Celebrating 10 Years Of OSCR

We publish new guidance for charities on banking and on charities campaigning in the EU referendum.

Targeted Regulation is launched, with an upgraded OSCR Online, a new Annual Return form and changes to our processes to make reporting more straightforward for the majority of charities.

We publish a new Good Governance page on our website, a single resource containing guidance and case studies to help those running charities to get it right.

We publish our updated Guidance for Charity Trustees.

Our report into ALEOs (Arms Length External Organisations) concludes that they are generally compliant with charity law.

We publish the findings of our consultation on Targeted Regulation – our new focus on how we will require charities to report to us in future, along with information on our planned changes.

Our updated Meeting the Charity Test guidance is published, in HTML format – our new approach for key guidance publications.

We actively participate in the review of charity fundraising in Scotland.

We publish new Social Media guidance and support material for Scotland’s charities.

We decide not to contest the Scottish Charity Appeals Panel’s decision in the case of St Margaret’s Children and Family Care Society, instead publishing new Equalities guidance for charities.

We confirm the 1,000th SCIO as SC044684 Bright Stars Under Fives Playgroup in Galashiels.

Our newly redesigned website is released and is well-received by the sector – 75% of users rate it "good" or "excellent".

We make the Register available to download for research purposes, demonstrating our commitment to open data and delivering greater transparency.

We conclude our review of all fee-charging schools, launched in September 2012.

We confirm the 500th SCIO as the South East Integration Network.

We issue our decisions on six fee-charging schools: five meet the charity test and we issue a Direction to the sixth to widen access to the public benefit it provides.

We publish guidance on the Scottish independence referendum for charities – making clear that charities generally may campaign providing this is in pursuit of their charitable objectives.

Our report on our inquiry into the Rangers Charitable Foundation makes recommendations and provides key lessons for the wider sector. We also publish guidance for football club related charities, recommending that their constitutions are reviewed and the relationship with the football club made explicit.

Along with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, we launch a consultation on the charity accounting standard, the SORP. This is our biggest consultation to date, participating in 18 sector events and producing 179 written responses.

We issue our decisions on a further nine fee-charging schools. Eight meet the charity test and we issue one with a Direction.

Our new Blog site is launched, featuring blogs from John Swinney MSP and a number of charity trustees. As part of Trustees' Week, we launch a series of webcasts featuring trustees explaining their role and encouraging new volunteers.

We issue a Direction to the Fife Animal Trust not to sell its assets. Our work with Fife Council and Police Scotland ultimately results in the rehoming of the park’s animals due to welfare concerns.

Available to new applicants since April 2011, SCIOs become available for all existing charities seeking to convert. We confirm the first such conversion in May – SC024692 The Glen Urquhart Childcare Centre.

We publish Protecting Charitable Status, summarising our work on individual charity reviews. We also publish Scottish Charities 2011, providing a profile of the sector; a guide to Working With SCIOs; and updated guidance on the Scottish Charity Accounting Regulations 2006, issued to all charities.

The launch of OSCR Online, our secure online service that allows charities to submit annual returns and accounts electronically, as well as to make certain changes to their details. At March 2016 some 92% of charities are signed up for OSCR Online.

The OSCR Online system is very easy to access and use. We feel that online services are much less onerous and we're very happy to use OSCR Online

We believe that OSCR Online is a good initiative that will make reporting much more convenient for charities

Thank you very much, if it wasn't for your guidance we wouldn’t have got anywhere!

We approve the reorganisation of the Shetland Charitable Trust, one of the highest income charities in Scotland. This sees the establishment of a new Trustee Board with a minority of local Councillors.

We hold a series of outreach events in Dundee, Dumfries, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness, with a further two events held in Paisley and Stirling in September.

We open our Twitter account. At March 2016 we have 2,700 followers.

We announce a full review of the charitable status of all fee-charging schools that have not already been assessed against the charity test.

We add to our range of guidance material, with the publication of "Who's in Charge?' giving clarity on independence and control in charities. We publish our guidance on Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations (SCIOs) in advance of this new legal form becoming available.

