Charities, Not for Profit, and Social Enterprises

Together we can do good, faster — we give charities the support and practical solutions they need to maximise their impact



Get in touch

For further advice please contact us for a consultation.

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+44 (0)3330 143 401 [email protected]

When you are about purpose rather than profit, you need to know that you have the right legal team working with you to ensure that you can focus on doing good and bringing about change. Our specialist team understands the sector inside and out. It is made up of lawyers and other professionals who, not only bring together their decades of knowledge and experience to help your cause succeed, they care about the difference that you want to make. Your purpose is our passion.

How do we help charities?

Our lawyers are recognised for their expertise, providing legal advice, strategic guidance and business support to charities, not-for-profit and social enterprise organisations across the UK and the World. We work with Charities, all forms of Not-for-Profit, Community Interest Groups, Community and Social Clubs, Foundations, Trusts, Schemes, Royal Charters, Livery Companies, Voluntary organisations, faith establishments, and Unincorporated Associations. We have experience in Arts, Heritage, Culture, Healthcare, Sport, Music, Education, Youth, Wellbeing, Science, Equality and Diversity, Environment, Animal, Military, Campaigning, Disaster Relief, Poverty and Hunger, Religion, Community Development, and Social Advancement organisations of every size and structure.

At gunnercooke, making change happen is very much at the heart of what we do as a challenger law firm.  The gunnercooke foundation is our own charity dedicated to providing leadership, mentoring and guidance to charity leaders and social businesses. You can find out more about the gunnercooke foundation here.

How do we help you?

We listen and we identify how best to help you solve your problem, or realise your ambitions, within your budget, timeframe, and resources. We believe in functional advice; legal advice that works for you in practice, realistic advice that makes your organisation easier to manage, and thoughtful advice that will enable your cause to succeed.

What can we help you with?

Making your ambition a reality

  • Set ups, incorporation, and restructuring
  • Mergers, collaborations, and partnerships
  • Governance and due diligence and
  • Regulatory compliance
  • Administration, accounting, and annual reporting
  • Grant administration and monitoring
  • Data privacy and GDPR
  • Fundraising, commercial participation agreements, and sponsorship
  • Assets, reserves, and investments, including cryptocurrency and Blockchain
  • Real Estate including property sales, purchases, leases, and tenancies
  • General commercial support including commercial contracts and procurement
  • Recruitment, employment, and staff handbooks
  • Pensions
  • Gift Aid, business rates, and VAT
  • ESG

Knowing that you can turn to us

  • Disputes and claims
  • Fraud, cybercrime, or financial irregularities
  • Insolvency
  • Dissolution
  • Employment grievances and tribunals
  • Crisis management and reputational risk
  • Serious Incident reporting
  • Safeguarding
  • Criminal investigation or private prosecutions
  • Boardroom issues
  • Reviewing policies and procedures

The extra support that you need

  • Training, implementation, induction, and facilitation
  • Business planning
  • Strategy and trouble shooting
  • PR and communications
  • Mentoring and coaching
  • Improving your Environmental, Social and Governance standards
  • Preparing for and running Annual Meetings
  • Administration, minute taking, resolutions and filing
  • Messaging change, managing donor or investor confidence

But we do a lot more than advise on the usual issues. We offer extensive support from across the whole of gunnercooke to respond to your needs in an agile, cost effective and timely way.  We are committed to giving your organisation the tools and confidence to be the best that you can be.

Notable matters our lawyers have worked on

  • Registering high-profile campaign the Menopause Mandate as a legal entity.
  • Registering Intractable Epilepsy as a charity with a sensitive and technical application.
  • Providing consultancy to the National Migraine Centre, assisting with a review of its articles of association.
  • Advising a grant-giving foundation on a spend out of its endowment, including renegotiating and drafting agreement with proposed beneficiaries such as top 10 charities and potential merger charities.
  • Providing philanthropy services to an international musician to help them realise their estate wishes and establish an international foundation to support young musicians.
  • Registered a new charity aiming to redress the gender imbalance in the financial services sector for a commercial client with philanthropic ambitions.
  • Advising a charity on a serious incident that has developed into a compliance inquiry by the regulator.
  • Offering advice across a number of practice areas, including employment and dispute resolution, to a faith-based charity facing a number of historical sexual abuse scandals.
  • Heading up a GDPR implementation for a medium-sized international charity.
  • Heading up a cross organisational multi-disciplinary team acquiring another charitable company which became part of the group structure.
  • Acting as the collaboration governance and commercial lead on a major innovative technology/ built environment project, Cities Unlocked, with a charity, a global IT provider, and a catapult organisation.
  • Undertaking a major governance review leading to the introduction of a robust new governance model.
  • Advised a leading UK charity on the ‘end child food poverty’ campaign on matters relating to their fundraising strategy and the related legal and commercial aspects.
  • Advised a confidential faith-based charity on a range of sensitive safeguarding issues, including one matter which has received national press coverage.
  • Provided discreet advice in relation to setting up a new charity to further the aims of a high-profile philanthropist and celebrity.
  • Advised a charity trustees on umbrella structure for a new charitable foundation.
  • Advised a charity trustees of a leading education charity in relation to a compliance investigation by the Charity Commission.
  • Advised a charity trustees of a charitable foundation in relation to £500k arrangements with a lead commercial funder.

Key Contacts

Sue Hall

Partner

Commercial Real Estate

Tim Heywood

Partner

Data Protection, Public Law & Procurement

Brian Miller

Legal Counsel

IP/IT, Data Protection & Commercial

Michele Price

Partner

Charity & Philanthropy

Khaled Moyeed

Partner

Dispute Resolution

Alex Innes

Partner

Banking & Finance

News and Insights from our Partners


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