Charity Commission figures show planned closures (“voluntary removals” from the register) rose by 36% last year, a sign of the turbulent waters charities are navigating: strained business models, waning volunteers, rising costs and more. Yet many leaders tell Bates Wells they don’t feel equipped for the anticipation, planning or delivery of closure. Some arrive at it with little time or money left, having tried to avoid it at all costs. Others treat it as the natural endpoint once a mission is achieved, and not in any other circumstance. Others carry questions about endings alone for months or years, not knowing where to take them.
Join Lucy Rhodes, Livia Velicu and Olivia Woodward from Bates Wells on Thursday 8 October from 2:00pm-3:00pm for a session on the legal, regulatory and practical sides of closing a solvent charity well, including case studies of closures that delivered lasting value and impact. They’ll be joined by Iona Lawrence from The Decelerator, bringing insight built through hundreds of conversations with charities facing an ending. The session covers:
- The legal and regulatory steps involved in closing a solvent charity well
- Practical tips drawn from years of advising on closures
- The emotional and relational work behind an ending, and how to hold that alongside the practical process
- How to bring more options to your board, and open up honest or difficult conversation
- Where to turn for support if you’re weighing up closure or other organisational endings
Better closures can happen in all sorts of circumstances. These are closures where legacy is protected, people are cared for, and what’s learned goes on to strengthen the sector for future generations. This event is for trustees weighing up their organisation’s future, for anyone watching closures happen around them, and for those nowhere near closure but wanting to think this through before they need to.
Where and when?
Thursday 8 October 2026 at 2:00pm-3:00pm via Zoom webinar.