Finance
Non-primary purpose trading
Formal definition
Non-primary purpose trading is a charity finance term for managing charity-owned trading activities and subsidiaries to generate unrestricted funding while maintaining tax compliance.
What this actually means for you
Use Non-primary purpose trading to guide live decisions: monitor trading thresholds, structure transfers via Gift Aid, and separate charity resources from commercial operations, with ownership and reporting agreed at month-end and before trustee reporting cycles.
Example: In a live quarterly cycle, Non-primary purpose trading is applied like this: the trustees review trading subsidiary accounts and approve intermediate gift-aid payments before year-end. The team then records the decision trail in team templates, reporting packs, and operating checklists.
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