How to organize a charitable society?

Almost everyone has encountered the idea of “a plus to karma,” has thought about doing a good deed, or has already done one. All these experiences are mental in nature and, essentially, can be realized with a snap of the fingers. Help an elderly person across the street? Done! Or give material help to a homeless person? A little money later, and a good deed is counted. But when the desire arises to help on a large scale — more people and greater volume — serious questions appear about how to implement this correctly.

To build a system, you need certain knowledge and at least a few like-minded people who will help bring the idea to life and widen the circle of impact. For such intentions you can now organize a charitable society without major expense — it will be the face of all your actions and intentions. Founders of a charitable society may be both individuals and legal entities.

To understand why we need to organize a charitable society, we should turn to the concept itself. It is an organization that may have two or more founders, operates on the basis of a charter, conducts non-commercial activity, and has charitable activity as its main purpose. Another difference from a charitable foundation is that a charitable society includes activity to create and further operate foundations — that is, it has a broader range of opportunities.

One of the key activities of organized charitable societies is financial assistance to low-income social groups in need, but there are also a number of other directions:

1. Transferring material resources, property, and other material benefits to recipients of assistance.
2. Participating in charity auctions.
3. Creating charitable foundations.
4. Public fundraising of donations.
5. Providing services and performing works free of charge.
6. Executing various kinds of wills.
7. Free transfer of the right to receive income from property to recipients of assistance, and more.

As we can see, the scope of such a charitable society is quite broad. You may say: “I want to open a charitable organization!” But that alone is not enough. First you need to decide which direction it will cover. A charitable society can be organized in healthcare, education — including orphanages and boarding schools — organizations and projects aimed at sports development, implementation of various social programs and projects, and so on.

As we described earlier, to organize a charitable society you first need the will of two or more founders who wish to register a legal entity of this category. After that you will have to go through the entire bureaucratic procedure.

1. First, contact the state registrar, having previously completed the registration card (in the documents it appears as Form No. 1);
2. Together with this application you also need to submit two copies of the constitutive documents; if you decide to file electronically, one copy is enough. In a charitable society the constitutive document is the charter approved by the founders;
3. The next step is waiting for a response from the state registrar, who within the statutory period checks the documents for compliance with the requirements. One common ground for refusal of registration may be an incorrectly stated name of the charitable society, because under the law a legal entity’s name may not include a reference to the organizational and legal form;
4. After the review stage, the charitable society is registered in the Register of Non-Profit Institutions and Organizations. This helps obtain non-payer of corporate profit tax status. To do so, you must submit Form 1-RN and copies of the constitutive documents to the territorial tax authority;

An interesting fact is that upon liquidation of a charitable society its assets, after satisfying creditors’ claims, are transferred to other public organizations specified in the charter or by a court decision.

As we can see, the creation procedure looks clear and transparent at first glance. But practice shows that organizing a charitable society is very difficult, which is typical of our still heavily bureaucratic system. The process can drag on for months, because there are almost always gaps, and the state registrar carefully examines every written clause for compliance with the law. On the other hand, it is possible to open a charitable foundation online, which is especially relevant in today’s situation. But again, all of this is simple only on paper.

To accelerate and correctly complete registration of a charitable foundation or organization, there are many law firms that provide a full range of services for any legally significant actions. One of Ukraine’s market leaders today is the law firm VINCO’S, which has more than 7 years of experience in its portfolio, a large staff of specialized professionals, and the best client reviews.

VINCO’S provides a broad package of services for organizing a charitable society, including: consultation, name check, development of the founding purpose and preparation of constitutional documents, filing documents with the state registrar, obtaining non-profit status, producing a seal and opening a bank account, information matters, and much more. By turning to VINCO’S you will receive quality service, pleasant support, and a complete solution to your issue.