Charity is the voluntary provision of help to those who need it. To provide assistance, special premises are created where those in need can receive financial assistance. The charitable foundation is engaged in transferring funds to various structures. This could be hospitals, orphanages and schools. Such funds are strictly regulated by government authorities and also provide their support.
Many people need charitable assistance, some structures cannot cope on their own, charitable organizations are always supported by the authorities and society. There is an opinion that only rich, wealthy people engage in charity work, so they attract attention and improve their image. This is not entirely true; ordinary people also engage in charity. On the territory of the Russian Federation there are many charitable organizations created by ordinary people who are not alien to the fate of the poor and terminally ill. Usually such organizations collect funds from other people who are not indifferent to the fate of such people.
Why do they do charity?
As already mentioned, the impulse that makes people help and not be indifferent to others is altruism. The pleasure of giving is much greater than that of receiving. Good deeds do not disappear anywhere; they will always beautify a person, confirming his holy nature.
For some, this is a way to calm the soul and an act committed in the past. A person’s conscience is not so easy to understand; usually, in order to clear it, you need to do something good to the extent that it was completely bad, only then the soul will find peace.
In the news we often hear about famous people giving large sums of money to a charity. It would be incorrect to evaluate this as a conscientious act. For media personalities, this is a good way to increase their popularity, improve their authority among ordinary people, and also show their usefulness.
No matter what goals these people have, creating an organization to help will always be a kind and important act.
A person who does charity gets a lot of pleasure from the fact that his actions make him important to the world, so he feels useful to the world and to people.
What is needed to open a charity organization?
First of all, you need to decide what the fund will be. You need to find the goal that the fund will strive for and what kind of assistance it will provide. Every fund needs its own purpose. Helping everyone will lead to nothing; everyone needs money. If you are not sure about the goals of your fund, it will simply be torn apart by many other organizations or the money will go to the wrong places.
The purpose of opening an organization to help is not always motivated by good intentions. Fraudsters often use various legal frauds related to the fund, this is due to its simplicity and vulnerability to them. But now this problem is not as significant as before. Now charities are strictly controlled by the state. Destruction, loss of reputation and prison are only half of everything that can happen to a person who tried to use a charitable foundation to circulate illegal funds and other illegal activities.
Stages of opening a charitable foundation
The name of your charitable organization, which will be suitable for its activities;
- Registration of the charter;
- Finding the right people;
- Creation of a website on the Internet with a full description of the fund’s activities;
- Search for philanthropists and volunteers.
After creating the fund, do not waste time and immediately begin activities. This will make it clear to the structures that control charitable foundations that your foundation is valid. This will remove suspicion from you.
Legal basis
The law of the Russian Federation states: any activity related to charity is controlled by authorities, and also provides its support, distribution and development.
Documents that officially establish the existence of a charitable foundation:
- Certificate from the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. The document confirms the foundation as an official non-profit organization;
- Certificate of the Federal Tax Service. The document confirms the registration of the legal entity representing the fund;
- Certificate of registration with the tax authority on the territory of the Russian Federation;
- Order to take office. The document confirms the assumption of office.
Business planning for a charitable foundation
Registration costs may vary, so let's use the average as an example:
- Let's start with registration. A charity is a non-profit organization and not for profit, so the registration structure will be very different from other organizations. The organization's property is registered; for this, papers are needed that evaluate the property and also confirm their availability. Next, papers are prepared that establish the rights of the fund and its obligations. In total, the registration price will cost you 300-400 dollars;
- Opening a bank account for a charitable foundation. It will cost you $80;
- You will also need the services of a notary. Price less than $30;
- You will need legal advice, it will cost from $50;
- After all, all that remains is to pay various duties and fees, which is about $100 or less.
Preparation of documents when opening a fund
There is a list of required documents for the establishment:
- An application signed by an authorized person in form No. RN0001 is required;
- The constituent documents of the non-profit organization are drawn up;
- The decision to create several copies;
- A document establishing the address of the organization;
- Extract from the register of foreign legal entities.
Registration with the tax service
On the official website you can register the fund with the tax service. The site interface is clear, and there is nothing complicated about registration. On the website you can also find all the necessary documents.
