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Definitions of some relevant words

Headings on this page :

Introduction

Wording used in the leaflets - To stop unlicensed collections which pretend to be charitable (such as bogus ones), the wording used on their leaflets or bags is crucial - hence we've added this web page to help you.

Remember that house-to-house collections which make it clear they are commercial are perfectly legal and don't need a licence (see Law).

The crucial issue - 'charitable purpose':  In particular, just ask yourself is the collection described in the leaflet 'purporting to be for a charitable purpose'?  In other words is it giving the impression that their purpose is benevolent / philanthropic / a good cause (rather than commercial / business aims) ?

If the answer is 'yes' :

• The collection requires a licence (under the 1939 Act).
• Without a licence, they're operating illegally.
• They're committing a criminal offence.
• They can be stopped by the local council (licensing department) and the police and prosecuted.

Small print - Commercial collectors sometimes argue that they don't need a licence because they mention (or imply) they are a business in the small print somewhere.  We understand this view is incorrect - the crucial point in law is what is the overall impression given by the leaflet? - irrespective of the small print and technicalities.  See trading standards law and the ASA's rules for the principles behind this.

Cautious choice of words when criticising collections - Be careful with your choice of words when querying or criticising a collection - terms such as bogus, con, fraud, scam and the like are strong, pejorative words with specific meanings (see some definitions of them below).  We've tried to use more cautious terms such as 'potentially misleading', 'questionable', 'dubious' and 'poor value' in some circumstances.  Bear in mind the law relating to defamation (libel and slander).

Abbreviations - See the Abbreviations page for a key to them.

Definitions

Official definitions - See Section 11(1) of the House to House Collections Act 1939 ('the 1939 Act') for the official ('statutory') meanings of the following seven words :

• charitable purpose, collection, house, licence, prescribed, proceeds, promoter.

Key to the definitions below:

• (Chambers) = Chambers Dictionary
• (Longman)  = Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

Charities

Third sector

This term has become popular recently. It's based on the following categorisation of organisations :

1. the public sector - ie government (central and local), eg Whitehall, town hall
2. the private sector - ie pursuing private profit, ie commerce
3. the 'third' sector - non-government, not-for-profit organisations - eg charities.

The website of the Government's Office of the Third Sector (OTS) describes the third sector as :

'voluntary and community groups, social enterprises, charities, co-operatives and mutuals'.

Charity - loose definition

'An organisation that helps people who are poor, sick, in difficulties, etc' (Longman)

Charity - legal definition

Charity - Our rough-and-ready definition of a charity is as follows:
An organisation which has applied to the Government's Charity Commission for approval to operate as a charity (in accordance with the Charities Acts), has been vetted by the Commission, and has been accepted by the Commission.

Registered charity and non-registered charity

• Registered:  If the turnover of a potential charity is substantial, the Commission adds it to the official register of charities, and gives it a registration number. The charity is then called a 'registered charity'.
• Non-registered:  If the turnover of a potential charity is very small, it doesn't become a registered charity - it simply applies in writing to the Charity Commission to be recognised as a 'charity', submitting its constitution, details of officers etc.
  If approved, it can then describe itself as a charity, even though it has no registered number.
  Once approved, it is subject to less ongoing scrutiny by the Commission than is the case with registered charities (eg annual reports, finances, auditing).

Charitable purpose

The 1939 Act only deals with collections which are for a 'charitable' purpose. The Act defines this as follows (in Section 11(1) - Interpretation) :

' "Charitable purpose" means any charitable, benevolent or philanthropic purpose, whether or not the purpose is charitable within the meaning of any rule of law.'

So, if a collection is not for a charitable purpose, it doesn't need a licence - for example a commercial collection conducted solely for private profit.

'Charity' versus 'charitable'

The words 'charity' and 'charitable' are closely related but have crucially different meanings. See above for definitions of both words.  'Charitable' has a wider meaning than 'charity', as follows :

• With charities - all their collections are charitable.
• With non-charity organisations - their collections also can be called 'charitable' - but only if all (or most) of the proceeds go to a good cause.

The key issue with the word 'charitable' is where the proceeds go to (the purpose) - rather than who is carrying out the collection.

We have been concerned to discover that certain regulators don't know this (particularly some TSDs and the police). They have sometimes told us that they cannot take action 'because the leaflet doesn't say the collectors are a charity'. This narrow interpretation is incorrect.

