Anyone In North Devon Interested In Setting Up A Bike Charity?

[Lovacott]

Perhaps those who can afford to pay, could pay for repairs, which in turn could help fund repairs for the less well off

That would put me in the sticky situation of actually doing repair work for money with all the issues of liability which go with that.

It would also put me in direct competition with the local bike shops.

My intention is to provide a facility which enables people to cycle at a reasonable cost by removing the need for them to have a toolbox full of specialist kit and a bench vice in the garden shed. People of means who like others to do their servicing for them, can continue to use the LBS like they always have.

 

[Lovacott]

I do wish wonder what the percentage of cyclists do all their own repairs and servicing, I would think it’s pretty low. Having basic practical skills seems to be a thing of the past. A house opposite me is let to students and I’m always helping them with small repairs to both their bikes and small 125cc scooters, they honestly can’t do a thing for themselves.

When I was a kid, we all fixed our own bikes. I was around during the Chopper craze in the 1970's and some of the things kids did were mad.

Extending the forks with bits of pipe and making leather covers for their banana saddles in art and craft class. That kind of thing.

We all went on to fixing our own 50cc mopeds and Ford Escorts before buying a house and fitting our own central heating. Meanwhile, one of the lads at work has just paid a garage over £100 to fit a new hose on his clapped out BMW. A five minute job which would have set him back less than a tenner for the hose if he'd done it himself.

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good morning

@Lovacott good luck with it. You have everyone's support, I think, bar one 👍

I appreciate that my response has not been flavour of the month, however I also feel that it was not fully considered before replies were made.

An organisation can not simply decide that it is a charity, it needs to conform to the two basic principles of 'For the public good' and 'do more good than harm', as well as adhere to the principle that an organisation can not be both a charity and a business.

My suggestion was that the proposed model does not fit those criteria and so can not be a charity.

So I have a question for those of you "down voting" me.

If I were to be correct, a charity was formed, accepted grants and donations and after a complaint by someone say 18 months into the
future was found not be a charity and required to repay such grants, possibly £2k, £5k, £10k,etc. would you, offer financial support or say you should have taken advice? Or possibly wonder why did no-one warn the OP?

Those of you with Freeview might know that on Sundays Pick runs and re-runs a program called Monkey Life set in a rescue centre for primates called Monkey World in Dorset. What may surprise many is that Monkey World isn't a charity as when it was created it failed to meet the criteria for a charity.

​

Bye

Ian

 

[Gunk]

efore buying a house and fitting our own central heating.

My mate and I fitted a boiler ourselves back in about 1987. I found an almost new one in a skip whilst out on a job (they were converting a house into three flats) and asked if I could have it. It wasn’t that difficult to fit. Can you imagine anyone doing that these days?

 

[Rusty Nails]

Good morning

I appreciate that my response has not been flavour of the month, however I also feel that it was not fully considered before replies were made.

An organisation can not simply decide that it is a charity, it needs to conform to the two basic principles of 'For the public good' and 'do more good than harm', as well as adhere to the principle that an organisation can not be both a charity and a business.

My suggestion was that the proposed model does not fit those criteria and so can not be a charity.

So I have a question for those of you "down voting" me.

If I were to be correct, a charity was formed, accepted grants and donations and after a complaint by someone say 18 months into the
future was found not be a charity and required to repay such grants, possibly £2k, £5k, £10k,etc. would you, offer financial support or say you should have taken advice? Or possibly wonder why did no-one warn the OP?Those of you with Freeview might know that on Sundays Pick runs and re-runs a program called Monkey Life set in a rescue centre for primates called Monkey World in Dorset. What may surprise many is that Monkey World isn't a charity as when it was created it failed to meet the criteria for a charity.

​

Bye

Ian

I understand your pov, and of course there are regulations charities have to adhere to, but surely the op would not just call his organisation a charity without first defining it's structure and finances and submitting them to the Charities Commission for registration. They will decide if it meets the criteria.

The organisation I volunteer for has not set itself up as a charity, but is defined as a not-for-profit organisation. I have never got involved with the detail of that but it seems to have worked well for 11 years.

