Setting Up a Charitable Trust: Step by Step Guide

Originally written by Josh Hall, updated by the editorial team on 3rd July 2026

Why set up a charitable trust?

A charitable trust is a legal structure that holds assets for charitable purposes. People set them up for different reasons. Some want a lasting way to direct money or property towards causes they care about. Others want to play an active part in charitable work, either by supporting existing charities or by starting something new.

Setting up a charitable trust can be complex, but with the right guidance and resources, it is manageable. You can pay a solicitor or specialist organisation to handle the process, though many people manage it themselves with patience and careful research.

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Creating the trust deed

The first step is to draw up a trust deed. This is the founding document that sets out how the trust will operate. It should cover:

The name of the trust
The charitable purposes the trust will pursue
How trustees will be appointed and removed
Rules for decision making
How assets can be used and distributed
What happens if the trust closes

The wording of your charitable purposes matters. If you want the trust to gain charitable status and the tax benefits that come with it, your purposes must fall within the categories legally defined in the Charities Act 2011. These include relieving poverty, advancing education, promoting health, and supporting environmental protection.

Explore the Charity Commission website for model trust deeds, which can help you structure your trust properly and avoid common mistakes during registration.

Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.

Appointing trustees

Every charitable trust needs trustees. These are the people responsible for running the trust and making sure it fulfils its purposes. While there is no statutory minimum number of trustees for a charitable trust, good governance practice suggests having at least two or three. Your trust deed should specify how many trustees you require.

Trustees must act in the best interests of the charity, manage its assets responsibly, and follow the rules set out in the trust deed. They cannot usually benefit personally from the trust, though there are limited exceptions. Choosing trustees with relevant skills or experience can help the trust run effectively from the start.

Trustee duties are set out in charity law. The Charity Commission publishes guidance on what trustees must do and what is expected of them.

Registering with the Charity Commission

If your trust has an annual income over £5,000, you must register it with the Charity Commission. Even if registration is not required, you may still choose to register so the trust appears on the public register and gains formal recognition.

The registration process involves submitting your trust deed, providing details of your trustees, and explaining how the trust will operate. The Commission will check that your purposes are charitable and that your governing document meets their requirements. This can take several weeks or longer, depending on how busy they are and whether they have questions about your application.

Once registered, your trust will have a charity number and will be listed on the public register. You will also need to submit annual returns and accounts, with the level of detail depending on your income. Registered charities can also claim Gift Aid on donations, which adds 25p to every £1 given by UK taxpayers.

For current registration requirements and guidance on running a charity, visit GOV.UK or the Charity Commission website directly. Rules can change, so checking official sources will give you the most accurate information.

If you are unsure about any part of the process, speaking to a solicitor with charity experience or contacting the Charity Commission can help you avoid problems later on.

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Showing 20 of 21 questions

Ask Estates or Trusts a Question

EstatesOrTrusts Editor 26/08/2026 at 6:39 pm

@jsp Given you're running an annual event with a committee and constitution already in place, a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) is probably a better fit than a trust. CIOs give you limited liability and legal personality, which trusts don't, so your committee isn't personally on the hook for contracts, venue hire, insurance and the like. You'll need to register with the Charity Commission once income tops £5,000, and your purposes will need to fit the recognised charitable heads (sport for public benefit usually qualifies). A trust tends to suit passive asset-holding, whereas you're actively running events, hence the CIO steer. Worth a quick chat with a charity solicitor to get the constitution right first time.

jsp 26/08/2026 at 6:39 pm

Hello, I organise a fundraising football match every year. We have a committee, a constitution and a vision statement. We want to create a trust, or some formal entity to ensure longevity, as we have great momentum. Can you advise on which avenue to pursue?

EstatesOrTrusts Editor 24/08/2026 at 3:56 pm

@BTFC Yes, this is perfectly doable, and plenty of grassroots clubs go down this route. The key thing is that the trust's objects must be exclusively charitable, so youth development, community sport participation and facilities for public benefit all qualify under the Charities Act, but funding the senior first team directly generally won't. You'd typically set up a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) rather than a traditional trust, as it gives the trustees limited liability and is simpler to run. Have a look at Sport England's guidance and the Charity Commission's model governing documents before you speak to a solicitor, it'll save you a fair bit in fees. Worth keeping the club itself and the charity as separate entities with a clear grant agreement between them.

BTFC 24/08/2026 at 3:56 pm

Is it possible for our local football club to set up a a charitable trust for help in the long term funding of the club, by improvement of facilities and the longer term expansion of the club through funding of youth teams - both boys and girls.

