Scottish charitable incorporated organisation

A Scottish charitable incorporated organisation is a corporate form of business designed for charitable organisations in Scotland, similar to 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, and its members have limited liability.
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.