Legal and accounting services for charitable foundations

Charitable foundations are organizations whose purpose is not to make a profit, but to carry out charitable activities related to the interests of individuals or society as a whole.

At the same time, the foundation will have to deal with funds, which need to be managed correctly all the time. Remember, if the tax office decides that the funds received on the account of the foundation have been used incorrectly, the foundation will lose its non-profit status, or worse - it will have to pay a fine.

Both individuals and legal entities, including foreign ones, may register a charitable organization in Ukraine. The registration is a fairly simple procedure. Difficulties begin when you understand the necessity of thinking over and stipulating such aspects as the goals of the foundation, the management bodies of the foundation, the procedure of allocation of the receipts, etc.

A charitable foundation is an organization that operates according to specific rules. You can either try to figure out all the complexities of accounting and running your activities on your own, or turn to professionals who will take all the most complex aspects of the foundation into their own hands.

Today we will tell you the benefits of the legal and accounting support of your foundation.

You may also like: Registration Of The Charitable Foundation With a Foreign Founder

What is included in the charitable foundation support services?

Our services include:

• Assistance in establishing a charitable foundation in Ukraine, including development of constituent documents;
• Consultations regarding the rules and practices of charitable foundations in Ukraine;
• Services of a nominee director of a charitable foundation;
• Assistance in registering a foundation with foreign founders;
• Keeping accounting records for the organization;
• Keeping personnel records of the charitable foundation;
• Support of the charitable foundation during audits;
• Representing the interests of the foundation in state authorities;
• Assistance with attraction of volunteers, including foreign ones, to the foundation;
• Legal support of fundraising mechanisms for the foundation’s operation, etc.

We offer you not just accounting services, but the joint work of an accountant and a lawyer. This means additional control over the accounting, as well as 100% confidence in the legal security of your organization.

The service price depends on the specific scope of services you need.

For example, the cost for registration of a Charitable Foundation, you can check all the service packages and their prices here.

You can see a full description of service packages here, or contact our specialists to form a personal package, which will include only those legal and accounting services that you need.

You may also like: Step-By-Step Guide for Registration of a charitable Foundation

What problems does a foundation face without legal support?

Take care of problems in advance!

The most common mistake, which in the future can cause many problems for the foundation, is to register an organization using “template” constituent documents.

Remember, your organization is unique. You have your own goals, you may have your own point of view on the foundation’s management bodies, and most likely you will have your own ways to raise funding, as well as the needs of the foundation’s expenses. All these aspects must be stipulated in the Charter of the foundation.

You can read about the basic rules of the foundation registration procedure here.

Spending policies for the foundation!

During its activity, depending on the scope of activity, the foundation may receive charitable contributions in various forms. This can be monetary assistance, material assistance in any other form and even non-financial assistance, such as services or work which resulted in material goods.

All foundation income is divided into three categories: target, general and passive.

Target income comprises funds transferred to the foundation’s account for a specific purpose, such as covering the cost of a surgical operation for a specific person, or the purchase of materials for a specific project. These funds can only be used to cover the costs of achieving the purpose stated in the transfer of the funds.

General income is funds received by the foundation without a stated purpose.

Passive income includes funds received by the foundation as bank interest, income from leasing out property, etc.

General and passive income can be used to cover other purposes of the foundation, as well as to maintain the organization.

The foundation’s Charter must specify the purposes of expenses. There is also a legal requirement for the amount of money to be spent on the maintenance of the foundation.

When receiving funds on the account of the foundation, it is important to immediately distribute these funds correctly, to understand the type of assistance and how you can use it, to record all assets flow in the accounting statements.

The result of poorly conducted work will be the loss of a non-profit status, and penalties on the part of the controlling bodies.

Volunteers and employees of the foundation are a different pair of shoes!

Working with volunteers is a standard situation for a charitable foundation. Volunteers often work on a no-payment basis, or their payment is included in the costs of covering the foundation’s goals for individual projects.

When working with foreign volunteers, you should remember that your foundation must be included in the register of the Ministry of Social Policy. This will give you the opportunity to apply for hiring foreign volunteers, and they, in turn, will obtain a Temporary Residence Permit in Ukraine for the period of work in the organization.

A completely different situation with the employees of the foundation, who work for the foundation and receive a salary. Salary for such employees must be paid from the funds aimed at covering maintenance expenses, and the employees’ salaries are subject to all standard taxes.

Such employees need to be properly paid, fired, or hired. And you will be checked not only by the tax office regarding the distribution of the fund, but also by the State Labour Inspectorate.

We named only a few issues, which the foundation must constantly monitor. The foundation may face the most unexpected situations in its activities.

We will take care of the safety and efficiency of your foundation.

Do you need help with real foundation problems? Don’t hesitate to contact us! We will help both at the registration stage and in the organization of the daily activities of a charitable foundation or project.

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