Set up a charity

To be a charity in Northern Ireland, your organisations must have a charitable purpose that is for public benefit.

The 12 descriptions of charitable purposes, under the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008, are:

• the prevention or relief of poverty
• the advancement of education
• the advancement of religion
• the advancement of health or the saving of lives
• the advancement of citizenship or community development
• the advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science
• the advancement of amateur sport
• the advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation or the promotion of religious or racial harmony or equality and diversity
• the advancement of environmental protection or improvement
• the relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage
• the advancement of animal welfare
• any other charitable purpose

If any of your purposes are outside this list, then your organisation cannot be a charity in Northern Ireland.

Public benefit rules for charities

Your charity’s ‘purpose’ is what it is set up to achieve. For an organisation to be a charity, each of its purposes must be for the public benefit. The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland has produced statutory guidance on the public benefit requirement.