Availability of Charity Commission Publications

The Charity Commission has recently made some changes to the ways in which you can obtain copies of their guidance and other publications. They produce a wide range of guidance for charities, covering topics which range from acquiring land to running disaster appeals, all of which can be downloaded free of charge from their website.

In 2009, over 98% of people chose to read their guidance online. Fewer than 2% of people now request printed copies, which means it is disproportionately expensive to continue to produce them. In light of this, and in response to increasing pressure on their budget, from October they will no longer be able to provide hard copies of their publications. In the next few months they are winding down their supplies and have already moved some publications to online only. For others they can no longer send out multiple copies. This brings them in line with Companies House and other public bodies.

You can still use their PDF files to print your own copies or get others to print it for you, and they are currently redesigning these to ensure that they use less ink and are as printer friendly as possible.

They recognise that there are some people who will be unable to use the publications on their website, for example those who are visually impaired. They will continue to provide publications in audio, Braille and large print to those who require them. These can be ordered through their website's email contact form at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/sendmailCRM.aspx