After all the necessary documents have been collected and submitted, a few days later you will be notified of consent or refusal. Afterwards you will be given an official document confirming the state registration of the charitable organization.
Funds turnover
Unfortunately, in our country, charity is treated differently than in European countries. It’s impossible to say exactly what this is connected with, but most likely it’s all about the mentality and conservatism of people. By and large, global problems do not concern our businessmen as much, and the benefits for them are not the same as for their foreign colleagues.
Despite this not very cheerful picture, everything is still not as bad as it might seem. In Russia, there are a couple of dozen large funds that were registered, although not so long ago, but their spent funds saved more than one hundred seriously ill people.
The Art, Science and Sports Foundation was registered in 2005 by Alisher Usmanov. It primarily specializes in helping sick children, but also supports various sports organizations and cultural institutions. According to some data, the fund spends more than 13 billion rubles every year.
There will be a couple of dozen similar funds. They are all relatively young and provide assistance to different segments of the population. From treating cancer patients to supporting talented young people.
In contact with
We are opening a new section “The Law of Public Associations”, in which we will cover issues of the creation and activities of public associations and non-profit organizations. At the same time, it is planned to touch upon not only purely legal issues, but also the practical side of the activities of NPOs from the point of view of experts who are constantly involved in non-profit projects.
We will start with the answer to the question received by our editors: “how can a school create a charitable foundation that receives funds from the parents of students, and then spends it on the needs of the school?”
Creating a non-profit organization (NPO) is not easy. Few people managed to register an NPO the first time and without eliminating the comments. The fact is that when creating a commercial organization, for example, a limited liability company, the tax authority does not check the constituent documents for compliance with the law, and in the case of registering an NPO, to which the fund belongs, the registering authority conducts a serious examination of all submitted documents, especially charter. In this article we will tell you how to create a fund and, most importantly, how to draw up documents for registration with the highest probability of their acceptance by the registering authority.
Who registers non-profit organizations?
Most non-profit organizations, including foundations, are registered by the territorial body of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation (for the subject of the Federation).
How many founders are required for registration?
By law, one person is enough to register a fund. It is clear that the fewer founders, the less hassle there is with filling out document forms, holding constituent meetings, etc. The status of the founder itself does not affect anything; the status of the founder in the fund loses any legal significance immediately after registration (unlike establishment). However, from an organizational point of view for the future activities of the foundation, it is very important that the foundation is created not by one person, but by several. Moreover, it is best that these are high-status people, not from the school administration (not the school director, not the head teacher), but one of the parents holding a high position (director of a large enterprise, famous artist, deputy, etc.). Of course, there are cases of a foundation being established by one person, for example, the Alena Popova Foundation (which was created by the mother of a sick girl to raise funds for her treatment), but in the case of an initiative to create a foundation from an organization (in our case, a school), rather than a private individual, it is better of course, gather several people (for example, five, and then the number may increase, but as part of the governing bodies).
What documents need to be provided?
According to Art. 13.1. Federal Law dated January 12, 1996 No. 7-FZ “On Non-Profit Organizations” (hereinafter referred to as the Federal Law “On Non-Profit Organizations”) to register a fund, the following documents will be required:
1) Application in form RN0001 (approved by Government Decree No. 212 dated April 15, 2006). The application is signed by the applicant; this may be the future head of the fund or one of its founders. Print out the application with a receipt. It's better to make two copies. One of them must be certified by a notary, the other simply signed. The applicant must appear in person before the notary. The applicant may be one of the founders or the future head of the fund;
2) Charter in three copies;
3) The decision on the creation of a non-profit organization and on the approval of its constituent documents indicating the composition of the elected (appointed) bodies in two copies;
4) Information about the founders in two copies (drawn up in free form, this document indicates the full name, passport details, place of registration, contact information of the founders, it is advisable to sign by all founders);
5) Receipt for payment of state duty (it is also advisable to make a copy of it);
6) Information about the address (location) of the permanent body of the non-profit organization, through which communication with the non-profit organization is carried out (also a document drawn up in free form, it must indicate the address at which you can contact the head of the fund, most likely he will coincide with the legal address). It is important to note that a charitable organization can be registered at the place of residence of a citizen (founder, chairman), this is directly stated in Art. 9 Federal Law of August 11, 1995 No. 135-FZ “On Charitable Activities and Charitable Organizations” (hereinafter referred to as the Federal Law “On Charitable Activities”);
7) when using in the name of a non-profit organization the name of a citizen, symbols protected by the legislation of the Russian Federation on the protection of intellectual property or copyright, as well as the full name of another legal entity as part of its own name - documents confirming the authority to use them;
8) an extract from the register of foreign legal entities of the relevant country of origin or another document of equal legal force confirming the legal status of the founder - a foreign person.
How to write a charter so that the Ministry of Justice can accept it?
But this is the most difficult thing about registering an NPO. The Ministry of Justice checks the charter for compliance with the law, therefore, even provisions taken from the law but paraphrased can be forced by this body to be rewritten. But most of all, there are quibbles about the goals and types of activities; the registration authority really likes to decide what the organization can do and what it cannot do.
So, what should be in the charter:
1. The name of the non-profit organization, containing an indication of the nature of its activities and legal form. The full and abbreviated name is indicated. The organizational and legal form in this case is a charitable foundation.
2. Location of the non-profit organization. The legal address is indicated.
3. Information about branches and representative offices(if they are planned to be established upon registration).
4. Subject and goals of the activity. Usually, the goals of the activity are first indicated (2-3 goals of a general nature, there is no longer a need to have less to complain about), then the types of activities that the organization has the right to engage in to achieve the goals are indicated. Since we are creating a charitable foundation, this section should indicate this in the purposes and types of activities (according to the Federal Law “On Charitable Activities”). It is better to choose as many different types of activities as possible that the organization will engage in in the future (both free of charge and for a fee), because otherwise, later you will have to make changes to the charter if something is missing. The Ministry of Justice very rarely includes the phrase “and other types of activities that do not contradict the law” in the charter.
5. Activity management procedure. In Art. 29 of the Federal Law “On Non-Profit Organizations” states that the procedure for managing a fund is determined by its charter. But the law still has one mandatory requirement for the composition of the fund’s bodies. The fund must have a board of trustees. It is the body of the fund and supervises the activities of the fund, the adoption of decisions by other bodies of the fund and ensuring their execution, the use of funds from the fund, and the fund’s compliance with legislation. It is imperative to indicate the procedure for forming the board of trustees (the law does not indicate anything in this regard, so here you can choose the most convenient procedure, for example, the formation of the board of trustees by the highest body on the proposal of the chairman). The powers of the board of trustees are specified in paragraph 3 of Art. 7: exercises supervision over the activities of the fund, the adoption of decisions by other bodies of the fund and ensuring their execution, the use of fund funds, and the fund’s compliance with legislation
In practice, as a rule, the following governing bodies are formed:
1. The highest management body is the board of the fund with the chairman of the board (operational management body),
2. Executive body (for example, executive director or president of the foundation),
3. Board of Trustees (supervisory body, formed by the board).
4. Auditor (audit commission)
The powers of the supreme body are specified in paragraph 3 of Art. 29 Federal Law “On Non-Profit Organizations”:
Changing the charter of a non-profit organization;
Determination of priority areas of activity of a non-profit organization, principles of formation and use of its property;
Formation of executive bodies of a non-profit organization and early termination of their powers;
Approval of the annual report and annual balance sheet;
Approval of the financial plan of a non-profit organization and amendments to it;
Creation of branches and opening representative offices of a non-profit organization;
Participation in other organizations;
In the same article you can take the decision-making procedure.
Also in Art. 10 Federal Law “On Charitable Activities” contains additional powers:
Approval of charitable programs;
Approval of the annual plan, budget of the charitable organization and its annual report;
The executive body of a non-profit organization can be collegial and (or) individual, appointed by the board. He carries out the current management of the activities of the non-profit organization and is accountable to the highest management body of the non-profit organization. For convenience, they usually use a model with a single body, but it can also be collegial - the executive directorate. The charter must indicate the term of his powers and the procedure for election (this should be within the powers of the highest governing body).
