What is the difference between a ‘charity’ and a ‘voluntary organisation’?

A charity is an organisation with exclusively charitable purposes. Most charities, with certain exceptions, are registered with the Charity Commission under the provisions of the Charities Act 1993, section 3.

A voluntary organisation is one whose main focus is to deliver social benefit in a variety of forms, rather than to generate profit for distribution to its members. It will usually be governed by volunteers, be independent of government and seek to pass on its assets to a similar organisation should it stop functioning. More information can be found on our Bitesize guidance page.

The term ‘voluntary organisation’ covers a wide variety of non-profit entities and for ease of reference it is used as the generic description on this site for these organisations, including charities.