Why We Publish Our Compliance Documents
Registration numbers, audited accounts and exemption certificates, in public. An explanation of why a small trust bothers.
Most of what a charitable trust is required to file, it is not required to publish. We publish it anyway.
Trust is specific, not general
Asking someone to trust an organisation in the abstract is asking a lot. Showing them a registration number they can verify, an exemption certificate they can check and accounts they can read is asking much less.
What is on the site
Our trust registration, 12A and 80G status, FCRA position where applicable, and the banking details used for donations are all set out on the site rather than supplied on request.
What a donor should check
Verify the 80G number before claiming a deduction, and confirm bank details against the site rather than against an email. Impersonation of small charities is common and depends on donors not checking.
The internal effect
Publishing has a discipline of its own. Documents that are public get renewed on time, because the lapse is visible. That has turned out to be as valuable as the transparency itself.
