Steve Langasek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > On Fri, Sep 02, 2005 at 06:38:38PM +0100, MJ Ray wrote: > >> > So the society is certainly a >> > /corporation/, but if it's a business it's a piss-poor one. > >> A corporation is a legal person which can own stuff itself and >> so on. DUS is an unincorporated association and not a corporation. > > Ah, so it's an unincorporated society at that. Yes, I can certainly > understand the concerns about liability, then. > >> > (Likewise, >> > SPI is a corporation, but not a business; and from what I understand of >> > such things, SPI could also not be considered a charity under UK law.) > >> Why not, just out of interest? It seems to act for the benefit >> of the community and I didn't notice any obvious exclusion. > > Well, looking through <http://www.charity-commision.gov.uk/>, I can't > actually find anything that spells out how the UK decides whether a > stated object is charitable, but I also definitely don't see anything in > their example objects that would cover SPI's charter. Education is one > of SPI's stated objectives, yes, but advocacy is also, and it's my > impression that advocacy is off-limits for UK charities.
If the activities are political, it can't be a charity: <http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/publications/cc21.asp#5> "no organisation can be charitable if: * it is created for the specific purpose of carrying out political or propagandist activities; " " if the beneficiaries are related or connected to the person who is setting up the charity, or where they are defined by common employment or by membership of a non-charitable body, for example, members of a professional institute." then it cannot be a charity. So a charity for the benefit of Debian members would not work unless Debian was a charity, which it can't be for the aforementioned political reason. cheers, Rich. -- rich walker | Shadow Robot Company | [EMAIL PROTECTED] technical director 251 Liverpool Road | need a Hand? London N1 1LX | +UK 20 7700 2487 www.shadow.org.uk/products/newhand.shtml -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
