Statute
Content
§ 1 Name And Headquarter
§ 2 Objective
§ 3 Non-Profit Status
§ 4 Financial Year
§ 5 Membership
§ 6 Membership Fees And Donations
§ 7 Organs
§ 8 Assets And Inventory
§ 9 Amendments Of Charter
§ 10 Dissolution Of The Association
§ 11 Transition And Closing Provisions
§ 1 Name and headquarter
The association goes by the name Political Youth Association Dresden (Dresden; German: Politischer Jugendring Dresden e.V. abbreviated: PJR).
The headquarter of the association is located in Dresden.
§ 2 Objective
The objective of the association is to implement measures for adolescents in an open form and to guide young people towards self-fulfillment, a responsible life in freedom and towards an active engagement in our democratic state and pluralistic society.
This goal is to be achieved by conducting seminars, practically oriented offers in the fields of environment protection, culture, politics, scientific oriented education, international youth education, study trips, publications and working with media. In order to achieve these goals, the association may work closely with other institutions with similar goals.
§ 3 Non-Profit Status
The organization exclusively and directly pursues charitable ends within the meaning of the “tax-advantaged purposes” section of the German fiscal system. The organization is selfless and its primary aim is not to pursue economic gain. The organization’s resources may only be used for purposes in keeping with its articles of association. Its members and the members of the advisory board shall receive no share of the profits and no other allowances from the or-ganization’s funds. No person may benefit from expenditure unconnected to the organiza-tion’s purpose or from disproportionately high reimbursement.
§ 4 Financial Year
The association’s financial year is the same as the calendar year.
§ 5 Membership
- There exist two types of membership:
1. Full Membership:
It is connected to an active engagement in the association.
2. Sponsor Membership:
It embraces the idealistical and material support of the association`s objectives, particularly with regard to the consultancy of the board aiming at realizing the association`s
objectives.
All members have full access to informations and documents of the association. Sponsoring members are in all consultancies of the association`s organs fully entitled to speak.
(2) Natural persons as well as legal persons can become members of the association. Natural persons shall be 14 years or older and legal person shall be nonpartisan.
In order to become a member a written request has to be sent to the board. The request from persons who are not legally competent has to be signed by the legal guardian. With their signature the legal guardians place themselves under the obligation of being jointly and severally liable for the payment of membership fees and other outstanding debts.
(3) The board is liable for the decision of acceptance of members.
(4) The membership ends with the death or exclusion of the member, with non-renewal of membership or withdrawal. A member can withdraw from his or her membership by sending a written declaration to the board.
A member may be excluded if he or she does not pay the membership fees, even after two written reminders and the expiry of a subsequent time period of 4 weeks.
The board can decide to exclude a member if he or she grossly violates the interests of the association. Before making this decision the board has to grant the member the right to be heard.
The board will have to send a written note with its decision to the member. The mem-ber may appeal against this decision to general meeting within one month of having received the boards’ decision.
Within a period of two months of the appeal against this decision in due form and time the board shall call a general assembly, which will have to make the final decision on the exclusion of the member. Until this decision all rights of the members excluded by the board shall be declined.
(5) In the context of their work for the association all members have the right to make use of the association’s facilities and take part in the events planned and organized by the association. While working for the association, members will have to respect the adopted rules as well as the obligation to promote the association’s goals and objectives.
§ 6 Membership Fees And Donations
Members are obliged to pay an annual membership fee. The general assembly decides on the amount and time for payment.
Supporting members pay a regular annual membership fee which is at least the amount of the general annual membership fee.
Donations may only be accepted and used in accordance to the objectives mentioned in §2.
§ 7 Organs
The organs of the associations are:
– General Assembly
– The executive board
– Advisory board
(1) The general assembly consists of all members of the association. All members, may they be natural or legal persons have one vote. Legal persons as well as their representatives do not have the right to be elected.
The general assembly decides on:
Adopting important guidelines for the association’s work,
electing and deselecting the executive board,
adopting rules,
deciding the amount and time of payment for the membership fee,
taking decisions on making amendments of the association’s charter and the dissolu-tion of the association ,
taking decisions on appeals against the executive boards decisions of excluding a member,
electing the treasurer,
building and using reserves.
