6. Building the Right Foundations

As the thinking around a potential new dance development organisation continues, I’ve been spending time on one of the less visible but most important areas: structure. It’s not the most exciting part of building something new, but it is foundational. The legal and governance framework an organisation sits within shapes how it operates, how it is trusted, and how sustainable it can be over time.

At its simplest, the starting point has been understanding what this organisation would exist to do. The work identified through Liverpool Dances is fundamentally about public benefit: supporting artists and practitioners, widening access to dance, working with communities, developing audiences, and contributing to health, wellbeing and education. Any organisation established to deliver that work needs a structure that reflects those aims clearly and credibly.

That is why a charitable model feels appropriate.

Charitable status brings clarity of purpose and accountability. It ensures that activity is focused on public benefit rather than private gain, and it builds confidence with funders, partners and participants. It also opens access to a wider range of funding sources, including trusts, foundations and public investment that would not be available to a purely commercial organisation.

There are, of course, different ways to establish a charity. Some organisations operate as charitable companies limited by guarantee. Others are hosted within existing institutions. Each option has its advantages, but each also brings limitations.

Being hosted by another organisation can offer short-term stability, but it can also limit independence, blur accountability and constrain long-term strategic direction. Operating as a charitable company provides familiarity, but it comes with additional administrative complexity, including dual reporting to Companies House and the Charity Commission.

In working through these options, a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, or CIO, has emerged as a strong potential fit.

A CIO is a legal form designed specifically for charities. It provides the organisation with its own legal identity, allowing it to employ staff, enter into contracts and hold assets in its own name, without the need for a separate company structure. Governance is overseen by a board of trustees, with clear duties and accountability focused on the organisation’s charitable purpose.

For a dance development organisation, this model offers several advantages. It supports independence and clarity of mission, while keeping governance relatively straightforward. It reduces administrative burden compared to a traditional charitable company, allowing more time and resource to be focused on delivery rather than compliance. It also aligns well with funder expectations around transparency, accountability and public benefit.

Alongside structure, I’ve also been thinking carefully about the organisation’s charitable purpose and public benefit.

If an organisation is to operate as a charity, it must clearly articulate who it exists for and how its work benefits the public. This isn’t just a regulatory requirement. It becomes a reference point for decision-making, priority-setting and evaluation. It also helps build trust, particularly in a sector where people understandably want reassurance about intent and accountability.

As part of the early thinking, I’ve drafted a public benefit statement to help ground this work. It is deliberately clear and rooted in what came through strongly in the Liverpool Dances research:

Public Benefit Statement

The Organisation exists to advance dance as an artform that enriches lives and communities.

Through education and participation, it creates opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to learn, create and experience dance in ways that build confidence, creativity and connection, and support health and wellbeing.

By supporting and working with artists, educators, participants and audiences through classes, residencies, and the creation, production and presentation of dance work, the Organisation contributes to a thriving and inclusive cultural life across Liverpool, the Liverpool City Region and beyond.

All income and resources are applied solely to activities that deliver public benefit in line with the Organisation’s charitable objects.

Closely linked to this is the concept of an asset lock, which is a core requirement of a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).

An asset lock is a mechanism that ensures an organisation’s assets, including funding, property and intellectual property, are used solely to further its charitable aims. In simple terms, it means that resources cannot be distributed for private gain. If the organisation were ever to close, any remaining assets would have to be transferred to another organisation with similar charitable purposes.

This matters for trust and long-term integrity. It reassures funders that their investment will be protected. It reassures the sector that the organisation exists to serve collective benefit rather than individual interests. And it ensures that what is built cannot be quietly dismantled or diverted away from dance.

For a dance development organisation, this feels particularly important. The work identified through Liverpool Dances is about rebuilding capacity, supporting artists, widening access and strengthening the ecology as a whole. An asset lock helps ensure that any resources secured for that purpose remain dedicated to it.

None of this is about creating bureaucracy for its own sake. Structure, charitable purpose and asset protection are not constraints on creativity. They are enablers. They create the conditions for an organisation to operate with integrity, earn trust and focus its energy on delivery rather than defence.

As with the wider business planning work, this thinking will continue to be refined, tested and sense-checked.

I also have to say, there is also something quietly strange about constantly referring to a future entity that doesn’t yet exist. Talking about “the organisation”, “the body” or “the CIO” is practical, but it also highlights that this is still an idea taking shape rather than a lived thing. Naming matters. It signals intent, values and how something wants to show up in the world. As the foundations become clearer, I’m starting to think about what a future dance development organisation for Liverpool might be called, and what that name would need to hold. That feels like the next piece of the puzzle to explore.