What is a CIC (community interest company)?

A community interest company, or CIC, is in GOV.UK's words "a special type of limited company which exists to benefit the community rather than private shareholders". It is registered at Companies House and must be approved by the Regulator of Community Interest Companies, which "decides whether an organisation is eligible to become, or continue to be" a CIC. To set one up you need a community interest statement, a constitution and an asset lock, which GOV.UK describes as "a legal promise stating that the company's assets will only be used for its social objectives".

Why it matters when applying. A CIC is not a charity. It has no charity number, it is not on the charity register, and its accounts are at Companies House. Funders divide on this. National Lottery Awards for All England accepts CICs; so do most community foundations, and The London Community Foundation's 100 most recent published grants on 26 October 2026 went 62% to companies or CICs. Many trusts fund registered charities only, and some that fund CICs restrict the grant to charitable purposes. Grants for CICs explains what funders check and how to answer the asset lock and dividend questions.

For prospect research. When you look up who funds organisations like yours, a CIC's identifier in 360Giving data is its company number written as an org-id, GB-COH- plus eight digits. The charitable incorporated organisation and the Scottish SCIO are charities, and should not be confused with a CIC despite the similar initials.

Example. A fictional CIC running a community café applies to Awards for All England for £9,000 of equipment, which accepts it, and is declined by a local trust whose criteria say registered charities only. It records both outcomes and the reason in its pipeline so it does not repeat the second.