To stop a collection, you don't have to prove that the collectors are claiming to be a 'charity' (or registered charity) on the leaflet - you only have to show that the collections are for a 'charitable' purpose.

Donation

'Act of giving: that which is given, a gift of money or goods' (Chambers)

Donate

'To give as a gift: to contribute, especially to charity' (Chambers)

'To make a gift of something, especially for a good purpose' (Longman)

Dictionary definitions of the word 'donate' generally say that it has charitable connotations (eg give to 'a good cause'). Therefore, if a collector uses the word 'donate' in his leaflet, he is indicating that the collection is 'charitable'.  This means it needs a licence.  After all, you may 'give' your unwanted clothes to a commercial recycling business (say Steptoe and Son) but you wouldn't say you had 'donated' them.

In our opinion, the use of the word 'donate' in a collection leaflet provides regulators with a highly effective way of stopping cleverly-worded misleading collections.  If the collector argues that he doesn't need a licence, we feel that a court would disagree.

Collections

Street collections

This term covers only those collections where the collector is stationary - for example a person standing in a shopping centre holding a collecting tin.  The Charities Act 2006 uses the term 'collections in a public place' for street collections.  See the page on Street collections for more information.  Don't confuse street collections with house-to-house collections.

House-to-house

'Performed or conducted by calling at house after house' (Chambers)

The phrase 'house-to-house' in the 1939 Act implies that it only covers visits to houses.  However, in practice the law also covers visits by collectors to other premises such as pubs, shops and offices.  So a more accurate phrase would be 'door-to-door'.  Indeed in the latest legislation they use the term door-to-door (the Charities Act 2006).

Note - hyphens:  Throughout the website we've used hyphens in the phrase 'house-to-house', except when referring to the 'House to House Collections Act 1939'.  We omit hyphens in the name of the Act because the official title of the Act doesn't use hyphens.

Door-to-door

This implies visits to any type of premises - so not just houses, but also pubs, shops, offices etc.

'Door-to-door' is the term used in the Charities Act 2006 (albeit without the hyphens).

Collect

'To assemble or bring together ... to call for and remove ... gather contributions especially of money' (Chambers)

'To gather objects ... to come to take away' (Longman)

Flyer

A leaflet used in marketing, advertising, sales etc - for example the leaflets put through people's letterboxes asking them to donate clothes etc, using the plastic bag accompanying the leaflet.

Clothing collections

Strictly speaking, this phrase implies that the collections are limited to clothing (ie garments worn on your body). However, in practice most collectors also ask for other household items such as :

• footwear
• other textiles - such as bedding, towels, curtains
• handbags
• crockery, cutlery, pots and pans
• bric-a-brac (eg ornaments), toys
• books, CDs, DVDs, audio and video tapes
• cosmetics and perfume
• jewellery (occasionally)

So when people refer to 'clothing collections' they usually mean 'clothing etc collections' (in other words 'collections of clothing and other goods').

Typically, a collection leaflet lists what items they want (and don't want).  Normally, collectors don't want large items (eg furniture or white goods) or easily breakable items (eg glass ornaments).

Royalty collections

Eg "£50 per tonne" given to a charity by a commercial collector.  See the Donations page.

'Charitable collections' - two different meanings

This gets a bit subtle.  The phrase 'charitable collection' can be used in two similar (but crucially different) ways :

1. meaning merely that a collection gives the impression of being charitable (regardless of whether it is genuine or not), or
2. meaning that it is also genuinely charitable - in other words the collectors are honest (not bogus) and the proceeds really do go to the good cause specified.

In both cases above, the collection (the leaflet, bag etc) gives the impression of being charitable.  Therefore in both cases it needs to be authorised (with a licence or exemption) under the 1939 Act - to be legal.

The 1939 Act simply makes it an offence to carry out any collection which appears to be charitable if it has not received authorisation (in other words a licence or exemption).  So technically this part of the Act is not concerned with the crucial issue of whether the collection is genuine or bogus (in other words whether its proceeds go to the good cause indicated or not).

Instead, this issue (of genuine or not) is dealt with by the licensing authority when the collector applies for approval - the licensing authority then vetts the collector, checking that the collector is genuine and that various requirements are complied with.

So, when dealing with the question "Is it a charitable collection?" you need to bear in mind whether you're referring to definition "a." or "b." above. For example, with a bogus charitable collection like Gotham :

• it is "charitable" in so far as it appears to be charitable ("a." above)
• ... but it isn't genuinely charitable ("b." above)

We suggest using the first of these two meanings ("a." above). This allows you to split charitable collections into two types :

• "genuine charitable collections"
• "misleading/bogus etc charitable collections" (or similar wording).

