In the first six months of 2024, 71 new charities were added to the Register of Charities after the Charities Regulator approved their applications. During the same period, 85 charities were deregistered.
One of the critical functions of the Charities Regulator is maintaining a public register of charities. This includes adding or removing organisations from the Register. By law, all charities that operate or wish to operate in the State must apply to the Charities Regulator for inclusion on the Register regardless of their size, legal structure or income. Charities must also notify the Charities Regulator of their intention to wind up operations, as this will mean deregistering their charity and removing it from the Register.
Registrations
The highest number of the charities registered in the first six months of 2024 are based in Dublin (18), making up a quarter of all new charities, while nine are based in Cork, and six are in Wicklow.
The new charities collectively are advancing a range of purposes, with many advancing more than one:
- Advancement of education – 30% (21)
- Advancement of community welfare including the relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, or disability – 20% (14)
- Advancement of religion – 17% (12)
- Promotion of health, including the prevention or relief of sickness, disease or human suffering – 15% (11)
Almost a quarter (24%) of the newly registered charities are associations, and over half (55%) are Companies Limited by Guarantee.
The registration of charities in Ireland is a robust legal process to ensure that Ireland has a vibrant, trusted charity sector valued for its public benefit. Each application is carefully assessed to ensure that the applicant meets the ‘charity test’, the requirements to be registered as a charity which are set out in the Charities Act 2009. Public benefit is one of the main elements of the test and is what makes charities different from other not for profit organisations. A charity must provide a public benefit at all times. If it does not, it is no longer charitable. A list of the new registered charities is available on our website.
De-registrations
Of the 85 charities deregistered in the first six months of 2024, 13 were section 39 charities. These are charities that are required to notify the Charities Regulator prior to winding up. A further 72 were section 40 charities. When the Charities Regulator was established in 2014, organisations that already held a CHY number granted to them by the Revenue Commissioners were automatically deemed registered in line with section 40 of the Act. A deemed registered charity can remain on the Register only for so long as it continues to hold an entitlement to a charitable tax exemption. When the Charities Regulator is notified by the Revenue Commissioners that a deemed registered has lost its CHY number then it must be removed from the Register of Charities.
Charities have a legal obligation to submit an annual report to the Charities Regulator within 10 months of the end of their financial year. Despite this statutory requirement compliance rates have decreased in recent years. In 2023, the Charities Regulator commenced a targeted compliance programme contacting more than 1,700 charities that were late or had not filed at least one annual report. A number of charities subsequently filed their outstanding annual reports. However, some charities still did not comply. As of June 2024, 14 charities were removed from the Register for not complying with their obligation to submit an annual report. The majority of the remaining 58 section 40 charities were removed as they no longer held an entitlement to a charitable tax exemption.
A list of the deregistered charities is available on our website.