Understanding Your Corporate Documents - Muttart

Understanding Your Corporate

Documents

Board Development Workbook Series

Legal and Ethical Duties of Directors of Not-for-Profit Organizations

?2014 The Muttart Foundation ? Understanding Your Corporate Documents i

?2014 The Muttart Foundation Suite 1150, Scotia Tower One 10060 Jasper Avenue Edmonton, AB T5J 3R8 Lois Gander, LLB, LLM Professor, Faculty of Extension University of Alberta ISBN: 978-1-897282-25-0

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Gander, Lois., 1948-

The financial support of The Muttart Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.

This workbook provides general information only. Do not rely on it to make decisions or take any action. Always check with a lawyer or other expert to get advice on your specific situation. The University of Alberta, the Legal Resource Centre of Alberta Ltd., and The Muttart Foundation are not liable if you use this workbook to deal with specific problems.

Permission to Photocopy/Revise: You may photocopy any part of this workbook for use within your not-forprofit organization. If you use only part of the workbook, please indicate the source.

For any other use, or for permission to adapt the workbook, apply to the Executive Director, The Muttart Foundation,

#1150, 10060 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, AB T5J 3R8.

Contents

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 The Purpose of This Workbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 How to Use this Workbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Understanding Your Legal World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Incorporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Your Governing Statute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Worksheet 1: Getting organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Operating According to Your Governing Statute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Worksheet 2: Becoming familiar with your governing statute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Worksheet 3: Finding the Key Statutory Provisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Worksheet 4: Filing documents at your registry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Operating According to Your Constitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Worksheet 5: How to find your organization's objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Worksheet 6: Summary of Key Provisions of your Bylaws. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Worksheet 7: How to tell if your organization is a not-for-profit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Is Your Organization a Registered Charity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Worksheet 8: How to tell if your organization is a registered charitable organization . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Follow Through . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Worksheet 9: Keeping Current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Acknowledgements

This workbook is dedicated to the thousands of volunteers who serve on the boards of notfor-profit organizations. They enrich our society in countless ways. This workbook was developed by the Faculty of Extension, University of Alberta and the Legal Resource Centre of Alberta Ltd. with funding from The Muttart Foundation. We wish to thank the Foundation and the advisory committee that helped to initiate this project. We also wish to thank the Alberta Law Foundation for providing the Legal Resource Centre with core funding for its ongoing operations.

This workbook does not replace legal advice. This workbook can only provide general background on some of the most common matters a board may have to deal with. Do not rely on it to make decisions or to take any action. Always check with a lawyer or other expert to get advice on your specific situation. See Getting Professional Help in the Resources section for some suggestions for where to start.

?2014 The Muttart Foundation ? Understanding Your Corporate Documents 1

The Purpose of This Workbook

This workbook is designed to help members of the boards of incorporated not-forprofit organizations in Alberta understand the legal world in which they operate. It is the companion to the workbook Organizing Your Corporate Documents. Other workbooks in this series focus on specific rules and responsibilities. All the workbooks are available on the website of The Muttart Foundation at . One of the first obligations of a director is to understand the legal structure of the organization. The best place to start in meeting that responsibility is to become familiar with the legal documents that created your organization:

? the Act that enabled your organization to be incorporated and ? your constitution This workbook will help you understand those documents and how they affect your organization. The Resources section of this workbook contains ? Getting Professional Help, a list of various agencies that may be able to help your

board deal with its legal duties, ? A Guide to Searching Government Registries, which your board may find helpful in

finding important information about your organization, ? Numbers, Numbers, Numbers, a guide to finding your organization's various

business numbers, ? Samples of Key Corporate Documents, and ? a Glossary of terms used in this workbook. You may want to have a quick look

at it before you begin.

If your organization is not incorporated, this workbook may be of interest to you but will not apply directly to your organization. If you wish to consider incorporating, you may find the workbook Drafting and Revising Bylaws for Not-for-Profit Organizations in Alberta helpful. It is available at the Muttart Foundation's website () or at culture.alberta.ca/bdp/workbooks. aspx.

?2014 The Muttart Foundation ? Understanding Your Corporate Documents 2

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