It is also necessary to provide for the position of an auditor (audit commission), who will exercise control over the financial and economic activities of the fund.
6. ANDsources of formation of property of a non-profit organization. The charter of an NGO is not a place for creativity, so it is better, again, to take everything verbatim from the law. The sources of property formation are listed in paragraph 1 of Art. 26 Federal Law “On Non-Profit Organizations” and Art. 15 Federal Law “On Charitable Activities”:
Contributions from the founders of a charitable organization;
Membership fees (for membership-based charities);
Charitable donations, including those of a targeted nature (charitable grants), provided by citizens and legal entities in cash or in kind;
Income from non-operating transactions, including income from securities;
Receipts from activities to attract resources (conducting campaigns to attract philanthropists and volunteers, including organizing entertainment, cultural, sports and other public events, conducting campaigns to collect charitable donations, holding lotteries and auctions in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, selling property and donations, received from benefactors, in accordance with their wishes);
Income from legally permitted business activities;
income from the activities of business entities established by a charitable organization;
Volunteer work;
Other sources not prohibited by law.
There should be no membership fees, because a foundation is an organization without membership.
7. The procedure for making changes to the constituent documents of a non-profit organization. This function must be attributed to the powers of the highest management body. If you do not provide for the possibility of changing the charter of the fund, then it can only be changed in court (clause 4 of article 14).
8. The procedure for using property in the event of liquidation of a non-profit organization. Again, the procedure is best taken from the law and formulated as follows: upon liquidation of the fund, the property remaining after satisfaction of the creditors’ claims is directed in accordance with the charter of the fund for the purposes for which it was created and (or) for charitable purposes (clause 1 article 20).
It must be said that the entire procedure outlined is equally suitable not only for creating a school foundation, but also any foundation (including a charitable foundation as its subtype).
And in conclusion, it is worth noting that the State Duma adopted in the first reading draft Federal Law No. 47538-6, introducing significant changes to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Non-profit organizations are also affected. A closed list of such organizations is established, and the number of organizational and legal forms is significantly narrowed. The Foundation remains a separate organizational and legal form of the NPO, but is also undergoing some changes. Thus, the board of trustees disappears from the governing bodies. All that remains is the highest collegial governing body, the sole manager and (optional) the board. The tentatively new edition of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation will be adopted by the end of 2012.
Many people believe that successful businessmen do not know what pity and empathy are. But among the entrepreneurs who managed to reach the top, there are many who are ready at any moment to come to the aid of a person in trouble. They usually provide assistance through special organizations that engage in charity. We will discuss how to create a charitable foundation in Russia in this article.
Registration of activities
Many citizens of our country are interested in how to register a charitable foundation in Russia? This is a non-profit organization that specializes in providing social services. It is much more difficult to formalize it than to open an individual entrepreneur.
Before opening a charitable foundation, you need to select the correct OKVED codes.
In addition, to register you will need:
- Notarized application for registration;
- Constituent documents and information about founders;
- A document confirming payment of the state duty;
- Legal address;
- Premises rental agreement.
After you submit all documents, a decision will be made within 14 days. If it is positive, after this period you will be able to receive a certificate of registration, a certified charter of the organization and an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
Scheme: charitable activities
The founders of a charitable organization can be legal entities or ordinary citizens. After the registration procedure, you should register with various government organizations:
- Social insurance;
- Federal Statistics Service;
- Tax Inspectorate.
If you do not have free time to go through all these authorities, seek help from specialists who will help you solve all the problems associated with paperwork.
Where can I get money?
Unfortunately, many domestic companies are in no hurry to donate funds to charity. Most of the money comes from individuals and small firms. At the same time, help can be non-material. For example, some people become volunteers to help those in need.
Let's figure out how much money you need to open a charitable foundation and where to get it. The founders of such an organization must be prepared for the fact that at the formation stage they will have to spend their own funds on the needs of the organization. Despite the fact that you do not need to form the authorized capital of the organization, you still need to make some payments:
- Renting office space;
- Opening a bank account;
- Registration costs.