This is consistent with the definitions used in the 1939 Act.

Sometimes a genuine charitable collection is illegal - this happens if the collectors haven't got authorisation.  This situation occurred with a registered charity called the Evergreen Trust in London in 2002.

Improper

Note:  See the Scams, cons etc page for more on these issues.

Bogus

'Counterfeit, spurious' (Chambers)

'Adj derogatory pretended; intentionally false' (Longman)

Con

'Adj abbreviation for confidence, as in con-game - a swindle,
con-man - a swindler, especially one with a persuasive way of talking;
verb to swindle, to trick, to persuade by dishonest means' (Chambers)

'1. to trick a (trusting person), usually in order to make money;
2. to persuade, especially by deceit' (Longman)

Deception

'... misleading, trick, illusion' (Chambers)

'1. the act of deceiving
2. something that deceives; a trick' (Longman)

Fraud

'1. (an act of) deceitful behaviour for the purpose of making money, which may be punishable by law
2. derogatory someone or something that is not what they claim or are claimed to be' (Longman)

Scam

'A clever and dishonest plan or course of action' (Longman)

Theft

'Act of thieving: a thing stolen' (Chambers)

'(An example of) the crime of taking someone else's property from a place; stealing' (Longman)

Law and regulation

Legislation

For explanations of legal terms such as Bill, Act, Regulation, Order, Statutory Instrument - see the page on Acts and Regulations.

Regulation, regulators

See the page on regulators (eg local authorities, the police, ASA).

Licences, permits, certificates

On the face of it, 'licensing' implies issuing a 'licence'.  However, some licensing regimes use a different term - such as a 'permit', 'certificate' or 'consent'.  The principle is still the same.

• With house-to-house collections, the term used is 'licence'.
• With street collections, the term used is 'permit'.
• The collections regime under the Charities Act 2006 will use the term 'certificate'.

See the licensing regimes page for more on this.

Don't forget that when we refer to 'licensing', generally we're only talking about licences for charitable collections. There are also other aspects of law which may affect collectors (some of which involve other licensing regimes), such as :

• charity law in general
• company law
• trading standards law
• vehicle law
• employment law
• tax and VAT law
• waste transport and disposal law
• contract law (eg partnerships between commercial collectors and charities)

Exemption

This means that a collector doesn't need a licence - for example because he's been granted a national Exemption Order (eg the Salvation Army).

For details, see the law on house-to-house collections page.

Unlicensed

When referring to bogus house-to-house collections, we (and many others) use the phrase "unlicensed collections". The phrase is commonly used as a convenient (but inaccurate) shorthand for the more cumbersome (but accurate) phrase: "collections without a licence or exemption".

Usually this works fine, but occasionally it leads to ambiguity and confusion - regarding whether you mean exemption as well. What's needed here is a phrase which means "collections without a licence or exemption" but is shorter. We feel the best term would be "unauthorised collections".

Note - This problem of terminology arises because the House to House Collections Act 1939 offers two alternative ways of getting authorisation for a collection :

1. a licence from the local authority, or
2. a (national) exemption from the appropriate central government department.

Miscellaneous

Commercial

We use this term to indicate any activity carried out primarily for private profit.  Relevant terms include :
- private sector, commerce, trade, business, enterprise, industry, capitalism, market economy.

Typically, the organisation concerned will be a limited company (Ltd), a PLC, an LLP, or a sole trader/self-employed person.

Thus we refer to :

• commercial house-to-house collections
• commercial Christmas cards 
• charity/commercial partnerships
• commercial fundraisers (raising money for charities)
• commercial shops (rather than charity shops)

Some commercial organisations will make donations to good causes (including sponsorship), but this is not the main purpose of their business.

The alternatives to 'commercial' are :

• government - ie the public sector
• the third sector (see definition above) - typically this consists of non-government, not-for-profit bodies eg charities.

Some charities carry out trading activities, such as charity shops, mail order goods, and producing/selling cards.  On the face of it, these activities are commercial.  However, the profits generated go to the good cause, so their ultimate aim is charitable (not commercial).

'Re-use' versus 'recycling'

For the differences between these two words, see the Re-use and recycling page.
In terms of environmental benefits, re-use is much better than recycling.

 

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