Charitable objectives
On 15 January 2014, British Dressage was granted charitable status for our work in amateur sport, education and training, recreation and the welfare of animals.
Our charitable objectives have been described on the Charity Commission's website as:
The promotion, as the governing body of the sport of dressage in Great Britain, or participation by persons in Great Britain (both able-bodied and with any form of disability) in healthy recreation in dressage.
British Dressage
Charity number: 1155352
For members and stakeholders of BD, there was little change on the surface but for the company there are numerous advantages. Tax benefits, additional income from Gift Aid on membership subscriptions, donations and access to charitable funding will all help the organisation to plough increased funds back into the sport and make improvements.
The principal objectives and activities of the charity are to advance education and participation in the sport of dressage for the public benefit by:
- The improvement of the standards of (i) riding, (ii) training and breeding of horses and (iii) horsemanship, all to foster better the enjoyment by participants in dressage, the welfare of horses utilised in dressage, and the safety of both participants and horses
- The fostering of the provision of advice, education and guidance to dressage participants (as owners of horses, riders, coaches and competition officials) and, in particular to encourage and facilitate the development of young and disabled persons as participants in such ways and to improve their self-confidence and self-esteem (including the fostering of apprenticeship schemes for young people)
- The development of fair competition between dressage participants and the improvement of the welfare of riders and horses by the banishment of the use of damaging or performance-enhancing drugs and the provision of an effective drug testing regime
- The fostering of social interaction between participants
- The improvement of the development of participants and their levels of aspiration in dressage in fostering representative competition at both national and international level by team representative selection (including the provision of advice to the British Equestrian Federation on dressage matters generally and as they affect the Fédération Equestre Internationale).
BD established a sister company, British Dressage Trading Limited (Company no: 08712159), to handle the commercial activity of the business alongside the current company. All profit from the trading company will be gifted back to BD to help fund the sport.
Gift Aid
Members can help BD make their membership subscription worth even more without any additional costs. This gives us additional revenue to plough back into the sport and invest in projects to benefit all dressage enthusiasts. Gift Aid is a scheme that enables us to reclaim the basic tax rate on your membership cost and donations. The cost is covered by the Government so you don’t pay a single penny but the value of your donation increases. For every £1 you give us through subscriptions or donations, the taxman gives us 25p.
