As part of our strategic drive to ‘embrace a culture of continuous improvement’ we’re always exploring ways to strengthen the charity.

We wanted to share the most recent way we’re doing this: modernising our governance structure to become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). 

What is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation?

A CIO is a relatively new legal structure for charities, providing them with their own ‘legal personality’. One of the key benefits is it that the incorporated structure limits personal liability for trustees.

Not only are we making this change to provide added protection for our trustees, but we believe it will help with trustee recruitment in the future – as the limiting of personal liability will make joining the board more appealing. Additionally, it enables us to update the finer details of our processes within the new governing document rather than having to add updates and notes to our original one. 

What’s involved in converting to a CIO?

The process for converting to a CIO must be done in stages, as it’s not a simple case of converting directly from an unincorporated charity to the new structure. 

Alongside all the consideration of benefits and risks, the assessment of any conflicts of interest etc, there are a few key steps: First, a new CIO must be registered with the Charity Commission. Then – in line with the “winding up clause” for the original registered charity – all assets (all funds held, employment and supplier contracts) of the current charity need to be transferred to the new CIO.

Ultimately, the original charity will then be closed permanently and removed from the Charity Commission database, with Music as Therapy International moving forward in its new CIO form.

We’ve recently received confirmation that the new CIO entity – Music as Therapy International (charity number 1208086) – has been registered with the Charity Commission. It is now visible on their public database and we wanted to make sure people understood why there were now two “Music as Therapy International” organisations showing and what this means for our operations. 

At our trustee meeting earlier this week we set out a timetable for a managed transfer of assets to take place over the next 12 months. 

What does this change mean for our operations? 

You’ll be pleased to hear there will be no change or interruption to our operations. All of our charitable activities will continue as they are.

If you are one of our donors, we’ll be in touch in due course to let you know more details and inform you if we need your help to update any details so that you can maintain your amazing support.

We’ll keep you updated as the process progresses. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch and we’ll be happy to help. Other than that, it’ll be business as usual, and we’ll continue to share news on our activities and impact around the world as we always do.