John Naylor OBE retires as OSCR’s first Chair and is succeeded by The Very Reverend Dr Graham Forbes CBE.

We work with the City of Edinburgh Council on the reorganisation of 30 charitable trusts, many dating from the 19th Century, to release £12.4 million of assets. The funds were transferred to SC040987 Elizabeth Finn Care with the agreement that the funds would be used in the spirit of the original trusts. This case becomes an example for other local authorities.

We confirm Scotland's first SCIO – South Seeds in Govanhill, Glasgow. In 2016 SCIOs account for 50% of new applications and 9% of all charities on the Register.

We issue our decision on a charitable status application from Dundee FC in the Community, a football club related charity. Media commentators describe our decision as 'a textbook example of firm and focused guardianship of charitable status'.

Jane Ryder retires as OSCR’s first Chief Executive and is succeeded by David Robb.

Accounting standards for charities continue to improve, with 76% overall meeting the required standard and "qualified pass" letters issued to a further 17%.

80% of the public agree that "It's good to know that OSCR is there, looking after the charity sector", while Third Sector magazine refers to our "Textbook example of firm and focused guardianship of charitable status".

We add to our range of guidance material, with the publication of ‘Who’s in Charge?’ giving clarity on independence and control in charities. We publish our guidance on Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations (SCIOs) in advance of this new legal form becoming available.

We publish our report on our inquiry into SC020862 the Sick Kids Friends Foundation. While we find no evidence of misconduct, we issue recommendations to the trustees and publish key lessons for the wider sector.

Our Outreach Programme is launched, aimed at professional advisors and support groups to cascade good practice to the wider sector. We deliver 22 training courses across Scotland including two with Moray Council’s Community Support Unit and one with Opp2mise, a support organisation in North Ayrshire.

We fail 912 sets of charity accounts due to unacceptable primary statements, with the vast majority resubmitted in a compliant form. Some accounts were in a format that raised potential issues of governance, and we identified several instances where charities had been reluctant to provide financial information to the public as required under charity law.

We announce the planned development of Integrated Reporting – which in 2012 is launched as our OSCR Online service.

We restructure our teams to focus our resources more effectively and improve the support we offer to charities, with the creation of a new Policy and Development Team.

Six charities we directed to amend their Constitutions did so, and 4 fee-charging schools took steps to address our concerns about access to public benefit. Our Rolling Review programme is absorbed into our day to day work.

Our first Carbon Management Plan sees our emissions reduce by 19% in the first year.

We publish our report into the collapse of the charity One Plus: One Parent Families, including key lessons for the wider sector.

We announce our "Meet the Regulator" roadshows in Benbecula, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kelso and Tarbert and a further 4 video conference events for charities in Nairn and Wick.

We assess 30 charities, including 11 schools, as part of our "Rolling Review" of charitable status and publish a full report on our findings, with lessons for the wider sector.

We assess 16 "pilot" charities as part of our Rolling Review of charitable status to establish whether existing charities meet the requirements of the new charity test, including one fee-charging school – the High School of Dundee. We assess a further 30 charities later in the year.

We handle the first charity reorganisations under sections 39 to 43 of the 2005 Act. This allows charities to seek our consent rather than apply to the Court to reorganise. As of April 2016 our work in this area has released over £40 million for the charity sector in Scotland.

We begin to show on the Register dates when returns and accounts were submitted and to list defaulting charities, to provide transparency for the public. This establishes our procedure for encouraging charities to submit returns and accounts on time.

As well as our own programme of ‘Meet the Charity Regulator’ events, we took part in over 30 events organised by others, including the Scottish Churches Committee and Universities Scotland.

Commencement of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act. OSCR publishes new guidance on Meeting the Charity Test and guidance on Consents and Notifications on changes to charities.

We move to our new offices at Quadrant House, Dundee, with 26 staff.

First charity to be granted charitable status is confirmed as the Clatto Community Woodland Trust, an environmental charity that provides recreational facilities such as woodlands walks, on Clatto Hill in Fife.

We remove the first batch of 2,182 ‘ceased’ charities from the Register – we remove a further 641 in September.

We petition the Court of Session to protect the assets of the ME Foundation – the first time we have used these powers.