International charities and nonprofits

We specialise in helping charities and nonprofits navigate the legal and regulatory challenges of working internationally. Our expertise includes establishing UK charities for US 501(c)(3) organizations and other international entities, as well as supporting UK-based charities in expanding their activities abroad.

We carefully consider the unique practical and governance issues each client faces when operating across borders. Our aim is to ensure that your international activities are both compliant and effective in practice.

We offer expert advice on aspects of working internationally, including:

• establishing an international structure
• registering a charity with the Charity Commission for England & Wales, including ‘Friends Of’ organizations
• operating in the UK – covering policies and procedures, acquiring property, staffing, immigration and data protection
• governance relationships with international entities, including US 501(c)(3) organizations, Netherlands stichtings and overseas foundations
• setting up dual-qualified UK-US charity structures
• fiscal sponsorship
• structuring international groups, federations, and associations
• managing staff and volunteers working abroad
• funding and donations

When needed, we collaborate with our global network of charity and nonprofit legal specialists, often taking on a project management role to ensure that the advice you receive is comprehensive and coordinated.

We are one of the UK’s leading and longest established specialist charity and nonprofit practices, with extensive experience advising prominent charities and nonprofits working internationally. A number of our team of charity and nonprofit lawyers are current or former board members of international charities.

Sector experience

Examples of our international work include:

• establishing a charity elsewhere in the EU because of concerns about losing EU funding as a result of Brexit
• advising UNICEF on a collaboration agreement with its national charities
• relocation of charities to and from the UK
• supporting the International Water Association with their UK governance and their international operating structure
• working on contracts between Voluntary Service Overseas and the Department for International Development
• participating in multinational collaborations and arrangements for service delivery, including for Plan International UK
• the implications of staff recruited in the UK working in other countries and staff from other countries working in the UK
• on-going work for international federations, including Hostelling International, Consumers International and United World Colleges
• helping Movember to establish an international presence in the UK
• assisting an international federation of health organisations with its relocation from London to Switzerland
• advising on the merger between Plan International and Interact
• establishing the World Dementia Council as a UK Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and assisting the Associated Country Women of the World with incorporation

Here are some comments made about us.

Our nationally recognised charity team is highly rated in the Legal 500 directory which states that Russell-Cooke "provides service beyond normal legal advice—coordination for complex projects involving multiple advisors and useful strategic insights."
The Legal 500 (2024)

The Legal 500 says our private client team’s “advice is easy to understand and yet very sophisticated”.
The Legal 500 (2024)

Charges are based on hourly rates plus administrative charges and disbursements but we’re flexible and are happy to discuss charging rates in relation to your budget for a particular piece of work. Where there is unpredictability or for the initial stages of a project, we’ll provide an estimate of your likely legal costs and will update this as your requirements or the circumstances of the work change.

For work where we can predict or clearly anticipate the work to be done, we can also act on a fixed or capped fee basis.

We’re happy to discuss your requirements free of charge and will then provide an estimate of costs.