Charities' Awareness, Understanding and Attitudes towards the Public Benefit Requirement

The Commission has published its findings from research into the levels of awareness, understanding, and the attitudes towards the public benefit requirement across the charity sector.

Three quarters (76%) of charity trustees say that they know about the public benefit requirement. This news comes as the commission announces its plans for a series of further public benefit assessments of charities in the arts, health and sports/recreation sectors.

The new public benefit research is the first of its kind and is based on a survey of 1,483 charities in England and Wales. Other key findings include:

The trustees of larger charities (those with an income of £500,000 or more) are significantly more likely to know about the public benefit requirement, with 71% saying they know a great deal (11%) or a fair amount (60%) about the requirement.
Smaller charities (those with an income of under £25,000) and charities with sport/recreation as their main activity, are more likely to say they know nothing about the public benefit requirement.
98% of those respondents who know about the requirement are confident that their charity can demonstrate its public benefit.
The Commission’s guidance on public benefit has been well received by charities – 92% of those who have used it found it useful and two thirds (66%) of them found it easy to understand.
96% of charity trustees identified an issue other than complying with charity regulation as the biggest challenge faced by their charity.
Dame Suzi Leather, Chair of the Charity Commission, said:

“All charities are now required to report on their public benefit, following the Charities Act 2006. This will bring greater transparency and public accountability to the sector. Charities occupy a special place in society and it is right that in return for this they should be required to demonstrate the benefit of their work. We are pleased that this new research shows a good level of awareness among trustees for this relatively new requirement. However, there is still work for the Commission to do in increasing that awareness and deepening charities’ understanding of public benefit. Our upcoming assessments of arts, health and sports charities will provide further practical demonstration for trustees of our approach to public benefit.”

You can download a copy of the research report Charities' Awareness, Understanding and Attitudes towards the Public Benefit Requirement below.

If you have any comments on the publication, please send them to researchreports@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk.