Monday 2 July 2012

Would trustees find it helpful if some or all of our guidance, or a summary of it, were available in pdf format?

Our new guidance has been designed specifically to be read online and so there is not currently a text-only pdf version of it available. However, our Public Benefit Team can email on request a text-only Word version of all the material that constitutes our draft public benefit guidance.

We have presented the guidance in its new online format so that it can be read in conjunction with all the other supporting material we have produced (such as the new FAQs for trustees and summary document, the new material we have prepared which sits outside of the guidance but informs it - such as the guidance on political purposes and trustee decision making) and to show how it links to other guidance on our website, such as our Equality Act guidance. That package of guidance is difficult to reproduce as one linear document.

Our new public benefit guidance is not designed to be read in a linear way, but rather to enable trustees to read (and print off if necessary) only those sections that are relevant for their charity.

However, we have produced a summary document which summarises all the key points in the guidance. This can be printed off as one document.

One of the main reasons we opted to present our public benefit guidance in this new 'modular' online format was to respond to criticisms from trustees and sector commentators that our existing guidance (which is contained in a single document) is too long and off-putting for busy trustees to read and that not all of the guidance contained in it is relevant for every charity's circumstances.

Trustees only have a duty to have regard to our public benefit guidance where it is relevant, and so our aim is to present our guidance in a way which more easily enables trustees to select, and have regard to, only the guidance which is relevant for them.

However, we welcome views on whether trustees would find it helpful if we provided the option to view, or download, pdf versions of:

* the whole of our public benefit guidance
* each section of our public benefit guidance
* the summary document

32 comments:

  1. Yes, trustees would find it helpful to be able to access a PDF of the whole draft guidance - as would professional advisers, other charity stakeholders and the general public.

    To facilitate understanding, so that comments offered on the consultation are based on a clear and well-informed understanding of what you are proposing in your revised guidance, this is surely essential?

    Regarding the final version, when it is issued, options to view and download, pdf versions of:

    1. The whole of the revised public benefit guidance - this is essential
    2. Each section of the revised public benefit guidance - this is desirable
    3. A summary document - this is desirable

    (Comment offered by a professional legal adviser and governance specialist working with charities, who is also a volunteer charity trustee)

    ReplyDelete
  2. PLEASE PLEASE PROVIDE PDF'S OF ALL YOUR DOCUEMNTS, NOT JUST ON PUBLIC BENEFIT.IT WOULD MAKE MY LIFE AS A TRUSTEE SO MUCH EASIER. THANK YOU

    ReplyDelete
  3. While accommodating those preferring not to read long documents is commendable, it is bizarre to incovenience those able to cope and indeed needing complete documents to work with. What is the reason for that? A Word document is offered, but no indication is given as to whom one write to in order to obtain it. Could you very kindly send a copy please to gar28@cam.ac.uk.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your comment - we will email you a copy.

      Requests for the Word document can be sent to our Public Benefit Team. A contact email is included in 'Having your say' and we have also added an email link to this post.

      Delete
    2. I would prefer everything in pdf because I never open a word document which is added to an e-mail.
      They can contain scripts that are very difficult to get rid off and can confuse the whole word-program.

      Delete
  4. The Charity Commission is a public authority. Access to Charity Commission documents must be straightforward, readily available at all times, and in any common format that assists access and understanding. Candidly, it is a surprise that the Commission even needs to ask this question, particularly as a minimum level of response could be taken as dis-interest. Generally the Commission publishes guidance and information that is useful and helpful. The Commission only needs to improve access by making everything available online, in Word and PDF, and in hard copy - by freepost - as needed.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is a dreadful recent development for websites. It is a form of dumbing down and even also often apepars as a means of hiding informatino. It is information -lite for the intellectually challenged. Many of us want a pdf to download, search by word search. It can be much faster to have the pdf and you can print it and read it elsewhere.

