Firstly, within the current legal framework, the official constitution of a non-profit organization is recognized when it becomes part of the “register of non-profit legal entities” of the civil registry.
To achieve this, it is necessary to complete certain procedures and philippine pie telegram obtain certain documents. These are:
Obtain a certificate of name or non-match issued by the civil registry , which certifies that it is the only organization with this name. The choice of name is important since it identifies you as an organization and refers to the object. This can even have effects on tax issues or municipal patent exemption. That is why there are keywords that can help make things easier in the future, such as “charity”
Drafting the statutes. Here, the basic contents are determined, such as the name, the purpose (what the organization aims at, what objective it wishes to achieve), the address or commune where it will operate and which therefore indicates the municipality where the process will be processed, and the members of the initial board of directors. In relation to the purpose, this must be broad enough so as not to limit the organization in the type of actions to be carried out, but considering that organizations must have a focus and cannot address everything. Once the statutes have been drawn up, they must be signed by the founder(s) before a notary (with cost) or in the civil registry or in the municipal secretary's office (free).
Obtain the certificate of the background of the members of the board of directors that appears in the statutes. This is also provided by the civil registry and a unique code is required.
After having all this documentation, it is presented to the municipal office of the address established in the statutes, where within a period of 30 days any observations that must be corrected will be presented. The municipality sends this information to the civil registry, it is registered and the legal entity is created and the certificate of validity can be obtained (downloaded).
Other important data:
Regarding the board of directors, an optimal number (ideally 7) and an odd number should be chosen, so that a dialogue can be generated despite possible absences. In addition, in the current regulations there are tools that can be stipulated in the bylaws that allow for better handling of possible future problems. For example, conflicts of interest that affect one of the directors. A specific way of resolving this problem can be established in the bylaws, protecting those potentially affected.
Foundation or corporation?
When forming a non-profit organization, it is important to define which of these two figures will be adopted and to make that decision it is important to understand their main differences.
In terms of legal definition, corporations are a gathering of people around common goals, while foundations are a set of assets made available for a specific purpose.
But what does this mean? It means, for example, that foundations require an initial contribution, while corporations do not. On the other hand, corporations have broader governance since they have a board of directors, an assembly and an ethics committee, and the members of the assembly must pay a membership fee, while foundations only have a board of directors that does not have to pay fees.
Where can I go if I have any questions?
The state entity in charge of non-profit organizations is the Department of Legal Entities of the Ministry of Justice, which ensures that the right of association of intermediate bodies defined in the current constitution is guaranteed. This entity can help when it comes to reporting on a reform of statutes or to oversee compliance with the purpose of the organization.
If you want to expand your content, we invite you to watch this webinar “How to modify the statutes of my foundation or corporation”