of them. We therefore advise anyone who is thinking of setting up a new charity to read our guidance. 

I have considered the alternatives and still want to set up a new charity

If, having considered all the alternatives, you think that setting up a new charity is the best way to do what you want to achieve, or if you have already set up a charity and want to register it, you should now read our guidance on registering a new charity. This explains the registration process and what you need to do before applying to register.