This is practically all you need to open a charitable foundation. Before starting work, it is necessary to find philanthropists in order to enlist their financial support. This will allow you to solve various social problems. Many novice organizers are frightened by the formation stage, since they do not really count on businessmen to allocate funds to solve the problems of socially vulnerable segments of the population. But if the work is organized correctly, it is possible to convince patrons that without their help it is impossible to solve serious social problems.
Types of charitable foundations
Before registering an organization, you need to decide which charitable foundation to open. Let's look at the main types of charity:- Commercial organizations deal with various financial issues, but their activities may be non-commercial in nature;
- Non-profit associations. These include most of the various charitable organizations. People unite their property into a single governing body - a board of trustees. It distributes funds to people in need;
- Religious charities. For example, in our country the Russian Orthodox Church is engaged in such activities;
- Public organizations. These include medical, educational or religious associations. Such organizations have several founders;
- As mentioned above, private individuals can also engage in charity. Such an organization is led by one person and financed by large sources. They can also be state-owned;
- Operating organizations that provide charity do not accumulate money in their accounts. They immediately transfer them to those people who need financial support;
- Non-operational organizations work to achieve a specific goal. Basically, they raise funds for specific needs.
Before opening a charitable organization, you must first decide on the direction of its activities.
Charity in Russia and Ukraine
Let's talk about how to open a charitable foundation in Ukraine. This can be done by citizens of the country, foreigners or stateless persons, as well as legal entities. Registration cost is 51 hryvnia.
To do this you will need the following documents:
- Charter;
- Statements from the founder;
- Information about the founders;
- Receipt of payment of the duty.
All documents are checked by government agencies within 2 months. After this, the applicant is notified of the decision. We have already discussed above how to open a charitable foundation in Russia from scratch. As you can see, these procedures do not have any significant differences. But there is one very important point. Before opening a charitable organization in Ukraine, it is necessary to obtain non-profit status. To save yourself from the problems associated with paperwork, it is better to entrust this matter to specialists who, for a fee, will expedite the registration of an organization and the review of documents. As a rule, they guarantee clients 100% results.
What are charities for?
Some people believe that it is better to help those in need directly, without the participation of any charitable organizations. But they are wrong. There are often requests for help on the Internet, the media and on television. How to figure out who really needs it, and who just wants to make money off people who are not indifferent to the grief of others? Charitable organizations solve all these problems. It’s not easy for them to raise funds, but they become true professionals in their field. Employees find people who need help and make sure that the money collected for them is spent strictly for its intended purpose. They also match numerous small donations into large sums that can help save someone's life.Video on the topic Video on the topic
If you are interested in how to create a charitable foundation and properly organize its work, follow these recommendations:
- Do everything to ensure that sponsors believe in your good intentions. This will help you solve problems of any complexity;
- You should not immediately take on the solution of serious problems. Start small and gradually expand your activities;
- Assemble a dedicated team of top-notch experts to help you succeed.
conclusions
We figured out what it takes to open a charity organization. If you establish connections with large enterprises, banks and concerns, your organization will prosper. In order for donations to be regular, you need to prove to investors that all funds are spent for their intended purpose.
Before opening a public organization or charity foundation, you need to understand how these forms differ from other forms of association of people. Their main goal is to provide various kinds of assistance to one person or group of people, animals, the surrounding nature, the preservation of cultural and historical monuments, and so on.
And most importantly, the business plan of such a fund does not imply making a profit from its activities. That is why all income received from his work is tax-free. Income comes from sponsorships and patrons. But the foundation can use up to 20% of donations from these funds for its own needs. They must go to provide for her needs. The remaining 80% should go to its intended purpose.
Normative base
Special regulations that regulate the opening, activities and procedure for closing such organizations will tell you how to open a charitable foundation.
The main regulations that must be followed when operating a charitable organization are:
- Federal Law of the Russian Federation of January 12, 1996 “On Non-Profit Organizations”;
- Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated August 11, 1995 “On charitable activities and charitable organizations.”
These regulations emphasize that a charitable organization cannot be established for commercial purposes. Its income is transferred free of charge to the purposes for which it was organized.
