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Charter

§ 1 Name, place of business and business year

(1) The charity is called “LR GLOBAL KIDS FUND e. V.”.
(2) LR GLOBAL KIDS FUND e. V. is a registered charity.
(3) The charity is headquartered in 59227 Ahlen, Germany.
(4) The business year of the charity corresponds to the calendar year.
(5) The phrasing in this charter applies to all sexes. 

§ 2 Purpose of the charity

(1) The purpose of the charity is to implement or participate in aid, development and health programmes to alleviate hunger, disease and poverty worldwide and to promote peaceful and humane coexistence of people, especially for children in need. The charity shall be active in an educational and informative way to promote its purposes and the programmes it supports. The purpose of the charity is also the procurement of funds to be passed on to other tax-privileged entities, legal entities under public law or to foreign bodies for the promotion and maintenance of the tax-privileged purposes mentioned in the first sentence (fund-raising body).

(2) The charity exclusively and directly pursues non-profit and benevolent purposes within the meaning of the section “tax-privileged purposes” of the German Fiscal Law. As a fund-raising body, the charity pursues exclusively non-profit and benevolent purposes within the meaning of the section “tax-privileged purposes” of the German Fiscal Law.

(3) The charity pursues its non-profit purposes by promoting development aid; by promoting public health care; by promoting nurturing environments and education; by promoting youth welfare; by supporting socially disadvantaged children and children in need and through public relations work. These purposes shall be accomplished by adopting certain measures, including the following:

  • Improving local and national infrastructure;
  • Medical aid programmes, including treatment, education, training and self-help programmes;
  • Projects that deal with raising children in a nurturing environment, education and vocational training with a special focus on promoting equal access for girls and women;
  • Establishing centres for (social, legal, health) advice;  promoting interethnic encounter measures; building multi-ethnic networks; helping with civil conflict management, promoting awareness work with regard to human rights etc .;
  • Organising events and publishing information to raise awareness of social and ecological issues in the target areas;
  • Collaborating with other aid organisations to promote mutual understanding and to jointly achieve the stated goals.

(4) The charity pursues its activities regardless of religious or political considerations, i.e. the charity is an organisation without a religious or political agenda. 

§ 3 Raising and using the funds to achieve the aims stated in this charter

(1) The charity is altruistic – it does not primarily pursue its own economic goals.

(2) The charity procures the funds to pursue its purpose from various sources, including membership fees and donations from home and abroad.

(3) The charity’s funds are only used as determined in the charter; this includes the payment of reasonable administrative costs incurred by fulfilling the purpose of the charity as stated in the charter.

(4) The members do not receive payments from the charity.

(5) The board members and the members of the board of trustees work on a voluntary basis. They have no legal claim to remuneration or income from the charity’s assets. They shall not be given any pecuniary advantages.

(6) Board members and persons working for the charity on a voluntary basis can be granted expense allowances.

(7) No person may be favoured by receiving expense allowances for purposes that have nothing to do with the charity or by receiving a disproportionately high remuneration. 

§ 4 Membership

You either need to be a founding member of the LR GLOBAL KIDS FUND e. V. or join to become a member. Joining represents a contract between the LR GLOBAL KIDS FUND e. V. and the new member, so it requires filling in an application and being accepted by the LR GLOBAL KIDS FUND e. V., represented by the board. Membership rights are non-transferable and non-inheritable. Exercising membership rights cannot be left to anyone else. Membership ends upon death (only for natural persons), by being excluded or by resigning. The notice of resignation is a declaration of intent that requires acknowledgement of receipt.

(1) Natural persons or legal entities can become members of the charity. Membership must be applied for in writing. The board decides on who is accepted as a member.

(2) All members of the charity are entitled to take part in the general assembly and to exercise their voting rights.

(3) Membership ends with a written notice of resignation addressed to the board. Resignation is permissible with one month’s notice to the end of the month. Membership also ends upon a member’s death or – in the case of legal entities – with their dissolution.

(4) If a member is in arrears with the payment of two annual membership fees despite a reminder, this person’s membership can be terminated by exclusion.

(5) Membership may be terminated by exclusion of the member.The committee decides on the exclusion of a member at the request of the board – a 2/3 majority is needed. The request needs to be justified.

§ 5 Bodies

The charity’s bodies are:
(a) the general assembly (§ 6)
(b) the board (§ 7)
(c) the advisory board (§ 8)

§ 6 General assembly

(1) The general assembly takes place once a year. It must be convened by the board, and written invitations detailing the agenda must be sent out at least four weeks in advance.

(2) The board is entitled to call an extraordinary general assembly. The board is obliged to convene such an extraordinary general assembly within three weeks of receiving a written request from members who represent at least 25 % of the charity’s votes. In this case, the charity members shall be invited at least one week before the day of the extraordinary general assembly. The agenda needs to be included in the invitation. Extraordinary general assemblies can be held in order to remove members of the board and the advisory board from their office if the members of the charity consider such a measure necessary. Extraordinary general assemblies can also be held to elect new board and advisory board members for the period up to the next ordinary general assembly.

(3) The chairperson of the board or, if he or she is unable to do so, one of the deputy chairpersons, shall chair the general assembly.

