2. ACIE Scottish Conference, 26 August 2016
David Robb
Chief Executive, Scottish Charity Regulator

3. Outline:
OSCR role and vision
2016 survey results
Towards targeted regulation

4. Charities you can trust and that provide public benefit
The vision
Charities you can trust and that provide public benefit

5. Survey headlines 81% of the public* surveyed said trust was very
important or fairly important when determining how
much time, goods or money to donate to charity
84% of the public* surveyed said charity regulation was very important or fairly important
93% of charities**surveyed said charitable status is very important or fairly important
85% of charities** surveyed said charitable status had a positive benefit on their organisation
* General public. Base 1,010 Scottish adults, Feb-Mar
** Base 1,215 Scottish charities Feb-Mar 2016

6. Statutory Functions of the Scottish Charity Regulator
Keep a public register of charities
Determine if bodies are charities
Encourage, facilitate and monitor compliance
Identify and investigate misconduct in charities
Give information or advice to Scottish Ministers
OSCR
Help the public have more confidence in charities
Help charity trustees to understand and comply with their legal duties
Keep registration & reporting straight-forward and proportionate
Continually improve the way we operate and deliver services
Strategic Objectives

7. 10 years of regulation
Online comprehensive, searchable charity register – 100K searches every month
Introduction of Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation in 2011 – now accounts for almost 50% of new applications
Introduction of Online Services
Plain English guidance: case studies, checklists
Over 35 ‘Meet the Regulator’ events around Scotland

8. The proportionality challenge
£100,000 income
£25,000 income
(7%) income not known (mainly new charities)
24,000 charities on the Scottish Charity Register

9. Changing environment
Economic downturn, relationships with funders, reliance on donations, diversification of activities, press and public scrutiny
In the eyes of the public, what is a charity?
What drives public trust & confidence?
The modern charity can be quite different from ‘traditional’ model. This is a challenge for the regulator.

10. Our response – Targeted Regulation
New Annual Return to reinforce the principles of good governance
Publication of charity annual reports and accounts
Notifiable Events to alert the Regulator to matters that may damage public trust and confidence
Targeted Regulation Unit: a risk management approach to inform and focus our activities in the right areas
Focus on non-submitting charities to ensure donations are transparently and publicly accounted for

11. Risk Framework

12. Annual Return New questions – guidance to help included online
The same or fewer questions
Questions aimed at giving us information on the risk framework
Or aimed at encouraging trustees to think about governance

13. Getting accounts online
Why?
To promote trust and confidence in the sector
Which charities?
All SCIOs and charities with an annual income of £25k or more
Personal information redacted from the accounts before publishing on our site
Or, supply us with a link to your accounts

14. Notifiable events Encouraging preventative action
Supporting good governance
Things to report on:
Fraud and theft
Substantial financial loss
Incident of abuse or maltreatment of vulnerable beneficiaries
Not enough charity trustees to make a legal decision
Charity subject to criminal investigation by another regulator or agency
Significant sums of money or other property donated from unknown source
Suspicion that charity/charity assets being used to fund criminal activity
A charity trustee is acting while disqualified.

15. Transparency is key to public trust
What can you do to help
Keep up to date – Principal Contact, register info, annual report & accounts
Tell the public what you do & what difference you make – go digital!
Deal appropriately with complaints and queries from service users or the public/ donors
Safeguard your charitable assets
Transparency is key to public trust

16. Advertise your charitable status
Display your charity number – check out our guidance if you don’t know the requirements
Provide accounts on your website, and provide the link for your register entry
Shop - request one of our window shop stickers and proudly display your charity number
Website - use our ‘Registered by OSCR’ logo to link back to your entry on the Scottish Charity Register

17. Things to note
From us:
New guidance – charity test, charity trustees, campaigning FAQs, social media guidelines, banking guidelines, good governance page
Fundraising – new arrangements
Consultations – reporting responsibilities of IEs and auditors

18. Thank you
David Robb, Chief Executive
Scottish Charity Regulator