Sivita Harrison 15/11/2020 at 2:18 pm

Hello I’d like to set up a charitable trust for a healing ashram in Devon Uk- any help greatly appreciated pleased

Dudhwala 24/08/2020 at 2:43 pm

How can I create charity trust but only I will be chair trustee for life and after my family member whome I choose can only manage trust. But for charity purpose for benefit of poor aid for third world needy people.

NAUK 09/05/2020 at 9:40 pm

We are a community group of the same ethnicity and language. We have been operating as a community group for over 10years in UK but not registered with charity commission. We now like to register as a trust charity, so that we will be able to expand our activities, like purchasing a community centre.
We do make over£5000 per annum, but less than£10000 as of now. What would you advise.
Thanks

Mik 09/01/2020 at 11:14 am

Hi
We are group of people who have been involved in activities of fundraising to finance projects of good cause. Recently we raise over £1000 by crowd funding. Encouraged by this we wanted to establish a charitable trust with the money we have i.e. £ 1000. We do not have £5,000 income at the moment but we can do it in the future. Is the possible to apply for charitable trust status with the money we have now £1000?

Many thanks for your advice
A

Kal 12/10/2019 at 11:45 am

Hi, we are thinking of setting up a charitable Trust do we have to go through the charitable commission to fund raise?

anwar 07/05/2019 at 4:21 pm

hi
i am thinking about setting up a charitable trust and raising money for charity to help people in 3rd world countries.

i wanted to find out do charity/ charity trusts have to change the main trustee in charge of the organisation or can the person who created the charity be the chairman throughout the life of the organisation.

i look forward to your reply.

moni 28/04/2019 at 7:15 pm

I would like to set up a trust where the asset is a property to let. I would like to use the income during my life and manage it myself as I wish, but the property goes to the trust after my death. They can then use the income for charitable purposes of their choice to help poor people in Africa and Asia. Do you have any advice for me on how to do it?

Do I have to pay the value of the property now all in one go? or can I obtain a mortgage as well and buy a more expensive property now?

BRIAN 14/04/2019 at 1:29 pm

I want to set up a charitable trust to enable my will to direct my assets into it on my death and the assets of the trust to be used, after my death, to give terminally ill children a holiday of a lifetime, among other similar things.
How do I go about it, do I need a solicitors to set it up , and what is the initial and ongoing costs?

Twanas.... 22/02/2019 at 8:24 am

Thank you for helping us with important notes about Charitable Trust, we just registered our Charitable Trust. If l may ask, how best can we get financial support for the furtherance of our objectives.

Twanas 22/02/2019 at 8:18 am

Humble greetings. Thank you for having me read more about Charitable Trust, that's what l needed to understand, am hungry to learn more. We just registered our Charitable Trust. We really need much guidance the more. Your kind support will be much appreciated. Am humbled. Thank you.

robbo 07/06/2018 at 3:18 pm

In 2001 my wife and I paid £220 for a Property Trustsetting up with Joseph Michael Associates. I have subsequently tried to find the document/s without success, can you please advise me if and where I can check where the document/s are registered.

HNJ 05/10/2017 at 9:19 am

We are a church with a large number of asylum seeker members. We want to set up a charitable trust as a way of collecting money to pay for legal fees in exceptional circumstances. We want to separate this from church funds.

EstatesOrTrusts Editor 07/09/2017 at 10:00 am

We don't know what the time scales are at the moment, contact the Charity Commission for more information.

KR 05/09/2017 at 9:26 am

Hi

I'm looking at the possibility of forming a charitable trust to buy a property so as to obtain SDLT relief. The trust would be for charitable purposes and the purchase would be funded by a social enterprise (company limited by guarantee) which would like to be a charity but does not have time to become one before buying the property.

How quickly could one be formed?

KR

Gaz 14/03/2016 at 2:27 pm

Hello,

I am an electrician / Security engineer based in Birmingham and have been doing the job for various companies nearly 13 years. During my time I have attended many homes where people have begged and borrowed to secure their homes after a burglary and cases where homes have needed to be rewired and not covered by insurance. I am now looking at starting my own electrical business with a slight difference. My general day to day activities will be doing paid work but I want to include a charitable fund where if the above happened to a home owner then the fund would be able to step in and help (kind of like a certain TV programme that's on during the daytime). Could you please advise on where I stand legally and what status I would need to apply for? I would not be fundraising however I have had people saying they would donate when the idea had been discussed.

Many thanks

EstatesOrTrusts Editor 17/03/2015 at 12:04 pm

@Nick. Without seeing the conditions of the trust we cannot really advise, but sections 36-41 of Trustee Act 1925 should help.

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