More help for mosques from Charity Commission

(Immediate Release - 2 June 2009)

 

The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, has published practical guidance to help the trustees of mosques draw up their annual report and accounts. Many mosques are registered charities, meaning that they enjoy reputational benefits, receive tax breaks and can access free specialist advice and guidance from the Commission.

The online example of the trustees’ annual report is for a fictional mosque which also operates a community centre and sets out what trustees must do to comply with charity law when reporting on their activity annually. The fictional example highlights how the new requirement for charities to report on public benefit sits within the existing structure of trustees’ annual reports and illustrates how these reports can be adapted to include public benefit reporting.

Ghulam Rasool, Head of the Charity Commission’s Faith and Social Cohesion Unit (FSCU), said:
“We have produced this example trustees’ annual report to offer guidance to mosques on how best to report on their work, including the public benefit that they provide to their community. The example is not a template, but we hope it will prove a useful tool for trustees as they report on their public benefit for the first time in the next set of annual accounts published after 31 March 2009.

“The example allows mosques to envisage in a practical way how their own trustees’ annual report might look as they move towards reporting on public benefit. We are committed to assisting charities to comply with the new reporting requirements and this guidance has been produced in response to requests from the sector. There are currently 455 mosques registered as charities, I would encourage any mosques with questions about charity registration and governance to visit our website for advice and guidance.”

The new example report accompanies the Commission’s existing public benefit guidance and is available from the website at www.charitycommission.gov.uk under ‘Public benefit guidance’.

End.

Notes to Editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator for charities in England and Wales. See www.charitycommission.gov.uk for further information or call our contact centre on 0845 300 0218.

2. Following the introduction of the Charities Act 2006, new Regulations require charities to report via their trustees’ annual report after 31 March 2009 on the public benefit they deliver.

3.The Commission has already published five example trustees’ annual reports illustrating how a parochial church council, a fee-charging school, a grant-giving trust and two charities of different sizes might report on their public benefit.

4.The Faith and Social Cohesion Unit is a dedicated team within the Charity Commission. The Unit is:

• working to improve the Commission’s and society’s understanding of faith-based charities;
• engaging with faith communities to identify and support organisations that could be but are not currently registered with the Commission;
• assisting faith-based charities to improve their standards of governance and accountability and thereby increase their effectiveness; and
• working collaboratively to achieve and promote well run and effectively regulated faith-based charities.

The Unit’s initial focus is on mosques and other Muslim charities. A Project Board including representatives of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Body (MINAB) has been established to direct and evaluate the Unit’s work and to provide specialist advice. The Unit’s work is partially funded by a grant from the Department of Communities and Local Government.

5. In February 2009 the Charity Commission engaged BMG Research to carry out a survey of mosques in England and Wales. In total, 716 mosques were contacted by telephone and interviews were completed with 247 of these organisations. A further 8 organisations completed the survey by post. Research took place during October and November 2008, after a two-week pilot period. The questions for the survey were prepared in collaboration with the Faith and Social Cohesion Unit’s external project board, which includes representatives of Muslim organisations. The survey can be found at www.charitycommission.gov.uk.

 

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PR 20/09