(4) Each charity member has one vote. Voting rights are exercised either in person or by transferring the right to vote to another member attending the general assembly. This needs to be done in writing. However, a member may not represent more than five absentee members.

(5) Legal entities or other associations of individuals can be represented by submitting a written power of attorney from the legal representative.

(6) Voting rights can only be exercised if the respective member’s membership fees have been paid by the end of the year preceding a general assembly.

(7) The general assembly has a quorum if one third of the members entitled to vote are present in person or are represented by another member to whom they have transferred their vote.

(8) Decisions by the general assembly are made with a simple majority, unless this charter stipulates otherwise.

(9) The rights that the general assembly may exercise include:
(a) Electing the board in accordance with article 7 section 2 for a period of two years;
(b) Appointing honorary members;
(c) Accepting the annual report of the board, giving advice and making recommendations;
(d) Discussing issues that members have raised – at least one week prior to the general assembly – and that have made it onto the agenda or discussing issues the assembly decides to deal with by a majority;
(e) Granting discharge to the board;
(f) Deciding on the amount of the annual membership fee;
(g) Appointing an auditor who submits the necessary information to the general assembly in order to grant discharge to the board according to article 6 section 9, e. For this purpose, the auditor is granted full access to all books, accounts and other relevant documents and records of the charity;
(h) Deciding on any changes to this charter with a 2/3 majority of the votes present.

(10) Minutes of the general assembly shall be kept; these need to be signed by the chairperson of the assembly and a secretary appointed by the general assembly.

§ 7 Board

(1) The board manages the charity and makes the decisions necessary to promote the goals and activities of the charity.

(2) The board consists of: (a) the chairperson of the board, two deputy chairpersons of the board; (b) up to seven other board members;

(3) The chairperson of the board and the deputy chairperson of the board form the executive board. They represent the charity in and out of court according to article 26 of the German Civil Code. Every individual is authorised to represent; the deputy chairpersons only make use of their right of representation if the chairperson is unable to attend. The chairperson does not need to prove he or she is unable to attend.

(4) The board meets as needed, but at least three times a year. The board is convened in writing by its chairperson. The invitations need to be issued at least four weeks in advance. In urgent cases, an invitation period of eight days is sufficient.

(5) The board has a quorum if at least one third of the board members are present, including the chairperson or a deputy chairperson. A simple majority suffices for the board to pass a resolution. In the event of a tie, the motion is considered rejected.

(6) The board has the following tasks in particular:
(a) Approving the annual financial statements including discharge;
(b) Approving the annual business plan; 
(c) Appointing a sworn auditor to audit the annual accounts;
(d) Nominating the members of the advisory board for a three-year term;
(e) Agreeing on matters of particular importance, in particular:

  1. Measures that lead or can lead to an additional financial burden beyond the approved business plan or beyond the scope of authorisation granted by it; 
  2. The expansion of the activities of LR Global Kids Fund e. V. to include new countries and programmes;
  3. Engaging with other entities and the resulting actions with financial implications for the LR Global Kids Fund e. V.

(7) The board can delegate decision-making powers to the executive board, either permanently or for a limited period.

(8) Urgent decisions on matters of particular importance as per article 6, e need to be made unanimously by the executive board. Such matters need to be brought to the attention of the board immediately.

(9) The board may appoint advisory boards and committees to deal with special tasks as needed.

(10) Where needed, the board issues procedural rules to take care of the particulars.

§ 8 Advisory board

(1) The advisory board supports the work of the charity and advises the executive board. The members of the advisory board support and counsel the LR Global Kids Fund e. V. in matters regarding the implementation of its measures, including fundraising.

(2) Its members are outstanding public figures. They are elected by the board for a period of three years. Re-election is possible.

(3) A member of the advisory board cannot also be a member of the charity’s executive board.

(4) The advisory board usually meets once a year at the invitation of its chairperson. To enable its members to carry out their tasks, they receive reports on the results of the executive board meetings and the general assemblies and, on request, the complete minutes of these meetings.

(5) The members of the advisory board are invited to the general assembly as guests and have the right to speak there. The members of the executive board also take part in the meetings advisory board.

§ 9 Honorary membership

At the suggestion of the board, the general assembly of the LR Global Kids Fund e. V. can appoint deserving figures as honorary members. Honorary members are not entitled to vote.

§ 10 Disbanding of the charity

(1) By resolution of the general assembly with a ¾ majority, the charity may be disbanded if circumstances indicate that a sustainable continuation appears unlikely in the long run.

(2) The resolution to disband the charity must adhere to the necessary measures as regulated by law.

(3) In the event of the dissolution or disbanding of the charity, or if the tax-privileged actions are no longer performed, the assets of the charity fall to the SOS-Kinderdörfer weltweit Hermann-Gmeiner-Fonds Deutschland e.V., Ridlerstraße 55, 0-80339 München. This charity is then obliged to use said assets exclusively for charitable, benevolent or church purposes.

§ 11 Coming into effect

If the registry court objects to parts of the charity’s charter, the board of directors may amend them in order to remedy the objection.

This charter was passed by the extraordinary general assembly on 20 April 2009 and came into effect immediately after being entered into the register of associations and after having been approved by the tax office.