Reorganisation
Charity reorganisation is a valuable tool for charities in Scotland to release unused funds back into the charity sector. It also allows charities that do not have the power to make changes to apply to us for the authority to do so.
A proposed reorganisation of a charity is called a reorganisation scheme.
Reorganise your charity
There are three types of charity reorganisation scheme.
- A variation of the terms of your charity's constitution (whether or not in relation to its purposes).
- A transfer of your charity's property (after satisfaction of liabilities) to another charity (whether or not involving a change to the purposes of the other charity).
- An amalgamation of your charity with another charity. You can find more information about this on our Amalgamating Your Charity page.
The timescale for reorganisation applications depends on the size of the charity, as charity law gives us the discretion to treat smaller charities in a simpler way according to the following thresholds:
- 'large charity' means a charity with a gross annual income of £250,000 or more
- 'small charity' means a charity with a gross annual income of less than £250,000: and
- 'very small charity' means a small charity whose assets do not include any heritable property or shares in a private limited company, and with a gross annual income of less than £1,000.
Applications to reorganise 'large' and 'small' charities take an average of 6 months to complete. You should allow for this when preparing your application.
For applications to reorganise 'very small' charities, OSCR must make a decision within 13 weeks of receiving the application.
Reorganise restricted funds
Restricted funds reorganisation is a valuable tool available to charities established in Scotland which can allow charities to:
- Change the purpose for which the fund(s) may be used and/or
- Change or remove the conditions imposed on the charity on how it can use the fund(s)
A restricted fund is 'property (including money) given to a charity for a specific purpose and in respect of which conditions have been imposed as to its use'.
For more information, see our reorganisation of restricted funds guidance.
Make a representation
Find out how you can express your views about either a charity reorganisation or the reorganisation of a restricted fund.
A key part of the reorganisation process is giving the people who may be affected by a reorganisation or have an interest in it the chance to give us their views. To allow you to comment we will publish all reorganisation applications on OSCR's website, unless the application is from either:
i. a very small charity - that is a charity whose assets do not include any heritable property (land or buildings) or shares in a private limited company, and which has a gross annual income of less than £1,000, or
ii. a small restricted fund - whose property comprises of £1 million or less and has a gross annual income of £100,000 or less
In these small cases we may publish the reorganisations if we feel this would be in the public interest, but are under no obligation to do so.
Anyone may make a representation in relation to a proposed charity reorganisation scheme. A representation may be either in support of, or opposed to a proposed reorganisation.
We must consider the content of any representations received. We will not automatically refuse a scheme if we receive a representation opposing a proposed reorganisation. Representations inform the process, but they do not determine the outcome.
If you want to make a representation you must do so in writing and include:
- your name and address (which may be an e-mail address)
- the name of the charity involved
- the nature of the representation and the reasons why you are making it
You can send your representation to us by email or letter.