Difference between revisions of "Friends Organizations"
From NGO Handbook
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==Friends Organizations versus Chapters== | ==Friends Organizations versus Chapters== | ||
===Friends organization=== | ===Friends organization=== | ||
| − | One is the concept of a “friends organization,” sometimes called a supporting organization. (It also is often called a “friends of organization,” since so many nonprofits that support foreign charities have names that begin with those two terms, such as Friends of China Heritage Fund. However, there also are innumerable such nonprofits that do not have names that begin with those two words, such as <membersonly>Doctors Without Border/Medecins Sans Frontieres.) In the United States, the term friends organization has a technical legal meaning, which I am not referring to now. When I use the informal term “friends organization,” I mean an organization in one | + | One is the concept of a “friends organization,” sometimes called a supporting organization. (It also is often called a “friends of organization,” since so many nonprofits that support foreign charities have names that begin with those two terms, such as Friends of China Heritage Fund. However, there also are innumerable such nonprofits that do not have names that begin with those two words, such as <membersonly>Doctors Without Border/Medecins Sans Frontieres.) In the United States, the term friends organization has a technical legal meaning, which I am not referring to now. When I use the informal term “friends organization,” I mean an organization in one country -- say the United States -- that has organized funds for the purpose of supporting an organization in another country. This is commonly, for example, friends of a university or a museum abroad. So here I am talking primarily in terms of when funds flow from the United States to an organization supported abroad. |
===Chapter=== | ===Chapter=== | ||
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Through this grant agreement, the school agrees to use the funds for school purposes and importantly agrees to report back to the friends organization. They will write a report describing the expenditures and the accomplishments of the grant. If the friends organization sees that the funds are being used inappropriately, or is not getting a report, or is simply not satisfied for some reasons as it carries out its duty of stewardship, then it has the legal right and responsibility to refuse to make a grant. By doing so, it does fulfill its duty under the law, although that step is very rare. | Through this grant agreement, the school agrees to use the funds for school purposes and importantly agrees to report back to the friends organization. They will write a report describing the expenditures and the accomplishments of the grant. If the friends organization sees that the funds are being used inappropriately, or is not getting a report, or is simply not satisfied for some reasons as it carries out its duty of stewardship, then it has the legal right and responsibility to refuse to make a grant. By doing so, it does fulfill its duty under the law, although that step is very rare. | ||
| − | Typically, this understanding of stewardship is recognized by both sides; it is not just the U.S. understanding its duties in stewardship. With this understanding in mind, the friends group and the entity in the other country | + | Typically, this understanding of stewardship is recognized by both sides; it is not just the U.S. understanding its duties in stewardship. With this understanding in mind, the friends group and the entity in the other country -- the school in the example -- would develop a sound working relationship in a simple operating agreement. The agreement lays out in very straightforward, non-legalistic terms how this relationship is going to work: how there is the expectation that there will be a transfer of funds and a report on a regular basis. This will lead to a good relationship where there is an exchange of information and financials and hopefully an ability to work together in planning for major capital expenditures, school improvements, school needs. This can all be done while still observing that the organizations are legally separate and have different legal responsibilities. |
==Summary== | ==Summary== | ||
Revision as of 19:24, 3 September 2011
Taking into account the legal duties of United States nonprofit boards, let us take examine how this impacts the relationship between United States organizations and NGOs outside the United States.
Since the laws and terminology of nonprofit cultures can vary so widely between countries, let us first make sure at the onset that we are all using in the same way two terms that are often confused.
Contents
Friends Organizations versus Chapters
Friends organization
One is the concept of a “friends organization,” sometimes called a supporting organization. (It also is often called a “friends of organization,” since so many nonprofits that support foreign charities have names that begin with those two terms, such as Friends of China Heritage Fund. However, there also are innumerable such nonprofits that do not have names that begin with those two words, such as
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