[ Update: please see this news item – since 29 April 2024, the BPA is now a registered charity ]
At present the British Philosophical Association is an unincorporated association. The BPA’s Executive Committee has proposed that the BPA should become a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation). This was approved by our members at the Annual General Meeting held in September 2022. The application process has been quite lengthy and we hope will be completed in the first half of 2024.
If successful, recognition as a CIO would give the BPA formal status as a legal entity in its own right and recognition as a charity acting for the public benefit.
To obtain this status, we are currently seeking approval from the Charity Commission, including approval of the draft constitution previously approved by our membership.
The proposed constitution is based on the following “Model constitution for CIO with voting members other than its charity trustees (‘Association’ model). This is because the BPA is an association that is answerable to a wider membership, with officers elected by those members. With the change in status, the current “executive committee” would be renamed as the “board of trustees.” Their responsibilities and the rights of members would remain largely unchanged, except that the trustees would now have legal duties to report annually to the Charity Commission.
The proposed constitution names the current President, Director and Treasurer as the first officers of the CIO. It is also proposed that existing members of the Executive Committee should be asked to serve their remaining terms of office as trustees of the BPA, should its status as a CIO be approved by the members and the Charity Commission.
We hope that this will set the BPA on a more formal legal footing, provide recognition of its public and charitable role, and confirm its status as accountable to a wide membership.
