BECOMING LEGAL AND OPERATING A CHURCH OR COVEN

CREATING ARTICLES OF CORPORATION

  ASSEMBLING YOUR ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION:
(This is the second step in your quest for legality. )

The secretary of States Office of your state is usually the granting authority for all corporations created under the laws of your state. Write to them requesting them to send you the filing procedures for a Non-profit Corporation. A non-profit organization obtains corporate authority usually by the following procedure:

A. ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING. Your group must actually meet for purposes of making a decision to Incorporate. Send a letter to all concerned parties stating that your organizational meeting will occur on a specific date. Keep minutes of the meeting and show that you have agreed on a name for your church and specify who the incorporators are.

B. NAME RESERVATION. The proposed name for the non-profit corporation usually may be reserved with the Secretary of State for a non-renewable 60 day period, by filing an "Application for Reservation of a Name." Once the Sec. of State has searched the files, and found that your proposed name is not similar to anyone elses, he will issue you a Name Reservation Certificate.

B. ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION. The incorporator or attorney for the corporation must prepare the Articles of Incorporation in the proper format for your state. The following sample format of Articles of Incorporation may be used as a guide to assist in the preparation of the Articles:

(YOU WILL NEED A NAME FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION. SUCH AS "THE CHURCH OF THE EARTH, INC." OR SOME SUCH. THIS IS USUALLY ARTICLE ONE.)

ARTICLE ONE

CORPORATE NAME

The name of the corporation shall be XXXXXXXXX INC., hereafter (Corporation).

(YOUR CHURCH NEEDS TO HAVE THE LEGAL AUTHORITY TO INCORPORATE. CITE THE AUTHORITY IN ARTICLE TWO:)

ARTICLE TWO

ORGANIZATIONAL AUTHORITY

The corporation shall proceed under Title 22, of the Corporation Act, as amended, of the State of Georgia. (or the Act in your state)

(ARTICLE THREE STATES THAT YOU ARE A NON-PROFIT RELIGIOUS CORPORATION:)

ARTICLE THREE

TYPE OF CORPORATION

The corporation is a non-profit religious corporation.

(ARTICLE FOUR GIVES THE ADDRESS OF THE PRINCIPAL OFFICE OF THE CORPORATION. A CORPORATION MUST HAVE A PHYSICAL LOCATION AS AN ADDRESS, A P.O. BOX WILL NOT BE SUFFICIENT:)

ARTICLE FOUR

ADDRESS OF THE CORPORATION

The address of the principal office of the corporation in (Georgia) is 8 Somewhere Drive, Anywhere, Georgia 30144. The name and address of the registered agent of the corporation in (Georgia) is: William Jones III, 8 Randolph Drive, Anywhere, Georgia 30144. Said resident agent is a citizen of (Georgia) and actually resides therein.

(ARTICLE FIVE PROVIDES THE PURPOSE FOR WHICH YOUR GROUP IS INCORPORATING. A HINT: EITHER TRY TO COVER AS MUCH AS YOU CAN OR BE VERY BRIEF YET CONCISE. DO NOT BE VAGUE.)

ARTICLE FIVE

PURPOSE

The purpose of the Church is be to support, proselytize*, publish, research and teach religious and esoteric arts, sciences and concepts; establish and maintain places of worship in accordance with the traditions, rites and practices of the ( ) religion; establish churches of the ( ) religion in other counties of the State of (Georgia), in other states of the United States of America and in other countries of the World; establish, maintain and conduct a school of General Education, Natural Healing, Religion and Esoteric Instruction for children and adults, known as ( ) Institute, which will give full academic degrees and provide courses of religious and esoteric instruction in natural healing and psychic development; prepare individuals and qualify them to be ordained into the priesthood; ordain priests and priestesses; provide a council where disputes between members, priests, priestesses and elders, can be resolved with justice and impartiality; provide a means by which like-minded people may unite with the idea of true freedom of religion; establish a community of like-minded people who will have similar religious beliefs; and exercise any, all and every power to which an establishment of religion is entitled.  (*Even if you have no intention to proselytize your religion, make sure you give your church the right to do so.  Otherwise you are opening yourself up to your churches rights being interpreted by Christian Fundamentalists and Christian Judges, who may interpret your actions as proselytizing, and try to shut down your churches operation)

(ARTICLE SIX DESCRIBES THE GOVERNMENT OF YOUR CORPORATION WHICH SHOULD BE DESCRIBED IN DETAIL IN THE CHURCH BYLAWS:)

ARTICLE SIX

GOVERNMENT

The government of this religious organization shall be vested in a Council of Elders of its members. This government shall be described in the Bylaws of the church.

(ARTICLE SEVEN EXPLAINS THE DENOMINATIONAL AFFILIATION THAT YOUR CHURCH HAS WITH ANY OTHER CHURCH OR WITH A GROUP OF OTHER CHURCHES, AND WITH THE ASSOCIATION.)

ARTICLE SEVEN

DENOMINATIONAL AFFILIATION

This Church shall be a member of the family of Earth Religions, variously called pantheistic and/or polytheistic and variously described as an ancient Celtic Religion. The Association of Cymmry Wicca of the Church of ....... in Georgia is the chartering sponsor of the Church.

(ARTICLE EIGHT SETS THE DURATION OF THE CHURCHES EXISTENCE:)

ARTICLE EIGHT

DURATION

The Church shall have perpetual duration.