    Lawyer

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for your comment. ‎

    The analysis of the law relating to public benefit is available from our home page 'Public benefit:‎guidance for charity trustees.'‎

    It is intended to act as a useful reference point for trustees, their advisers and the public. It reflects ‎current law and practice. ‎

    Requests for the public benefit guidance Word document can be sent to our Public Benefit Team. A ‎contact email is included in 'Having your say' and we have also added an email link to this post.‎

    ReplyDelete
  7. Please do provide pdf's of all documents. Most trustees are busy volunteers. They can read a pdf document in pieces and make annotations for themselves - when having to flip back and forth online, concentration is disrupted and things forgotten. As Company Secretary of a small charity I concur with the comments listed as received (above). I also feel that it is essential for trustees to have documents that they can access (other than online) to facilitate understanding of their responsibilities and future decision-making. Once read online something is all too easily forgotten; stored as a printed document or pdf, the guideline becomes a welcome reference tool.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yes please do provide the full pdf as well as the bitsy version for those who need that.
    I'm secretary of a small charity and it is often necessary to see everything in context.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I agree. A comprehensive PDF is essential. The HTML version is useful for occasional dipping to find something specific, but those of us who use these documents all the time need (a) to know we have a complete copy and (b)something we can download and store offline.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Definitely. For those of us who prefer to read in (and scribble on) hard copy, a pdf is absolutely essential.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Pdfs would be useful for me in all my roles: as an employee of a charity, as a trustee, and as a third sector researcher. But please, please, please sort out your website so that your pdfs can be opened by people who use Mozilla Firefox. As browsers go, Internet Explorer carries the highest security risks, and many of us are using other browses these days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your feedback. We were not aware that people using Mozilla Firefox have experienced difficulty in opening pdfs from our website. Are you able to give us an example of a pdf you have not been able to open when using that browser so we can investigate? Thank you

      Delete
  12. I have just spent some time on trying to find a pdf on this only to find that you have to trawl through many pages, v v frustrating. I am now in the process of having to compile a hard copy version of all that you have got on this subject.I can think of better ways to spend my time! Please provide pdf versions of documentation you publish along with the date of publication.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Anonymous, although our revised public benefit guidance is not currently available in pdf format, we can provide a Word version of the complete text if you require it.

      There is an email link at the top of this post to make a request if you would like us to send you a copy. Thank you

      Delete
  13. The full guidance should not only be available in pdf format. It should be available as a printed booklet. This would be useful to anyone trying to inform or advise a set of trustees. If a board of trustees is considering its obligations, they are not going to sit round with their computers in front of them. Even if they were, it would be difficult and frustrating flipping between website pages. Internet technology is imperfect and unreliable, and the Charity Commission should not make charities dependent on it.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Dear Martin, thank you for your feedback.

    The Charity Commission does not provide printed copies of its guidance, but trustees can print their own copies. They can either print the relevant web pages or (when our revised guidance is finalised and published following this consultation) a PDF version which we will make available.

    For this consultation we have produced a Word version of our complete revised guidance which we can email on request for trustees to read offline or print off. Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  15. You really make іt seem so easy wіth yоur pгesentation but I find this topic tо be
    reаlly ѕomething that I think I would never understanԁ.

    It seems too complicated аnd verу broad for me.
    I am looking forwarԁ fοr youг next pοst,
    I will trу to gеt the hаng of it!
    My webpage : Mosaic fireplace Designs

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Anonymous, thank you for your comment. It is fair to say that public benefit law is not straightforward. We have tried to make our guidance as simple and clear as we can, but public benefit law is often neither simple nor clear!

      However, I do hope our guidance is able to enlighten you a little.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. Before 2006 the law on “public benefit” was reasonably clear. The requirement that a charitable purpose must be for the “public benefit” excluded two main types of institution: (1) where the persons capable of benefiting were linked, e.g. as employees or ex-employees of a particular employer (Oppenheim), in a way that excluded members of the general public who were not so linked; and (2) where the institution was run for private profit, not solely for the benefit of the public, e.g. a proprietary school or nursing home. There were, of course, borderline cases (e.g. was it for the public benefit that a collection of almost worthless objects should be preserved as a museum? Did a gift to an enclosed order of nuns have a sufficient element of public benefit to render it charitable?); and if the question was whether a particular purpose was charitable the courts had to decide on which side of the line it fell. The law was reasonably simple and clear, though the application of it to a particular trust might raise a question which required a judicial decision.

