Scottish charitable incorporated organisation

A Scottish charitable incorporated organisation (SCIO) is a corporate form of business designed for (and only available to) charitable organisations in Scotland, similar to (but with important differences from) a charitable incorporated organisation in England and Wales.

Overview
CIO status is conferred by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator on application by a charity, whether new or existing.

The main benefits of the form are that the charity has legal personality (the ability to enter contracts, sue and be sued, and to hold property in its own name - rather than in the name of its trustees), and its members have limited liability (their liability in the event the charity becomes insolvent is limited or nil).

Gareth G Morgan of Schulich School of Business at York University says:

History
The Scottish regulator began registering SCIOs in April 2011, and a fifth of new Scottish charities registered by December of that year were SCIOs. To spread the workload for the regulator, existing charitable companies and industrial and provident societies were unable to convert to SCIOs until 2012; other forms of charity in Scotland were able to apply from April 2011.