The charity wishes to raise funds by selling numbers for the National Lottery bonus ball to the public. When the national draw is made the person who has purchased the bonus ball number wins a money prize. Balls would probably be sold for £1 per week with a maximum prize of £25.

Do they require any form of licence?

Would it make any difference if they sold to "Members" only?

We are a registered charity and are hiring out our facilities to another charity to stage a pop concert. We would like to get some publicity by making a donation to the charity organising the event. This would come out of the fee we are charging them.

My question is. Can a charity make a donation to another charity, is it legal ? What do you consider the pitfalls are if we do make a donation?

Do we yet have a date when the Charitable Incorporated Organisation might become available? And what advice should we give to existing charities thinking to incorporate - should they wait? Or should they register as a company limited by guarantee? 

Dear Charlie,

As part of a procurement process, a local authority would have different requirements as the amount of money varies - e.g over £20k,  three quotes etc.

Someone has mentioned to me that if the goods to be purchased are specific as opposed to general i.e. so specific that one does not need to follow procurement guidelines - is this correct? Or are there any circumstances where the normal procurement guidelines are waived?

Any advice gratefully received.

I am looking at a new leadership structure that is being considered by a charity, whereby two senior and equal positions jointly lead the  organisation. The two positions are: Executive Director - a totally externally facing role that focuses on networking, charity promotion, key net worth individuals, etc; and a Chief Operating Officer, who implements strategy, delivers projects, and runs the charity.  

I have seen structures where these roles have existed in a hierarchical form. I may be wrong but I believe that at the Shaw Trust these roles may have existed in a hierarchy where the Director General was fulfilling an externally facing role and the Managing Director (who reported to the Director General) ran the charity.

Has anyone seen this model in operation but where both positions exist but
at an equal level? If so, are there any observations about what works
well, what doesn't, etc. This may be a model that is seen more in arts organisations.

One added piece on information, the person who will slot into the Executive Director position is the founder of the charity and will probably be retiring in around five years time. The COO will be a new appointment.

Any help or views would be welcome.

Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We are a community development charity who have a service level agreement with local authority to provide community training, youth club, community hub where the community can access services, promote recycling, business support etc.

In the terms of the act are we considered a public authority?

If a website company develops bespoke software for a company and the terms and conditions state that the copyright is granted on full payment (which has been made), can they then say we don't own the software? We have been told that we now have to pay an annual service charge in order to use the software we commissioned them to design for us. They have said we can't 'transfer' the hosting to another company.

If someone would like to put photographs of, for example, a Summer Fair, on their website, could they be challenged if people are identifiable and haven't been asked for permission?