Not-for-profit organizations

Charity law has always been a core area of work at Withers. Our team helps Not-for-Profit Organizations (Nfps) at every stage of their development involving lawyers from many of the firm's different practice areas.

We are recognized as one of England's leading charity law practices. We act for many of the UK's top charities and are frequently referred work by other lawyers and intermediaries because of our in-depth knowledge of charities and the laws that apply to them.  We have particular experience in relation to charities operating in the fields of education, healthcare and the arts.

Many of our charity and philanthropy team are themselves charity trustees, giving our team a very real insight as to the concerns, governance and aspirations of Nfps.

Recent work

  • Assisting with the establishment of US/UK dual qualified charities for the NSPCC and RNLI.
  • Working with the British Olympic Foundation and the British Olympic Association on the structuring of their charitable activities in the light of London's successful bid to host the 2012 Games.
  • Advising the British Red Cross Society on various issues, including their leading role in operating the London Bombings Relief Fund, the UK's National Floods Appeal and their reconstruction work in Indonesia following the Asian Tsunami.
  • Advising the Girls' Day School Trust on its ground-breaking conversion of two fee-charging schools to Academies and working with the Trust on its international joint ventures in India and China. 
  • Working with Macmillan Cancer Support on its re-branding.
  • Advising on the merger of GuideStar UK and Civil Society Systems to form GuideStar International.