AI generated

Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs) receive full access to official charity broadband rates, as they hold a registered charity number with the Charity Commission. Since a CIO is a corporate body, you can also sign the broadband contract directly in the name of the charity rather than using a trustee's personal name.
Approved Routes for CIO BroadbandParish Buying Scheme:This is the official procurement service for Anglican churches and partner denominations.They offer heavily discounted fixed-line and mobile broadband packages pre-negotiated for church infrastructure.
Major Business Providers:Large telecom providers like BT Business, Virgin Media Business, and TalkTalk Business accept your CIO registration number.You must request their specialist charity/non-profit desk to bypass standard commercial rates.
Community Fibre Hubs:Regional alternative networks (Altnets) often connect CIO-registered community spaces for free or at a massive discount.They prioritize spaces that host community projects, food banks, or public Wi-Fi.

Huge thanks - and to all who have added to my knowledge base and given me good pointers.

Much appreciated guys.
I’m pretty much sorted now with all your input.

Cheers,
James.

https://switchaid.org/charity-broadband/
https://parishbuying.org.uk/

Might be worth a try

Edited by iannewson (Thu 20-Aug-26 21:43:31)

In reply to a post by meteosat:

.

A Plusnet ‘salesperson’ suggested this afternoon to a colleague no problem being a church but we (not they) need some further confirmation. Obviously they don’t do business stuff now.

Salesperson was wrong. Plusnet dont do business broadband any more and using consumer broadband is against the rules

I manage the premises of a small charity, an Unincorporated Association. Our demands aren't high and turnover is very low. We couldn't have afforded a normal business contract. Being with Vodafone at home, I walked into a Vodafone store and asked what they could do for the charity. They offered a tariff at the same cost as I would pay for domestic premises. At the time it was ADSL.

When we temporarily opened additional premises, that didn't have a connection, they provided a mobile broadband hub at the same price as it would cost for domestic premises. When we surrendered that, at termination of the lease on the premises, I asked about PSTN switch off for our main building and they offered FTTP at the same cost as domestic. As a business they don't show upgrades on the online dashboard so I can't tell whether they would offer a high speed service at a similar price to a domestic service.

I haven't had to involve our Trustees in the negotiations with Vodafone (it was agreed at Management Meetings) but I am the listed contact on the Charity Commission website.

I think they are treating us as a small business. We have no paid staff but have more than 9 volunteers. From their website they regard businesses with less than 10 employees as small .

Many thanks for that additional info. We have a couple of phone shops in the vicinity - EE and Vodaphone I think. Hadn't thought of a shop based approach, so thanks again.
James

I am a trustee at our local Methodist Church. The Methodist Church is slightly unusual as although the UK body is a charity many local churches don't have their own charity number but function as one via the national body.

We have had a Vodafone broadband dongle under contract for some years and will be moving to their FTTP package next month via City Fibre (a long story, but it has taken them three years to sort out a post code address issue..). At no time have they ever queried whether we are a charity or business and have never demanded a charity number. We do seem to be completely on the domestic charges.

In reply to a post by dsergeant:

I am a trustee at our local Methodist Church. The Methodist Church is slightly unusual as although the UK body is a charity many local churches don't have their own charity number but function as one via the national body.

It is rather off-topic, but that was never the case.

The large national charity I mentioned further up the thread was the Methodist Church; I served on Conference for ten years, so was a trustee of the national charity until much more appropriate arrangements were put into place, with the trustee body for the national charity now being the Connexional Council.

Historically, most of the local churches were exempt charities and did not have to register with the Charity Commission, but for legal purposes they were distinct from the national charity. Subsequent changes in the law have meant that essentially all local structures have had to register as charities; in many areas, this goes down to the local church level, but there are exceptions. The national custodian trustee, the Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes, holds land and buildings on behalf of the local managing trustees, and various functions are provided nationally by the Methodist Church or TMCP. The Methodist Church Act 1976 sets out the overarching legal principles and implements the provisions in the Deed of Union and the Model Trusts.

In reply to a post by dsergeant:

We have had a Vodafone broadband dongle under contract for some years and will be moving to their FTTP package next month via City Fibre (a long story, but it has taken them three years to sort out a post code address issue..). At no time have they ever queried whether we are a charity or business and have never demanded a charity number. We do seem to be completely on the domestic charges.

A lot will depend on how the infrastructure provider (Openreach, CityFibre, etc.) classifies the building they are serving. I think most churches are more likely to be classified as business premises, so you will likely deal with the SME (small and medium enterprises) team at an ISP, though this is not a universal rule.

There are a few charity-specific deals around, but there is no compulsion for an ISP to offer special rates to charities, and most seem not to.