Educationbridges Articles of Formation
FIRST: The name of the Corporation shall be Educationbridges.
SECOND: The object for which the corporation is established
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To fund, facilitate and disseminate educational technology programming
worldwide by:
- funding and/or providing project management and support services for educational projects
- funding and delivering online collaborative environments focused on education and educational technology
THIRD: The provisions for establishing membership and participation in the corporation are...:
Levels of Membership
Board of Directors
Decision making body. Initially will include 5 members.
- President
- Treasurer
- Secretary
- Project Manager
- Worldbridges Community Liason
Advisory Board
This body is made up of people and organizations that share the educationbridges vision and who will be asked, on a frequent basis, to assess and assist the Board of Directors. The review board for each project will be drawn from this body.
Members
All people who wish to become involved in Educationbridges must become members? Initial membership fee is 'One hour of income.'
FOURTH: The provisions for disposition of the corporate assets in the event of dissolution of the corporation including the prioritization of rights of shareholders and members to corporate assets are....
- There will be no shareholders.
- Upon the dissolution of the corporation, assets shall be distributed for one or more exempt purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or the corresponding section of any future federal tax code, or shall be distributed to the federal government, or to a state or local government, for a public purpose. Any such assets not so disposed of shall be disposed of by a Court of Competent Jurisdiction of the County in which the principal office of the corporation is then located, exclusively for such purposes or to such organization or organizations as said Court shall determine, which are organized and operated exclusively for such purposes.
FIFTH: The address at which the business of this corporation is to be carried on is...
Current plan is for a post office box.
SIXTH: The amount of capital stock, if any, or the number of shares or membership certificates, if any, and provisions for retirement, reacquisition and redemption of those shares or certificates are...
None.
SEVENTH: Provision eliminating or limiting the personal liability of a director, an officer or both, to the corporation or its shareholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director, an officer or both is...
The officers of the corporation shall not be liable to the corporation or to its shareholders or members for monetary damages for breach of their fiduciary duties to the full extent permitted by N.H. RSA 292.
EIGHTH: Signatures and post office address of each of the persons associating together to form the corporation
_____________________________________________
Signature Street
_____________________________________________
Name (please print) City/Town State Zip
_____________________________________________
Signature Street
Name (please print) City/Town State Zip
_____________________________________________
Signature Street
Name (please print) City/Town State Zip
_____________________________________________
Signature Street
Name (please print) City/Town State Zip
_____________________________________________
Signature Street
_____________________________________________
Name (please print) City/Town State Zip
Mail fee and DATED AND SIGNED ORIGINAL to: Corporation Division, Department of State, 107 North Main Street, Concord, NH 03301-4989
Reference Links:
- NH Non-profit Corporation Articles of Agreement Form
- IRS Publication 557 (3/2005), Tax-Exempt Status for Your Organization
- 501(c)3 Tax Exemption Requirements
- Application for Recognition of Exemption Under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
Examples of Articles of Formation
It seems to me that the purpose of such a corporation would be twofold-
1. To raise money for the purpose of creating micro-grants for small scale, and eventually, larger, educational technology projects that support the "teach a man to fish" mentality over the "buy him/her a snack" ideology. This purpose is all about fundraising and the redistribution of grants. I've heard Dave speak about this approach for a while -- it seems to make sense to me. The arms of such a purpose-driven org., then, would be to create a mechanism that would both collect money as well as keep track of its comnigs and goings.
2. To spend the money. This could take a variety of forms, either as a grant supervision body, an actual team or series of teams that would supervise, manage and create projects, or otherwise use funds, responsibly, of course, to provide the largest possible impact.
As far as writing that up -- is it better for such a statement to be a few carefully constructed sentences that provide lots of wiggle room, or should the statement of purpose be very precise, quite lengthy, and ultimately a governing document in the most strict sense of the term?
As for membership -- is this simply board members and volunteers, or is there to be staffing in such an endeavo(u)r? If so, does that need to be accounted for in such a document? Obviously, I need to do some more reading to answer my own questions. Skimming the samples, looks like there are several ways to go -- and it's quite possible to lift the necessary sections of "generic text" from others if necessary.
I'm much less frightened of this document than I thought I'd be.