UKCOD is a company limited by guarantee (search for "UK Citizens Online Democracy" at Companies House) and registered charity no. 1076346.

UKCOD has the following charitable objective: to conduct and promote research into the use and effects of information and communication technologies in the context of the operation of any body or bodies which has or have an electorate...and to disseminate the useful results of such research for the benefit of the public.

UKCOD operates a wholly-owned commercial trading subsidiary called mySociety Ltd (search for "mySociety Ltd" at Companies House). The sole purpose of this subsidiary is to generate profit from commercial work and return it to the charity to enable it to continue with its good works.

Governance

As a registered charity, UKCOD is governed by a board of trustees, who oversee the activities of the project as well as ensuring that UKCOD complies with all relevant legal and constructive requirements.

mySociety is a UKCOD project and Tom Steinberg is its project director and reports to the trustees on behalf of all mySociety's developers and volunteers.

The board of mySociety Ltd, UKCOD's subsidiary company, reports to its sole shareholder, UKCOD, at least annually. UKCOD has the right to remove directors of the company on reasonable grounds. The membership of the mySociety Ltd board includes some trustees, however the two entities maintain an 'arm's length' relationship, and the subsidiary board has a balance of trustees, executive and independent non-executive directors.

What is the difference between mySociety and mySociety Ltd?

mySociety is a project of UKCOD, which carries out work in furtherance of the charitable objects of UKCOD, as well as mySociety's own twin missions.

mySociety Ltd is a company wholly owned by UKCOD, which does broader work, such as selling spin-off versions of the sites developed primarily by the charity. All profits the company generates are ultimately returned to the charity.