      Both the 2006 and the 2011 Charities Acts attempted to define “charitable purpose” as a purpose which falls within a list of good purposes set out in section 3(1) and is for the public benefit. Each Act provides that “any reference to the public benefit is a reference to the public benefit as that term is understood for the purposes of the law relating to charities in England and Wales.” The law relating to public benefit should therefore be exactly the same as it was before 2006. There is a further provision that “In determining whether the public benefit requirement is satisfied in relation to any purpose falling within section 3(1), it is not to be presumed that a purpose of a particular description is for the public benefit.” That does not alter the pre-2006 meaning of “public benefit”, but merely states the obvious, namely that a purpose which, read literally, may be thought to fall within s.3(1), which is worded in general terms, still has to satisfy the “public benefit” requirement as it existed before 2006.

      It seems to me that that is still reasonably simple and clear, and the guidance is unnecesarily complicated, though, as before 2006, borderline cases may need to be decided by the court.

      Delete
  16. As a trustee of a small charity I am very happy with the guidance as it stands, the link can be is sent to fellow trustees. However having a PDF version would be benefical for meetings - many thanks for these guidelines!

    ReplyDelete
  17. It has been a real battle to review this guidance without the option to print a pdf file. Our trustees have simply come to the conclusion that they are unable to comment on the proposals. But how do we inform or train our trustees if the booklets/pdf files are not available?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Colin, although we do not have a pdf version of our revised guidance available for this consultation, we will look to make it available in pdf (as well as in the online format) when it is finalised for publication.

      For the consultation, we encourage any trustee wishing to comment on the draft guidance to contact us and we can provide them with the text in a Word version. Thank you

      Delete
  18. An executive summary and a list of what exactly has changed ('tracked change version') would have been helpful.

    It is good to have the option for different formats, but unfortunately what one would expect to be a simple topic seems anything but. Seems very long-winded. Sorry :-(

    ReplyDelete
  19. Can I support everyone else calling for the guidance as a PDF (and with properly numbered paragraphs and sections, please, so it is easy to refer to). This is statutory guidance to which trustees MUST have regard, so it needs to be readily available as a printed document which people can read AS A WHOLE.

    But please keep to the essential STATUTORY guidance. By all means include links or cross references to good practice, but keep it separate.

    Also material on public benefit reporting is best kept completely separate from the main guidance (with just a cross reference).

    ReplyDelete
  20. Agree: make it available as a change-tracked PDF with summary.

    It's very simple to do and can contain external links to web pages of include internal links (within the PDF) to supporting guidance.

    A PDF can be read and discussed offline where web access is not available (e.g. on a train or in a village hall with no WiFi), using a laptop or kindle.

    You can also make it available in Kindle format.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Dear Charity Commission

    Thank you for for inviting us to comment on the new guidance.

    To comment intelligently, I need to be able to read it knowing that I have not missed some "small print". The current layout I unfortunately find very unhelpful as I cannot be sure that I have read all of it.

    I do think that as a society we have been reading and sharing legal documents in a "linear" format for hundreds of years and that this has been for good reason!

    Please publish a pdf document so that we can consider the substance of the guidance rather than just the format.

    ReplyDelete
  22. It is clear to me that there are three formats needed - the first two essential and the third desirable:

    1 a PDF of the full guidance for all th ereasons of completeness given by many above;
    2 a clear summary of the changes both from the 2008 guidance and from the draft to the final guidance
    3 an html version that allows trustees and others to check specifics.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Yes, a PDF would be helpful and essential. This should be as a matter of course for any consultation or document of relevance to trustees and their governance as it makes access and discussion easier.

    ReplyDelete