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good afternoon,

I understand your pov, and of course there are regulations charities have to adhere to, but surely the op would not just call his organisation a charity without first defining it's structure and finances and submitting them to the Charities Commission for registration. They will decide if it meets the criteria.

The organisation I volunteer for has not set itself up as a charity, but is defined as a not-for-profit organisation. I have never got involved with the detail of that but it seems to have worked well for 11 years.

....submitting them to the Charities Commission....
You can create and operate a charity without registering it with the Charities Commission if it receives less than £5k per year.

Okay this is about £100 per week so this may be a theoretical option rather than a practical option but it does allow the creation and operation of a charity for quite a few months in a "start up mode".

This revenue includes all sources, so a £3k grant from XYZ Council, £1.5k from local businesses and £501 from users would trigger the registration requirement.

However so would so a £3k grant from XYZ Council, £0.5k from local businesses and £501 from users, (total of £4001) and then a second grant of £3K. Prior to CC registration quite possibly nobody would notice or care that the charity exists, by registering the charity draws attention to itself and if the CC comes back and says nope you are not a charity you quite possibly have £6k-£7k to repay.

....surely the op would not just call his organisation a charity without first defining it's....
The impression that I got, rightly or wrongly, was that was the intention; Quite possibly under the rationale that I don't intend it to be a profit making operation therefore it is automatically eligible to be a charity.

Bye

Ian

 

[Rusty Nails]

Good afternoon,

....submitting them to the Charities Commission....
You can create and operate a charity without registering it with the Charities Commission if it receives less than £5k per year.

Okay this is about £100 per week so this may be a theoretical option rather than a practical option but it does allow the creation and operation of a charity for quite a few months in a "start up mode".

This revenue includes all sources, so a £3k grant from XYZ Council, £1.5k from local businesses and £501 from users would trigger the registration requirement.

However so would so a £3k grant from XYZ Council, £0.5k from local businesses and £501 from users, (total of £4001) and then a second grant of £3K. Prior to CC registration quite possibly nobody would notice or care that the charity exists, by registering the charity draws attention to itself and if the CC comes back and says nope you are not a charity you quite possibly have £6k-£7k to repay.

....surely the op would not just call his organisation a charity without first defining it's....
The impression that I got, rightly or wrongly, was that was the intention; Quite possibly under the rationale that I don't intend it to be a profit making operation therefore it is automatically eligible to be a charity.

Bye

Ian

I didn't realise the £5k part. Interesting.

None of this need stop the op in setting up an organisation with the aims he described, but this does outline some of the structural, legal and financial considerations he has to get sorted first.

 

[Lovacott]

My mate and I fitted a boiler ourselves back in about 1987. I found an almost new one in a skip whilst out on a job (they were converting a house into three flats) and asked if I could have it. It wasn’t that difficult to fit. Can you imagine anyone doing that these days?

I salvaged the burner unit from a skipped oil fired boiler a few years back and fitted it in our boiler. Nothing wrong with the skipped boiler at all apart from the damage it had received to the casing when being skipped.

In fairness though, things are not as easy to fix today as they used to be. I replaced the brake shoes on my drum brake Morris Minor 1000 without any prior knowledge. It was pretty easy to work out and required nothing more than a shifting spanner and a big screwdriver. On a modern disk brake car, you need a special tool to wind the piston back in so most find it's easier to just drop into the local garage and get them to do it. (although I do mine myself).

On a lot of modern cars, you can't even fit a new battery because you have to register the battery with the onboard computer (more specialist tools required).

Bikes are more complicated as well and require even more specialist tools.

When I was a kid, if your bike stopped working, you had two choices. Fix it yourself for free with a shifting spanner and a screwdriver or pay a bike shop a fortune to do it for you.

Now, you have to buy a special tool or two and get the exact right part (you can't just go in the shop and ask for a new chain). Doing it yourself becomes less attractive.

I showed by 82 year old dad my new bike the other day and he was bewildered by the complexity. This is a bloke who rode from Letchworth to Luton and back every day for ten years to work at Vauxhall as a toolmaker.

So is it the case that people today are useless or is it the case the things have become either over complicated or too specialised to repair?

I suspect it's a bit of both.