Non-charitable associations

It is a fundamental principle of English trust law that a non-charitable ‘purpose trust’ will not be recognised. That does not, however, mean that it is impossible to arrange for money or property to be held for the purposes of some non-charitable (but legal) objective. A body set up to achieve a legitimate, but non-charitable objective may be an ‘unincorporated association’. A gift may be made to, and property held on behalf of an unincorporated association. However, in order to avoid there being an invalid purpose trust, the property must be regarded as being held in trust for the members of the association from time to time. In re Neville Estate v Madden (1962) Ch 832, Cross J suggested that a gift to an unincorporated association might have one of three effects. The gift might be a simple gift to the members of the association, at the date of the gift, as joint tenants.