Support with finances and charity management

Registering as a charity

If you want to register your unit as a charity please use these guidelines to help you complete the OSCR online application form. You can find more information on how to complete your annual OSCR return here. When you submit your annual return you will receive a reply from OSCR to acknowledge the submissions. It might also say that you should review your governing document. Please don’t be alarmed – this is an automated response, because the Girlguiding Royal Charter has not been reviewed formally in the last 3 years. Please don’t worry about this email, we are aware of it, but it is not a compliance or legal issue.

Registering for Gift Aid

Once you have received your Scottish Charity number (SCxxxxxx) from OSCR you can then register with HMRC for Gift Aid.

To do this, complete the Scottish Gift Aid Certificate to apply to Girlguiding for the application form.

Learn more about what Gift Aid could do for you and your girls here.

Girlguiding units that are already claiming Gift Aid can use the Small Donations scheme. Within certain parameters 25% tax can be reclaimed on small donations under £20 where there is no signed declaration, such as bag packing. Find out more here.

Unit accounts

Units which are registered on the Scottish Charity Register, kept by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR), must comply with Scottish charity law and regulations.

Where annual income is under £250,000 the following is required:

• A trustee report
• A statement of receipts & payments with prior year comparatives
• A statement of balances as at the last day of the financial year and opening balances
• Notes to the accounts
• An independent examiner report

Download the Scottish unit accounts pack template

If you have any questions, please get in touch with the governance team on governance@girlguiding-scot.org.uk.

If you need help with budgeting check out our unit budgeting tool, designed to help you decide how much to ask for subscriptions.

Units which are not registered charities can either use the Scottish pack or the Girlguiding unit account pack and instructions to manage unit finances.