# Hitting the Commission on the nose

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/1998/05/18/hitting-commission-nose/
- Published: 1998-05-18T23:00:00+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

“Once people start to think about the absurdities of what we call charity, the fundamental
questions may jump up and hit the [Charity] Commission on the nose.” So wrote Polly
Toynbee recently in The Guardian. She thinks that the Commission’s major [public consultation](http://www.coi.gov.uk/coi/depts/GCH/coi0826e.ok)
into the register of charities might involve opening a “vast wriggling tin of worms”,
no matter how much the Commission points out that it cannot change the law to define
a charity.
She queries how a definition of charity that was drawn up in 1601 can
still be relevant to today’s range of charitable activities. “How can they tidy 
up a few bits round the edges without questioning the whole insane basis of this
tottering edifice?”, she asks. She recognises that no government is going to try
to redefine charity since it would mean taking on too many interest groups. Her 
solution is that the government should abolish charitable status altogether.

 * **[The peak of fundraising](https://fundraising.co.uk/1998/05/31/peak-fundraising/)**(
   31 May 1998)
 * **[US fundraising grows too](https://fundraising.co.uk/1998/06/01/us-fundraising-grows-too/)**(
   1 June 1998)
 * **[Total fundraising up by 11% in one year](https://fundraising.co.uk/1998/06/02/total-fundraising-11-one-year/)**(
   2 June 1998)

## Advertisement

 [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/)