Charity status

When Wikimedia UK (v2) was formed, obtaining charitable status was identified as one of the key objectives. The advantages of charitable status were identified as:

• It adds to our reputation, meaning that people are more likely to donate, join, partner with us and take our views seriously
• We can claim Gift Aid income tax relief
• We can get reduced costs for other services including PayPal and room hire

We drafted our constitution's Objects clause having regard to the Charity Commission's advice on the charitable activity called "Advancement of Education".

We first applied for charitable status in November 2008 after we were incorporated and the Wikimedia Foundation's Chapters Committee had approved our constitution. As our confirmed annual income was less than £5,000 , we were unable to apply direct to the Commission Charity Commission. However, we were able to apply to the UK Tax Authorities (HMRC), and ask them to recognise us for tax purposes.

At first, our application was delayed due to a backlog at the HMRC Charities Unit. We asked our MP to intervene to speed the process up, which he did, and we received a final response in April 2009. The response unfortunately rejected our application, arguing "The production of an encyclopaedia is not the charitable advancement of of education"

We obtained informal legal advice and drafted a response addressing the case law raised by HMRC and giving examples of the projects' educational value so we can comply with the Charity Commission's guidance on education.

The response was sent in June and a copy has been uploaded to the wiki here.