Creating this thread so we can get together a list of the changes we want to Lobby central government for, following the result of the next general election.
Just as a starting point lets put the ideas down, before we delve too far into them and end up bike shedding.
Charitable status and requirements
Banking accessibility
Funding accessibility
In chat you asked folks to list “issues encountered”, I’d like to reframe the “charitable status” one as the actual issue that its about. We have noticed for example that systems like “techsoup” which google and others rely upon to see if we’re worth giving discounts etc to, only acknowledges official charities in the UK.
If you were encountering a different issue that led to that item in your list, could you explain it?
I left it open ended because whilst the issue relating to Techsoup recognition is a major one there are also additional considerations which could have an impact for example tax reliefs etc and others may have experienced other issues as well.
The more issues we can list out and the wider range of impacts we can highlight as a result of the issues, the more likely we are to be able to get changes, especially if the changes are relatively simple implementations.
In the case of charitable status for example, I think all Hackspaces meet the requirements apart from the first hurdle of the purpose being of community benefit and that in theory could be a relatively simple guidance document to the charity commission that says the provision of a community workshop and easy access to equipment constitutues a charitable purpose even if a membership fee is charged. - This is just off the top of my head to give an example.
insurance support…