Demystifying contractual terms for charities

Article series for charities and social enterprises explaining important contractual concepts and terms, and providing recent updates to contract law.

We are often asked by charities to draft or review the written terms of commercial and other arrangements they are entering into with organisations or individuals they engage with. Those arrangements can be wide ranging, from contracts for the delivery of charitable services, to collaboration or joint working arrangements, and from grant funding agreements to contracts for the receipt of critical infrastructure, such as IT or other tech solutions.

When advising a client on such terms, we pride ourselves on getting to the heart of the material risks and issues faced by, and opportunities presented to, them, from such arrangements. This helps them to maximise the value they receive from their available legal budget. Inevitably, those risks and opportunities centre around:

• what it is that the charity is required to do, or expecting to receive;

• how much money is the charity expecting to receive, or having to pay; and

• how does the arrangement come to an end (e.g. by one party terminating it), and what are the consequences for the charity upon the arrangement’s conclusion.

Contractual terms can often be long and unwieldly. This means that more standard contractual terms, often referred to as the “boiler plate” terms (the bits at the back!), are often skimmed over if not ignored! But that doesn’t mean they are not important.

Over the next few weeks we will be explaining the purpose of a number of such terms, recent developments in the law surrounding them, and the risks and opportunities they present to charities. Together with some top tips for charities in managing contractual risk.

If we can be of any assistance in relation to the contractual terms that you are entering into, please contact a member of the team.

Happy reading…