The most suitable charitable structure for my farming project?

[Jodi Shadforth]

I'm a 21 y/o farmer in the North East of England. I've recently gotten into rare breed farming, and would like to start some kind of group/society/charity to promote ALL Native British Breeds, not just endangered/rare ones, or one particular breed/species.

I have quite a diverse range of skills, and would like to make it my full time job to run this enterprise, if I can. I don't want to make any ridiculous money, just enough so I can get by and dedicate my time to it. I understand that as a Trustee I wouldn't be able to be paid as part of a CIO, but I believe I do have a few ideas/people who could step up as Trustees.

The "charity" would have membership options, in a society type way. It would in in the rural/farming sector, catering for a bit of a gap! I'm part of several "societies", but would like to have something that finds a way to combine them in some small way (without removing the need for them) as it's very expensive if you need to be involved in so many, and then realise it's not for you. I feel like the price for people that want to learn a bit more via a low tier membership is just too high, and pushes new farmers away.

Now, I think this fits under CIO due to the membership part! But I'm not sure. The intent, really, would be to promote the individual breed societies and their benefits, spreading farming knowledge, raising awareness and conservation of Native British Breeds, encouraging new farmers to start with NBBs, supporting British farming, and celebrating our farming heritage/history.

It might be worth noting, that I live in a very rural area, that is somewhat of a dead-zone for farming "culture", but has a big demand for it! There are lots of farms here, but little encouragement to support one another, and it forces most to travel further afield to find a community, or to work in isolation. I think I could get a good membership base country-wide, and that it would interest a great number of people (I could already scramble a sizeable mailing list together, at no extra cost, as I've been networking), that are in a similar situation to myself.

What sounds like the most suitable structure for me to take on? I can work freely for some time, but I would intend to dedicate the foreseeable future to working for the organisation, and I couldn't do that for free.

Any and all advice is very gratefully received!

Jodi


Note: I've read the Gov charity pages back to front, and am still a bit confused. I intend to try calling someone tomorrow to try and get some more official advice.

 

[Scalloway]

The first question that comes to my mind is how are you going to finance this so that you can take a wage out of it?

A quick google on the subject comes up with these rare breed charities.

https://www.rbst.org.uk/

https://www.york.ac.uk/org/cnap/tst/breeds/shetland.htm

 

[Jodi Shadforth]

The first question that comes to my mind is how are you going to finance this so that you can take a wage out of it?

A quick google on the subject comes up with these rare breed charities.

There are societies for almost every sheep breed! Especially the rare ones, and I'm a member of a few of them.

I'm a member of the RBST as well, and my only issue is that it doesn't support all British native breeds of livestock... Only the "rare" ones. For example, I keep Shetland sheep, Herdwicks and Ryelands, which aren't protected or monitored by the RBST, but aren't anywhere near as common as the more "commercial" breeds, such as Texels, Mules or Suffolks.


As for funding. There are a lot of government grants in the farming sector. There is a huge push at the moment to bring young people into farming, and to encourage the sale of British produce. For example, RBST don't talk about Suffolks, as they're a very common Native British breed, but I think that all of our Native breeds need to be promoted, and not just in their societies. I want somewhere to bring all of the societies together, not just to put rare breeds on a pedestal.

There are ideas, and outlets I think can be encouraged to use more of our wool, and that will warrant fairer prices, and help British farmers. I'd like to push for that, and I can think of a lot of societies I'm part of, with members that would be willing to pay an annual donation (membership fee) to push for those kind of things.

A long way down the road I'd even say that it could be a presence at things like sales. The RBST holds its own sales and shows for registered members. Stock receives a premium for being registered with their individual breed societies, and I would happily promote and bring attention to all of them, and encourage more people to involve themselves in breed societies. Pedigree stock has a higher value and it's a point of pride for many farmers. These societies are great, but they're very aged! There's a need for young blood, and they all know this... But if young people don't know about these breeds, or the societies for that matter, they can't join!

