Our route to charitable status

Our current position

In Your Corner is currently an independent, volunteer-led, unincorporated not-for-profit project.

We are not currently a registered charity.

Our intention is to spend the next 12 months building the governance, evidence, financial controls and trustee base needed to seek registration as a Foundation Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), with a target of September 2027, subject to Charity Commission approval.

Why we are doing this

IYC was created to give parents and carers practical, independent support when SEND, school access, neurodevelopmental pathways or public-service systems become difficult to navigate.

Formal charitable status is intended to protect that purpose for the long term, strengthen accountability, improve sustainability and allow IYC to grow without losing the principles it was built on.

We do not want charitable status simply as a badge.

The aim is to build an organisation with governance, safeguards and accountability strong enough to support families properly and sustainably.

Our intended charitable direction

Our proposed charitable purposes are being developed around two core areas.

Relieving need

We intend to relieve the needs of children and young people affected by SEND, disability, neurodevelopmental difference, ill-health or other disadvantage, together with the related needs of their parents and carers.

This may include:

• information and guidance
• advocacy and practical support
• help understanding education, health and public-service systems
• signposting to appropriate services and organisations
• resources that help families understand and navigate processes

Advancing education and understanding

We also intend to advance education and understanding in relation to:

• special educational needs and disabilities
• school and education access
• neurodevelopmental pathways
• relevant NHS and public-service processes
• the systems, duties and routes available to families

This may be achieved through accessible guidance, practical resources, training, awareness-raising and public information.

These are our current proposed directions.

They are not yet the final legal charitable objects of a registered charity. Final objects will be adopted through the appropriate governing document and Charity Commission registration process.

Public benefit

The intended public benefit is straightforward.

Families should be better able to understand the systems affecting them, identify the right route, communicate effectively with public bodies and overcome barriers to appropriate support.

As IYC develops:

• core family-support work is intended to remain free at the point of use, subject to IYC's scope and available capacity
• public guidance and practical resources will continue to be made openly available wherever possible
• support will not depend on membership, personal connections or ability to pay
• funds and any financial surplus will be used to further IYC's purposes rather than distributed for private gain
• we will continue to collect anonymised evidence of outcomes and learning so that IYC can demonstrate the public benefit it provides

Why a Foundation CIO?

Our current intention is to seek registration as a Foundation Charitable Incorporated Organisation.

In a Foundation CIO, the charity trustees are also the voting members of the organisation.

We believe this provides an appropriate model for IYC: a focused trustee board responsible for protecting the organisation's purpose, governance, independence and public benefit.

The final governing document will be based on the Charity Commission's Foundation CIO model constitution.

Governance and independence

IYC was founded by William McAllister, but registered charitable status would place responsibility for the future charity with its trustee board collectively.

Trustees would be responsible for acting in the charity's interests, protecting its purposes, managing conflicts and ensuring that decisions are made for public benefit rather than personal benefit.

The intention is to build a board with the independence, experience and skills needed to challenge, support and govern IYC properly.

Where we currently work

IYC's current direct advocacy work is focused primarily on families in Kent and Medway.

Our public guidance and resources can be accessed more widely.

As the future charitable objects are developed, we intend to preserve sufficient flexibility for IYC to grow beyond its current geographical focus where there is a genuine public-benefit case and the organisation has the capacity to do so.

Funding before registration

IYC may receive donations, grants or other lawful funding while it remains an unregistered not-for-profit project.

Where this happens, we will be clear that IYC is not yet a registered charity.

Funds received for IYC will be recorded separately and used to support its stated not-for-profit purposes and development.

Our name

In Your Corner is the identity under which the project currently operates.

The final registered CIO name will be determined as part of the Charity Commission registration process.

If necessary, a distinct legal name may be adopted while preserving an appropriate IYC working identity, subject to the applicable charity-name rules.

What we are building over the next 12 months

Before seeking registration, we intend to build the organisation properly.

That includes:

• establishing a capable and appropriately independent founding trustee board
• developing and adopting final charitable objects
• preparing a Foundation CIO governing document
• establishing dedicated organisational banking and clear financial controls
• maintaining accurate income, expenditure and accounting records
• continuing to strengthen safeguarding, data protection, complaints and governance arrangements
• demonstrating public benefit through anonymised case outcomes, service use and practical resources
• developing a sustainable funding model that protects IYC's independence and free core support
• making sure our governance works in practice, rather than simply existing on paper

What will not change

Charitable registration is intended to formalise IYC, not turn it into something unrecognisable.

The focus will remain practical, family-centred and independent.

IYC will continue to:

• provide clear and accessible information
• be honest about what we can and cannot do
• keep appropriate boundaries around our role
• protect sensitive information
• take safeguarding seriously
• avoid promising support where scope or capacity does not allow it
• focus on helping families navigate difficult systems effectively

Our target

September 2027.

Our aim is to have the governance, trustees, financial controls, evidence and operational foundations required for IYC to operate as a registered charity, subject to the Charity Commission's registration decision.

We will publish meaningful progress where it is useful to the families, professionals and supporters who rely on IYC.

Transparency

This page explains IYC's current direction and intention.

In Your Corner is not currently a registered charity and will not describe itself as one unless and until registration has been approved by the Charity Commission.

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