{"id":674,"date":"2015-08-05T11:31:40","date_gmt":"2015-08-05T09:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/?p=674"},"modified":"2016-06-03T11:57:43","modified_gmt":"2016-06-03T09:57:43","slug":"changing-the-associations-charter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/changing-the-associations-charter","title":{"rendered":"Changing the association\u2019s charter"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our article on association charters<\/a> we provided you with fundamental insight into the content that an association charter must, should and may contain. The charter dictates association life in the form of a constitution and is thus closely tied with the goals, work methods and decision-making regulations of an association. Throughout several years of an association’s existence, however, these connections may also change. For instance, one factor is the modernisation of association management, e.g. via the introduction of online association elections. Then it is necessary to alter or amend the existing charter.<\/p>\n

Charter alterations at the general assembly<\/strong><\/p>\n

The general assembly is generally the body responsible for charter alterations, provided the charter itself does not contain any other stipulations on this. Should an alteration to the charter be up for a vote, this must be disclosed to the association members in the invitation to the general assembly at the latest. To this end it is not enough to name the item on the agenda “charter alteration”, but rather the association members must be given the opportunity to discuss the changes together and form an opinion in peace. For instance, the invitation to the general assembly should contain more precise details of the alteration.<\/p>\n

Resolution by the general assembly<\/strong><\/p>\n

As per \u00a7 33 para 1 sentence 1 German Civil Code, a majority of three-quarters of the votes cast is required to make an alteration to the charter, provided the charter itself does not stipulate otherwise. Should the new charter be negotiated at a general assembly, the majority of those present must vote in support of it for the changes to become effective. Yet German Civil Code does not state how many members must be present for the general assembly to be able to make resolutions. This issue is left to the respective associations. A general assembly would – from a purely legal standpoint – thus be able to make resolutions if only one member is present. Were this single assembly participant to vote on an alteration to the charter, this would result in a fantastic result of 100 % agreement with absolutely no abstentions.
\nIn order to prevent this scenario, it is often specifically stipulated in the association charter how many members must be present for the general assembly to be able to make resolutions.<\/p>\n

Registration in the registry of associations<\/strong><\/p>\n

If a positive vote has been made in support of the alteration to the charter at the general assembly, this alteration must still be made valid. While many resolutions made by the general assembly come into effect directly after the resolution has been made, charter alterations – in accordance with \u00a7 71 para 1 sentence 1 German Civil Code – only become valid when the resolution has been registered in the registry of associations with the responsible district court. <\/p>\n

Case study of online elections in associations<\/strong><\/p>\n

Due to the high expenses of managing associations, incorporating the usage of electronic tools to simplify association management into the charter is recommended. Great personal and cost-intensive expenses also arise from the preparation and execution of elections. With the opportunity to elect the association’s board online, the costs in these areas can be greatly reduced. We thus recommend expanding the electoral system of the association to include digital voting procedures as well.<\/p>\n