(ARTICLE NINE DEFINES THE INITIAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CHURCH AND WHO THEY ARE:)

ARTICLE NINE

BOARD OF ELDERS

The number of Elders constituting the initial Board of Elders is three, and the names and addresses of the persons who currently serve as the Elders of the church are as follows:

John Jones, 1235 Twin Peaks Road, Anywhere, Georgia 30144

Mary Jones, 1235 Twin Peaks Road, Anywhere, Georgia 30144

(ARTICLE TEN DEFINES THE MANNER IN WHICH THE ELDERS ARE ELECTED:)

ARTICLE TEN

ELECTION OF ELDERS

The manner in which the Elders are to be elected by the membership shall be set forth in the By-Laws of the church.

(ARTICLE ELEVEN DEFINES THE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH:)

ARTICLE ELEVEN

OFFICERS OF THE Church

The officers of the Church shall consist of a President, a Vice President, a Secretary, a Treasurer and such other officers as may be elected by the Elders. Only Elders shall serve as officers of the Church.

(ARTICLE TWELVE DEFINES HOW THE OFFICERS WILL BE ELECTED:)

ARTICLE TWELVE

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

The method by which the officers shall be elected shall be set forth in the By-Laws of the Church.

(ARTICLE THIRTEEN DEFINES HOW THE ARTICLES WILL BE AMENDED:)

ARTICLE THIRTEEN

AMENDMENTS

These articles may be amended in the manner provided by the By-Laws.

(ARTICLE FOURTEEN DEFINES AND DESCRIBES THE MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS:)

ARTICLE FOURTEEN

MEMBERSHIP

The method and conditions by which members shall be accepted, transferred, discharged and removed shall be set forth in the By-Laws of the Church. The Church shall have three classes of membership, with the qualifications and rights of such members to be set out in the By-Laws of the Church.

(ARTICLE FIFTEEN DEFINES AND DESCRIBES THE NON-PROFIT PROVISIONS WHICH ACTUALLY ALLOW YOU TO BE CONSIDERED A NON-PROFIT CORPORATION:)

ARTICLE FIFTEEN

NON-PROFIT PROVISIONS

No part of the earnings of the church shall enure to the benefit of, or be distributed to, its members, Elders, officers, or the members, Elders, or officers of the Church, or any other private person, except that the Church shall be authorized and empowered to pay a reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in Article Five hereof. Not withstanding any other provision of these articles, the Church shall not carry on any other activities not permitted to be carried out by (a) a church exempt from federal income tax under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code (or the corresponding provisions of any future United States Internal Revenue Code) or, (b) a church, contributions to which are deductible under Section 170 (c) (2) of the Internal Revenue Code (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue Law.) All references herein to provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 shall be deemed to include statutes which succeed such provisions (i.e., the corresponding provisions of future United States Internal Revenue Laws.)

(ARTICLE SIXTEEN DEFINES AND DESCRIBES THE PROCEDURE FOR DISSOLVING THE CHURCH, IF THERE WERE EVER A NEED:)

ARTICLE SIXTEEN

DISSOLUTION OF THE Church

Upon dissolution of the Church, The Board of Trustees shall, after paying or making provisions for the payment of all the liabilities of the church, dispose of all the assets of the church exclusively for the purposes of the church in such a manner, or to such organizations organized exclusively for charitable, educational, religious or scientific purposes as shall at the time qualify as an exempt organization or organizations under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, or the corresponding provisions of any subsequent law, as the Board of Trustees shall determine. The Board of Trustees shall be constituted of the Elders of the Church. Any such assets not so disposed of, shall be disposed of by the court of common pleas of the county in which the principal offices of the church is located, exclusively for the purposes or to such organizations as said court shall determine, which are organized and operated exclusively for such purposes.

(FINALLY YOU MUST SIGN AND DATE THE DOCUMENT TO MAKE IT LEGAL:)

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned execute these Articles of Incorporation on , 19__.

 

C. PUBLISHERS LETTER AND FEE. You must send a letter and fees to the Secretary of State or to your local newspaper or the newspaper that publishes your notices of incorporation, telling them to place your announcement in the newspaper. Failure to publish as required by your state code may result in the administrative dissolution of your corporation. The appropriate fee must be enclosed.

D. FILING WITH THE CLERK OF YOUR COUNTIES SUPERIOR COURT. Usually you must file a copy of the Incorporation documents with the county clerks office.   After you have completed all your documents, you must send them to the Secretary of states office (or other appropriate State office) for completion of the process. After a period of time, if they accept your documents, they will return a conformed and stamped copy of the Articles of incorporation as well as a Incorporation Certificate.

E. PRESENTING YOUR DOCUMENTS TO THE STATE. The following documents must usually be filed with the state:

1. A Data Entry Form

2. The Original Articles of Corporation

3. The Name Verification Certificate

F. SECRETARY OF STATE EXAMINATION. The Secretary of State usually provides only a ministerial review of the incorporation documents to determine if they comply with the minimum filing requirements of your state code. The Secretary will not review for matters of tax status, corporate finance or compliance with other business or regulatory laws. If the documents are acceptable, an original certificate and stamp of Incorporation will be returned to the Incorporator. The certificate will reflect the date on which the documents were received by the secretary of state. If the documents are incorrect and not acceptable for filing, they will be returned with a deficiency notice.

G. TAX STATUS. Private counsel should be consulted to determine the exact wording for the Articles of Incorporation for your Church according to your state law. Failure to have the appropriate wording may seriously affect your church's tax status. Once incorporated, the only way to change the articles is to file amended articles and pay all fees required for such a filing.

H. CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS. If a non-profit organization will be soliciting or accepting charitable contributions, it must usually file a charitable registration with the Secretary of State. This registration is in addition to and separate from a corporate filing. Information regarding charitable registration can be obtained by contacting the Secretary of States office.

After you have received a Incorporation Certificate, you must have a meeting to ratify a set of organizational bylaws. This is very important. Next to your Incorporation Certificate and Church Constitution, this is the most important organizational document that you have.