Why is eton a charity

Eton Action is an independent charity conceived and founded by Etonians to promote charitable activity and social responsibility among boys.

Eton Action, whose activities consist primarily in fundraising for and supporting charities other than the College itself, was founded by boys at Eton and is still run by our boys today. The Eton Action Community Fair, which takes place in September, is the largest fundraising event of the year.

Boys manage the day as stallholders, musicians, entertainers, gatekeepers, and car park attendants, among many other roles. They are joined by more than 50 local charities as well as a range of artisan producers.

Over 80 stalls provide visitors with a range of games and activities as well as food, drink, bric-a-brac and distinctive handicrafts. Additional attractions include live music and an upmarket jumble sale. The Endowed Schools Act which resulted had two central clauses which were to determine the administration of all these remaining educational charities. It went on to exclude all the Anglican choir schools, too. In brief, they were given the right to oversee and control how the charitable funds of the grammar schools were to be used in future.

The smaller endowments of many of the grammar schools were redeployed to provide scholarships and free places, initially for poor pupils, but, increasingly, over time, for the academically outstanding, who often hailed from less humble backgrounds. Thus, the schools themselves became part of the state system of schooling, and effectively no longer charities.

Meanwhile, by contrast, the major schools found themselves under no such constraint. Thus, when, in , the Socialist MP Philip Snowden asked for a root and branch enquiry into the sources of funding of all schools which came under the Charitable Trusts Act, he mentioned particularly Eton and Winchester. The legislation of the s and s cast a long shadow. With lobbying representatives like Digby within the legislature, his intervention explains how it came about that during the succeeding century many schools like Sherborne have been able to fulfil their aspirations to be classified as elite institutions, independent of the Charity Commissioners.

The exceptionalism of schools for the fee-paying wealthy enjoying charitable status has never been seriously challenged. Calls for reform have always been channelled into schemes to alleviate one or other consequence of this arrangement, rather than its complete abandonment. There have been, particularly in recent years, a succession of Acts of Parliament seeking to reform the charities. Instead, the public schools continue to enjoy massive financial advantages as a direct consequence of state involvement.

Many of the better-known schools, outside the state system and registered as charities, are among those which enjoy similar benefits. Given the evidence deployed here, it is a judgement which might have been made at any point in the last two centuries. They have distant historical origins in the charitable provision of schooling for the poor. But this was entirely subverted in parliament in the mid-nineteenth century. An exception made originally for a handful of schools has grown to become a massive system.

It is high time to reform a highly regressive set of arrangements that makes a mockery of the notion of charity. Carlisle, An historical account of the Commission appointed to inquire concerning charities in England and Wales Ulan Press, London, [originally published ].

Elson, 'The origin of the species: why charity regulations in Canada and England continue to reflect their origins', International Journal of Not-for-Profit Law , 12, 3, May Green and D. Kynaston, Engines of privilege: Britain's private school problem Bloomsbury, London, The charitable status of independent schools, House of Commons briefing paper , 19 September This Policy Paper is derived from a full-length article, which is available to consult online in History of Education , 49, 1, He is currently working on a new book, Schooling and social change in England since making inequalities through education , to be published by Routledge in He may be contacted via Roylowe[at]hotmail.

We are the only project in the UK providing access to an international network of more than historians with a broad range of expertise. Toggle navigation. Policy Papers. The charitable status of elite schools: the origins of a national scandal Roy Lowe 18 November Tweet.

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The exclusive Berkshire school is 72nd in the index run by Charity Finance magazine and Barclays bank. The development comes as the voluntary sector is deliberating on the case for modernising charity law, including the argument that all charities - whether registered with the charity commission or not - should have to prove public benefit as the main determinant of their status.

Eton is an exempt charity, not registered with the commission. In a consultation paper, the charity law reform advisory group of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations NCVO proposes that all charities demonstrate public benefit in terms of issues such as access to facilities. An NCVO spokeswoman says: "We do need a tighter definition of what is for public benefit, but we would not want to pre-judge the consultation exercise.