The wool board itself, and a number of different charities and organisations, donate to the RBST. There are so many that I can think of that would sponsor this kind of endeavour. I'm not saying I need to be paid right now, or even in a year's time, but at some point I'd like to be able to support myself with this sort of campaign, so that I could do it full time.


Maybe that could help give a bit of perspective? I'm not sure what all of this equates to, but I know what I want to achieve and how to get there, who to talk to... I'm not sure, however, what kind of organisation I should be registered as, so that I can start it.

 

[Scalloway]

I would suggest that you need to get a group of like minded people to support you if your aim is to create a charity. You can run as an unincorporated non charity organisation to begin with and get the name out there.

Creating a charity involves a bit of bureaucracy to ensure it is genuine so I would hold off until you are sure you can fulfill the Charity Commission's requirements.

This is Charity Commission advice on structure.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/charity-types-how-to-choose-a-structure

 

[Jodi Shadforth]

I would suggest that you need to get a group of like minded people to support you if your aim is to create a charity. You can run as an unincorporated non charity organisation to begin with and get the name out there.

Creating a charity involves a bit of bureaucracy to ensure it is genuine so I would hold off until you are sure you can fulfill the Charity Commission's requirements.

Thanks Scalloway, I'll look into that some more, I know some people that would likely support it, with experience of being Trustees. I just needed the nudge to know that's the right way to start!

I suppose to a degree I was wondering if a charity was the ideal structure, or whether its more of a business with charitable aims. I'm not really sure on the rules about changing the status of an organisation.

I've read all of those pages, there were just parts that weren't altogether clear to me, that I didn't really understand! But I think I get it a bit more now, so thank you

 

[The Byre]

My neighbour has a flock of Soay sheep.

I would have thought that a simple society for your area would be the best way to start.

 

[Jodi Shadforth]

My neighbour has a flock of Soay sheep.

I would have thought that a simple society for your area would be the best way to start.

There's a society for Soay sheep, as well as all the other native breeds

How do societies work, like a charity? Do you need trustees? I don't think It'd really work locally at the moment, as one of the problems is that farmers all kind of work in isolation here, and I just wouldn't know how to reach them to try and form a society- whereas in other areas there is a much better presence. I have a mailing list, and I network with the RBST reps, so I think they'd be happy to help me get it started and promote me a bit. They have a quarterly newsletter and whatnot.

 

[Scalloway]

How do societies work, like a charity? Do you need trustees?

Yes you need a committee. A society is an unincorporated body. The advantage is that you can do pretty well what you want within the law. The disadvantage is that the society has no legal standing of its own and the members have unlimited liability.

 

[Jodi Shadforth]

Yes you need a committee. A society is an unincorporated body. The advantage is that you can do pretty well what you want within the law. The disadvantage is that the society has no legal standing of its own and the members have unlimited liability.

I've looked a bit more and I think it's likely more fitting as a Charitable Business/CIC/Social Enterprise. Are CICs classed as PLCs?

 

[Scalloway]

Are CICs classed as PLCs?

PLC is short for public limited company, ie a company that issues share to the public. The requirements to register one are a lot more complicated than registering an ordinary private company.

I would think the kind of CIC you want to start with is a private company either limited by shares or by guarantee.

A company limited by shares has a fixed list of shareholders who put in a sum of money when the company is formed to buy shares

A company limited by guarantee has a list of members who agree to put in a sum towards the company's debts if it folds. This is the format used by most charities and CICs. The membership list can then be fluid.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

You can call yourself say rural sheep society and start straight away and try and recruit some members. you canb write your own rules and membership charges etc
The hard thing is to get enough people to write into the monthly. bi monthly newsletter to get things growing in numbers

With most things like this there is no need to become a charity of limited company or have trustees or the equivilent just do your own thing and if you see in the future a need to become a charity or other form then you can change easily enough then

Maybe the young farmers can assist you in getting up and running with advertising your society to get new members