How do I write my charity's purposes?

England and Wales: This page sets out the position in full — the statutory list below is the England and Wales list. Scotland: a different and longer list, not the same list with local wording — sport is narrower, recreational facilities stands as its own purpose, and there is no armed forces or emergency services purpose. See the comparison below. Northern Ireland: a different list again, closest of the three to England and Wales, but not identical — no armed forces purpose, an express philosophical-belief limb, and an express peace and good community relations limb. See below.

The three statutory lists of charitable purposes, side by side

Write your charity’s purposes against the statutory list of each nation you register in. This assumes you have already decided whether to start a charity. The Charity Commission, OSCR and CCNI each apply their own list of charitable purposes. Even founders registering in one nation need to know where the lists part company. A purpose drafted from the wrong list may have no match in the right one.

The next table sets out all three nations’ lists, copied word for word from each Act. Few others in the sector publish the lists side by side. The differences follow straight after the table.

England & Wales — Charities Act 2011 s.3(1) (13 purposes)	Scotland — CTI(S)A 2005 s.7(2) (16 purposes)	Northern Ireland — Charities Act (NI) 2008 s.2(2) (12 purposes)
(a) the prevention or relief of poverty	(a) the prevention or relief of poverty	(a) the prevention or relief of poverty
(b) the advancement of education	(b) the advancement of education	(b) the advancement of education
(c) the advancement of religion	(c) the advancement of religion	(c) the advancement of religion
(d) the advancement of health or the saving of lives	(d) the advancement of health (e) the saving of lives	(d) the advancement of health or the saving of lives
(e) the advancement of citizenship or community development	(f) the advancement of citizenship or community development	(e) the advancement of citizenship or community development
(f) the advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science	(g) the advancement of the arts, heritage, culture or science	(f) the advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science
(g) the advancement of amateur sport	(h) the advancement of public participation in sport	(g) the advancement of amateur sport
	(i) the provision of recreational facilities, or the organisation of recreational activities, improving conditions of life for the intended beneficiaries
(h) the advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation or the promotion of religious or racial harmony or equality and diversity	(j) the advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation (k) the promotion of religious or racial harmony (l) the promotion of equality and diversity	(h) the advancement of human rights, conflict resolution or reconciliation or the promotion of religious or racial harmony or equality and diversity
(i) the advancement of environmental protection or improvement	(m) the advancement of environmental protection or improvement	(i) the advancement of environmental protection or improvement
(j) the relief of those in need because of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage	(n) the relief of those in need by reason of age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage	(j) the relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage
(k) the advancement of animal welfare	(o) the advancement of animal welfare	(k) the advancement of animal welfare
(l) the promotion of the efficiency of the armed forces of the Crown or of the police, fire and rescue services or ambulance services
(m) any other purposes analogous to, or within the spirit of, the above, or recognised under the old law	(p) any other purpose reasonably regarded as analogous to any of the preceding purposes	(l) any other purposes within the Act’s catch-all provision

How Scotland’s list differs from England and Wales

Six things in Scotland’s list have no match in England and Wales. They show that Scotland is not “England with different forms”:

• Sport is narrower and framed differently. Scotland requires the sport to involve physical skill and exertion. England and Wales, by contrast, expressly includes games of mental skill. A mind-sport body such as a bridge or chess club can be charitable on the face of the England and Wales statute. But it faces a much harder argument north of the border.
• Armed forces and emergency services: Scotland has no such purpose at all.
• Recreational facilities stand as their own Scottish purpose. England and Wales reaches similar ground only in a roundabout way.
• Health and the saving of lives are two separate purposes in Scotland, not one.
• Human rights, harmony and equality are three separate purposes in Scotland, not one combined purpose as in England and Wales.
• Philosophical belief is expressly brought within the religion purpose in Scotland. England and Wales has no express rule like it.

Separately, Scotland has a test with no England and Wales counterpart at all. A Scottish body’s constitution fails the charity test outright, whatever its purposes and public benefit, in any of these cases.

• it allows property to be distributed for a non-charitable purpose on winding up or at any other time
• it lets Scottish or UK ministers direct or control its activities
• it is, or exists to advance, a political party

The dissolution clause trap is the one most likely to catch a drafter. Take a clause that lets assets go to members, or to any non-charitable body, on winding up. It fails the Scottish test even if every other purpose is sound. That is why a separate step covers how to agree powers, membership and dissolution.

Northern Ireland’s list, the closest to England and Wales

Northern Ireland’s list is the closest of the three to England and Wales. Most paragraphs follow England and Wales almost word for word. But the list is not identical. Like Scotland, Northern Ireland has no armed forces or emergency services purpose. England and Wales is the only UK nation with one.

Northern Ireland expressly extends “religion” to cover analogous philosophical belief. This matches Scotland, not England and Wales. And only in Northern Ireland, the human rights and harmony purpose expressly includes “the advancement of peace and good community relations”. In Northern Ireland this wording is not for show. It is a purpose with real substance.

Why generic wording delays an application

The Commission gives its own reasons for querying or sending back an application. One is generic text that is not specific to the charity applying, including text generated through AI tools. The advice is not “do not use AI”. It is that generic wording fails however it was produced. Such wording cannot show what this charity does.

An objects clause is the part of the governing document that sets out the charity’s purposes. Everything the charity does must fall within it.

Breadth belongs in your powers clause, not your objects clause. Founders often want to widen the objects to cover everything the body might ever do. But a single purpose that is not exclusively charitable is fatal to the whole application, however worthy the aim behind it. Changing purposes after registration is a separate process: change your charitable purposes.

You now have draft purposes checked against each nation’s list. The next step is to show public benefit for each of them.

Common mistake: using generic or AI-generated wording for the objects clause

Objects clauses read as formulaic, and model documents exist. Generating one now takes little effort, so it feels like boilerplate.

The regulator now names this expressly as a cause of delay. It warns against generic text, “including text generated through AI tools, which is not specific to the charity you want to register.” The problem is not the tool. It is that generic text cannot show what this charity does.

Common mistake: applying the England and Wales purposes list in Scotland

The lists look alike at a glance. And most published guidance is written for England and Wales without saying so. Scotland’s list is longer and different in substance. A mind-sport body or a forces-related body may find a purpose in one nation’s list with no match in the other.

Common mistake: including a purpose that is not exclusively charitable

Founders want the constitution to cover all the body might ever do. So they draft broadly. A single non-charitable purpose is fatal to charitable status, however worthy. Breadth in the powers clause is safe. Breadth in the objects clause is not.

Worked example

A bridge club is seeking charitable status in two jurisdictions. In England and Wales, the statutory definition of sport expressly includes games of mental skill. So a bridge club has a real argument. In Scotland, the sport purpose requires physical skill and exertion. So the same club faces a much harder argument.

We keep the record’s own example as written rather than force it onto Wrenfield, Tollgate or Saltmarsh. This matches the rest of this batch. The outcome is either different drafting for each nation or a decision to register in only one.