The guidance is split into the following section:
- Government financial support for charities
- Charity meetings
- AGMs and other meetings: postponing or cancelling meetings
- Holding meetings online or by telephone
- Mergers and collaborative working
- Using reserves and restricted funds
- Insolvency help for charitable companies and charitable incorporated organisations
- Further advice on managing financial difficulties
- Charity objects: understand if you can help with coronavirus efforts
- Reporting serious incidents to the Charity Commission
- Keeping people safe
- Fundraising and coronavirus appeals
- Trading subsidiaries – financial support from parent charities
- Reducing or returning contractual fees in return for a modified service
- Working with a company or business to help with coronavirus
- Charity statement of recommended practice (SORP) guidance
- Information from other organisations
We recommend that all local VCSE organisations read the guidance.
The pressures of the pandemic may mean that charities need to reassess how they operate in order to avoid reducing services or closing down. In some cases this may be through collaborating or merging with one or more other charities.
In some circumstances, mergers, or other forms of collaborative working, may make better use of charitable funds and property and provide better services for your beneficiaries
The Charity Commission guidance on how to merge or link charities includes a checklist for mergers as a simple guide to the typical issues trustees need to think about when considering merging.
The merge or link charities guidance can be found here.
The revised Coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance for the charity sector can be found here.