How to Make a Free Charter
Charters are legal documents that are used to establish organizations, committees, groups or other entities that exist to serve a common purpose. As a founding document, it is used to set out the organization's principles and activities and act as a guide for organizational officers when conducting business. Although you may think you need legal counsel to write a formal charter, you can write one yourself for free. Even though you can save money and write the charter yourself, you should get legal counsel to confirm that your legal bases are covered. Do so before your board approves the document.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Decide what elements you want to include in your charter. You will likely need a "purpose" or "mission" section, which sets out your organization's overall goals. Be sure that the purpose section is broad enough to encompass your organization's various related activities. For example, if you are writing a charter for a school political group, mention that your group will host speakers and raise funds for candidates. Other category ideas include personnel, governance, financing, operating procedures, meetings, membership, events.
-
2
Draft each element of your charter. Format your charter in outline format.
-
-
3
Present the draft charter to your board of directors. As board members, they are required to perform their due diligence and read the document in its entirety. They may also have amendments to the charter that the entire board should approve.
-
4
Present the draft charter, inclusive of recommended changes, to legal counsel, if necessary (see Resources). You may not need to do so for small organizations, but you should do so if your organization will raise money or have significant responsibility in a specific industry.
-
5
Adopt the revised charter with a vote of your board of directors.
-
1
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/BananaStock/Getty Images