The general assembly gathers at least once a year. This meeting will take place latest in the second trimester of each calendar year. If the executive board decides to hold an unscheduled meeting or if one third of the members asks for a meeting and suggests an agenda, the meeting shall be convened within three weeks.
Member shall be convened at the latest three weeks before the meeting and shall receive a written invitation as an email or letter.
The general assembly will hold its meetings in public. Upon request of a member the public may be excluded from the meeting. If the public shall be excluded is decided in a non-public meeting.
The general assembly has the quorum, if members have been invited properly and if at least one third of the members are present. If the general assembly doesn’t have the quorum, the assembly shall gather again within one month time period. The invitation to the general as-sembly shall mention that the number of members present does not have an effect on the pres-ence of a quorum.
An absolute majority in the general assembly is necessary in order to take decisions, provided that this charter does not determine otherwise.
The one, who receives more than half of the votes, is officially elected. If no candidate re-ceives the absolute majority, the general assembly shall vote again in a second ballot on the two candidates with the most votes in the first ballot. In this case the candidate with the most votes wins. If both candidates receive the exact same number of votes the person who acts as a chairman in the meeting will decide by lot.
Decisions shall be taken by secret ballot, if requested by a member. Elections concerning the organs of the association are always secret ballots.
Minutes shall be taken on the decisions made by the general assembly. The minute taker shall be elected in the beginning of each general assembly meeting. The minutes shall be signed by the chairman and the minute taker of the meeting. Every member has the right of access to the minutes.
(2) Referring to §26 BGB (Code of German Federal Regulations), the Executive Board consists of three persons: the board chairman and two representatives. Additionally, the board may consist of two more board members.
The Executive Board appoints one of its members as being responsible for finances. The executive board is elected for a time period of one year. If there is no substitution for the executive board after this time period or if the necessary new elections have not taken place yet, the executive board will remain in charge until a new executive board is elected.
Deselection and new election may take place, only if it has been mentioned as an item on the agenda. The deselection of single members of the executive board requires a three quarter majority of all members present.
The executive board has a quorum only when its three members are present.
The tasks of the executive board are:
the guidance of the association in accordance to the charter and the decisions taken by the general assembly,
to establish the budget,
to call for a general assembly,
Human Resources .
The executive board’s decisions require an absolute majority of the votes. The acceptance of legal persons requires the votes of two third of its members.
Minutes shall be taken on the decisions made by the executive committee. The executive board appoints a minute taker who will sign the minutes. The minute taker doesn’t have to be a member of the executive board.
For special tasks the executive board may authorize other persons, e.g. chief executives, advi-sors for education and project managers, to represent the association (§30 BGB). They will represent the association according to the authorization given by the executive board.
The association shall be represented by two members of the executive board, including the board chairman or one of his or her representatives (according to §26 subparagraph 2 BGB).
(3) The advisory board supports the executive board with its ongoing tasks. The advisory board consists of a maximum of 7 members. The exact number of members will be determined in the general assembly. The Executive Board will propose candidates for the advisory board and the general assembly will vote on the proposed candidates. The candidates shall not be members of the association. Their term is limited to two years. If the member of the advisory board doesn’t resign from his or her office or if the general assembly decides to release the member, his or her term shall be extended. §5, subparagraph 3 applies.
§ 8 Assets And Inventory
All inventory and rights, acquired by the association, are property of the association.
§ 9 Amendments Of Charter
Amendments to the Charter shall require a three-quarter majority of all votes represented at the assembly engaged in the decision.
§ 10 Dissolution Of The Association
The dissolution of the association can only be decided unanimously by the General Assembly. In case the number of members is less than 3 the association shall be dissolved automatically.
On the dissolution or annulment of the association or on the discontinuation of its non-profit purposes to date, the property of the association becomes the property of the city of Dresden which may use these means exclusively for objectives mentioned in this charter.
§ 11 Transition And Closing Provisions
This charter becomes effective. At the same time all former charters or amendments to these charters cease to be effective.
With being a registered association in the register of associations, this charter becomes effective. In order to avoid obstacles to registration, the executive board is authorized to make decisions in that matter. The decisions have to be unanimously taken. The authorization of the executive board expires with the registration of the association in the register of associations.
After having voted on this charter the first financial year will end on 31 December, 2009.