Charities and investment matters

The Charity Commission’s Charities and investment matters: a guide for trustees (CC14) guidance is currently being redesigned, with a revised version expected in Summer 2023.

As its release nears, the Commission has asked a sample of around 1,000 charities which have investment income to ‘road-test’ the new guidance, and have shared the draft with charity lawyers and other groups who represent the
interests of charities with investments. The test is not another consultation, which took place in 2021, but is designed to ensure the guidance is structured and worded in a way which is useful to trustees and their advisers.
Whilst the exact details of the revised guidance is yet to be released, it is understood that it will be:

1. Shorter and more concise - the Commission has succeeded in reducing the guidance by some 75%, to fewer than 6,000 words
   
   
2. Clearer and more inclusive - the Commission is updating its language and retiring some terms that are considered misleading, or open to interpretation.
   
   
3. More comprehensive on investment approaches – designed such that trustees can feel confident deciding what is in the best interests of the charity.