The Charity Commission has recently published a new report entitled "Charities' awareness, understanding and attitudes towards the public benefit requirement".

‘Public Benefit' is the legal requirement that every organisation set up for one or more charitable aims must be able to demonstrate that its aims are for the public benefit if it is to be recognised, and registered, as a charity in England and Wales. The Charities Act 2006, amongst other provisions, highlighted the public benefit requirement.

The report provides information, following a sample survey of Trustee opinions this year, about the level of charity trustees' awareness, understanding and attitudes towards the public benefit requirement.

A couple of key findings are:

• Nearly 60% of respondents stated that they knew very little or nothing at all about the public benefit requirement
• Those respondents that did know a lot or a fair amount are confident that their charity can demonstrate its public benefit

To find out more about the reports key findings click here to see the full report