Register a charity in Northern Ireland with CCNI

If you want to call your organisation a charity in Northern Ireland, you must register with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (CCNI). Northern Ireland has no income or asset threshold. Every institution that meets the charity test must register, no matter how small its income.

This guide takes you through the Northern Ireland charity test, the Expression of Intent and call-forward process CCNI uses, and what happens once you are registered. It also covers the position for charities already registered in Great Britain that want to operate in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland charity test

Before you apply, confirm your organisation meets the charity test in sections 2 and 3 of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008. Your purposes must fall within one of the 12 descriptions of charitable purpose in section 2(2), and you must satisfy the public benefit requirement in section 3. You must also be governed by Northern Ireland law and be an independent institution with your own control over your governance and resources.

Northern Ireland's list has 12 descriptions rather than the 13 used in England and Wales. The wording is near-identical; Northern Ireland folds any additional or analogous purpose into a single catch-all description instead of listing it separately.

No registration threshold currently applies

Unlike England and Wales, Northern Ireland has no income or asset threshold for registration. Every qualifying institution must register with CCNI regardless of size.

Prepare before you apply

Before you submit an Expression of Intent, prepare a governing document - a constitution, trust deed, or articles of association - setting out your charitable purposes, how trustees are appointed and removed, and what happens if the charity winds up. CCNI recommends at least 3 trustees, so that a dispute can always be resolved by a deciding vote.

Gather your trustees' names and contact details, a description of your charitable purposes and how you provide public benefit, and your proposed charity name.

Register through the Expression of Intent process

Northern Ireland uses a phased registration process, not a single continuously open portal. You submit an Expression of Intent (EOI) and then wait to be called forward before you can complete a full application.

Charities already registered elsewhere that operate in Northern Ireland

If your charity is registered in England, Wales, Scotland, or Ireland and you want to operate in Northern Ireland, you do not currently need a separate Northern Ireland registration for that cross-border activity. The Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 provides for a register of institutions established outside Northern Ireland that operate for charitable purposes in or from Northern Ireland, at section 167, but this section has never been brought into force. Following a Department for Communities consultation that closed in October 2025, the Department's published intention is to repeal section 167 rather than commence it.

In the meantime, CCNI keeps a voluntary informational list of charities registered elsewhere that operate in Northern Ireland. Adding your charity to this list is not a legal registration requirement, but check CCNI's current guidance before assuming your position, because the Department's repeal decision has not yet been implemented in legislation.

If you are setting up a new charity that is established under Northern Ireland law and governed from Northern Ireland, this cross-border position does not apply to you - you register directly with CCNI as set out above.

What next

Once registered, you take on ongoing duties: submitting an Annual Monitoring Return and accounts each year, keeping your register details up to date, and meeting your duties as a charity trustee. See the related guides below for the full detail on reporting and trustee duties.