Wrap is to apply for charitable status after receiving “overwhelming” backing from its members for its plans to become a charity.

The waste reduction body wants charitable status to make its funding more robust.

In a blog posted on Wrap’s website this week, CEO Dr Liz Goodwin said its members had “overwhelmingly backed” its plans at a special meeting on Monday.

Charitable status would help Wrap diversify its funding, Goodwin added. “It will help us to access trust funds and create new opportunities to develop and fund priority areas of work. It gives us greater flexibility in terms of the way we work, allowing us to react and adapt to the needs of the market. Through diversifying our funding base we are able to bring our expertise to new markets and increase our international impact.”

Wrap’s decision to seek charitable status comes after the body has seen its funding slashed in recent years. Last November, Defra cut £10m from Wrap’s budget, including £3.6m for food waste projects.

Goodwin said the move also made sense because Wrap was already functioning much like a charity. “Very little will change in terms of what we want to achieve, the areas we work on and how we achieve our impact. Charitable status will underline the purpose of our work and allow us to play a full part in the charitable sector.”

Wrap will apply to the Charity Commission in the next few weeks and hopes to achieve charitable status by the end of March 2015.

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