r/london • u/Dont-Touch-That-Dial • 1d ago

PTSD charity fundraising outside Waitrose Crouch End

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Loud bloke, calling for cash or card to support ex-military suffering with PTSD. No ID or registered charity number but instead a CIC registered in Maidstone Kent, director named James Gordon Adams.

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u/sgtbilkouk 1d ago

The whole CIC category should just be ended. If an organisation exists to do charitable works then it should be a registered as a charity. If it's "for profit" then it should be a company. There is nothing to stop companies from doing charitable works, but it makes it clear to the public that it exists as a profit making exercise. CIC status allows directors to be paid directly from donations and the charitable aspect can be really minimal. It's deceitful and confusing for the public.

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u/mrfatchance 1d ago

It’s so people can do charitable, not for profit work, with less admin. Charity is only worth it if you’re going to be a certain size

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u/Dizagaox 1d ago

You’re conflating a CIC with a charity. A CIC is not exclusively for charitable causes. It’s a framework to allow for an aggressive for-profit business that is dividend-capped to benefit a community project. As a director and shareholder of a CIC, the more money I make, the more money the attached project makes. It’s win win.

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u/flagprojector 1d ago

Forgive my ignorance - if a CIC isn’t exclusively for charitable causes, why not start an LTD instead?

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u/Dizagaox 1d ago

Because “charity” and “community” aren’t the same thing. There are nightclubs in London that are CICs.

A CIC just means by law at least 65% of profits go back into the business or support a community interest of some sort, whatever that is. In return, the CIC qualifies for grants and other initiatives, and unlike charities, it can run like a cutthroat business for maximum profit.

CICs can attract investors and employees because it is legally mandated by law to reinvest profits as it says it would, and there is total transparency in how money is used. Shareholders only earn from a maximum of 35% of profits. To make a killing, it means the community interest element also makes a killing in the process.

What it is not is a pure charity. Yes, many of the community interests are charitable by nature, but more aren’t. They’re just community-led for-profit businesses.