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5.7.2015

Club becomes a registered charity

Pen-y-ffordd Tennis Club received official notification on 17th June 2015 that it has now gained recognition as a registered charity, number 116224 (see here for the club's entry on the Charity Commission's website).  This is something of an historic occasion for the club, given that it has been achieved some 107 years after its establishment in 1908.

As was reported in the blog back in March, the work to make this happen has been driven by committee member Val Stewart, along with some assistance from Nigel Edwards and Dave Hughes.  As an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives working for Allington Hughes, Val was the ideal person to push this forward, something she has done with determination to ensure that the application was ultimately successful.

 

Pen-y-ffordd Tennis Club as a charity has its own set of trustees, who are in addition to the trustees of the club.  They are Karen Glendenning, Tim Jones, Tim Howard and Nigel Edwards.

 

Charitable status is highly beneficial to the club.  It should, for example, protect the club from being required to pay business rates should the current 100% exemption for sports clubs be removed (a definite possibility in these times of continuing government austerity), something that would otherwise require the club to find an additional £1000 per year.

 

Charitable status also opens up the possibility of obtaining match funding from large companies' Corporate Social Responsibility schemes.  That is, members raising funds or doing work for the club for free will be able to tap into schemes from employers such as HSBC and Barclays.

Val Stewart

And charitable status also means that the club can increase funds received by 25% via the government's Gift Aid scheme.  Further work needs to be done to determine whether some Gift Aid may be available for membership subscriptions, but it becomes instantly applicable to donations received, including funds from the club's participation in the Easyfundraising scheme.

 

Now that Gift Aid is available for donations to the club, would you like to see the clubhouse completed?  Some months back a separate account was set up to build funds towards this cost, which is estimated at £2000.  The account currently contains £200 and donations will soon be invited to build this fund to the level required to, at last, cover the cost to level the floor inside the clubhouse, have a hard-wearing floor covering laid, and for the skirting and architraves to be fitted. Donations from UK tax-payers can now be increased via Gift Aid, meaning a £40 donation will actually boost this fund by £50.

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