Functions of a public organization
As experts say, there is no point in opening a public organization if you only want to transfer funds to those in need once. In this case, it is better to do it without intermediaries.
It makes sense to open a new charitable organization when, in addition to the actual transfer of funds, it will deal not with targeted assistance, but with the entire cycle of work that is usually included in the responsibilities of such an organization. These include:
- informing about the creation and work of the fund in other organizations, associations, communities, so that as many people who need its help know about it as possible;
- collecting and disseminating information about those in need, as well as informing about the details of their bank accounts;
- organizing the collection of necessary funds, searching for investors, sponsors and others willing to support the work of the organization;
- distribution of funds among those in need based on the laws of the Russian Federation.
On the one hand, you can engage in this activity without officially registering a charitable foundation. But then all donations will be taxed as income. Therefore, those who distribute such funds first of all think about how to open a charitable foundation so as not to pay taxes on donations.
However, the work of a foundation or charitable organization always involves expenses. At a minimum, funds will be required for:
- office rental and equipment;
- purchase of stationery and other goods;
- public utilities;
- salaries to employees.
Therefore, the law officially allows 20% of the sponsorship received to be used for the needs of the foundation. The director of the fund is responsible for the distribution of funds. Every quarter, he signs reports on the flow of funds within the organization, which are submitted to the tax office.
Registration of an organization
First of all, the business plan of a public organization must provide for its official registration. It is carried out by state registrars in the city or district administration of the city. That is, in the administration to which the legal address of the organization belongs. You should think through all the issues of renting or purchasing premises in advance in order to contact the right institution. If you submit documents to the wrong address, they will refuse to register you.
You can submit documents in person or by mail. In the latter case, an inventory of all submitted papers must be attached to the package of documents. Whatever method of submitting documents you choose, the state registrar must review and make a decision within three days.
Constituent documents
Like any business, a charitable organization requires the preparation of constituent documents to create. First of all, include in your business plan the creation of bylaws, which are the foundation of the organization. There is a certain order in its compilation. The charter must contain certain sections and provisions that reflect the essence of the organization’s activities. If you make mistakes in its preparation, you may be denied registration.
So, the charter should contain the following main sections:
- Unique name. Despite the fact that a charitable foundation is a non-profit enterprise, its name must also be original. Multiple foundations or charities with the same or similar name are not permitted. If the name is not original, you will be denied registration.
- Areas and goals of the fund's activities.
- Management bodies: their composition, responsibilities, powers, procedures, etc.
- The procedure for the election, approval or appointment of management bodies.
- The procedure for making changes and amendments to the constituent documents.
- Sources of funds.
- Issues of reporting, control of the fund.
- The procedure and grounds for terminating the activities of the fund, as well as where and how its funds will be distributed after liquidation.
Each of these points must be present in the charter. In addition, it is important to correctly spell out all the wording in each of them. Therefore, when drawing up a business plan for a fund, include the services of a lawyer. In the future, your business will also need his services.
Documents for registration
But registration of an organization takes place on the basis of more than just one charter. For official permission, a business requires a whole package of various documents. So, in addition to the charter, the state registrar will require:
- If the fund is created by legal entities, then their statutory documents.
- If the fund is created by individuals, then copies of their passports.
- Receipt of payment of the fee for registration services.
- A registration card completed in accordance with all requirements.
- Minutes of the meeting of founders at which the decision was made to create the fund.
Please note that if the fund’s business plan provides for the participation of foreign legal entities in its creation, copies of the above documents that are translated into the state language are required. For example, if a fund creates a foreign legal entity, its registration certificate issued by the country where it is registered will be required. Moreover, all translations must be certified by a notary.
Procedure for submitting documents
Documents can be submitted personally by the founder. In this case, the registrar will ask him to present a civil passport. If the founder submits documents through a proxy, the appropriate power of attorney must be presented.
The registrar sends a response within three days. As a rule, founders receive refusals due to errors in the charter or when drawing up other documents. If you receive a refusal, this does not mean that your business cannot be officially registered. It is enough to correct the errors and submit the documents again. This can be repeated an unlimited number of times.