Important notice:<\/strong> Please note that the above mentioned information refer to German law. The law in other countries may differ from that. All information given in this article are for information purposes only and no legal advice. No guarantee of completeness and legal correctness. Please contact a legal advisor in your country for legal advice.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our article on association charters we provided you with fundamental insight into the content that an association charter must, should and may contain. The charter dictates association life in the form of a constitution and is thus closely tied with the goals, work methods and decision-making regulations of an association. Throughout several years of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","ub_ctt_via":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[37],"tags":[170,166,168],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Verein_Vereinssatzung_aendern.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Matthias Schubert","author_link":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/author\/m-schubert"},"yoast_head":"\nChanging the association\u2019s charter - POLYAS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/changing-the-associations-charter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Changing the association\u2019s charter - POLYAS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In our article on association charters we provided you with fundamental insight into the content that an association charter must, should and may contain. The charter dictates association life in the form of a constitution and is thus closely tied with the goals, work methods and decision-making regulations of an association. Throughout several years of […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/changing-the-associations-charter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"POLYAS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-05T09:31:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-06-03T09:57:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Verein_Vereinssatzung_aendern.jpg?fit=750%2C420&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"420\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthias Schubert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Verfasst von\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matthias Schubert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Gesch\u00e4tzte Lesezeit\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 Minuten\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/changing-the-associations-charter\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/changing-the-associations-charter\",\"name\":\"Changing the association\u2019s charter - POLYAS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-05T09:31:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-06-03T09:57:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/98104228cf095df07868c881c84b9a4a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/changing-the-associations-charter#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"de-DE\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/changing-the-associations-charter\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/changing-the-associations-charter#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Startseite\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/de\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Changing the association\u2019s charter\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"POLYAS\",\"description\":\"the blog for secure online voting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"de-DE\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/98104228cf095df07868c881c84b9a4a\",\"name\":\"Matthias Schubert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"de-DE\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee26d952ed0c4fc696181da71daeeab5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee26d952ed0c4fc696181da71daeeab5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Matthias Schubert\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/author\/m-schubert\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Changing the association\u2019s charter - POLYAS","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/changing-the-associations-charter","og_locale":"de_DE","og_type":"article","og_title":"Changing the association\u2019s charter - POLYAS","og_description":"In our article on association charters we provided you with fundamental insight into the content that an association charter must, should and may contain. The charter dictates association life in the form of a constitution and is thus closely tied with the goals, work methods and decision-making regulations of an association. Throughout several years of […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/changing-the-associations-charter","og_site_name":"POLYAS","article_published_time":"2015-08-05T09:31:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-06-03T09:57:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":420,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Verein_Vereinssatzung_aendern.jpg?fit=750%2C420&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Matthias Schubert","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Verfasst von":"Matthias Schubert","Gesch\u00e4tzte Lesezeit":"3 Minuten"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/changing-the-associations-charter","url":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/changing-the-associations-charter","name":"Changing the association\u2019s charter - POLYAS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-08-05T09:31:40+00:00","dateModified":"2016-06-03T09:57:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/98104228cf095df07868c881c84b9a4a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/changing-the-associations-charter#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"de-DE","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/changing-the-associations-charter"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/changing-the-associations-charter#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Startseite","item":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/de"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Changing the association\u2019s charter"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/","name":"POLYAS","description":"the blog for secure online voting","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"de-DE"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/98104228cf095df07868c881c84b9a4a","name":"Matthias Schubert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"de-DE","@id":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee26d952ed0c4fc696181da71daeeab5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee26d952ed0c4fc696181da71daeeab5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Matthias Schubert"},"url":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/author\/m-schubert"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Verein_Vereinssatzung_aendern.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p72Pnr-aS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":649,"url":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/digital-democracy\/the-charter-of-a-club-society-or-association-mandatory-content-and-bespoke-clauses","url_meta":{"origin":674,"position":0},"title":"The Charter of a club, society or association – mandatory content and bespoke clauses","date":"29\/07\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cUnity is strength\u201d goes the adage, which is why a group of people will often form a union to achieve a common goal. And with a formal union, club or society come democratic procedures, elections and ballots. But a union, or association, also needs rules. The Charter \u2013 the constitution\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Digital Democracy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Verein_Satzung_Vereinssatzungen.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":732,"url":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/election-management\/practice-tips-for-planning-elections-3-collecting-candidate-information","url_meta":{"origin":674,"position":1},"title":"Practice Tips for Planning Elections: #3 Collecting candidate information","date":"01\/09\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The preparation for an election must be conducted as meticulously as the election itself. Errors, inaccurate information or missed deadlines - and already the entire process is invalid. The election regulation, election charter or association charter provide the rough guideline for this. Missing information for the authorised voters may lead\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election Management"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/polyas_wahltipps3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1134,"url":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/election-management\/practical-tips-for-planning-elections-9-assessing-legal-regulations","url_meta":{"origin":674,"position":2},"title":"Practical Tips for Planning Elections: #9 Assessing legal regulations","date":"19\/10\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"You have prepared your election down to the last detail. The\u00a0election calendar\u00a0is set, the decision for the proper election procedure has been made, all\u00a0candidates\u00a0are ready \u2013 time to take another look at all of the legal regulations. After all, it's not for nothing that they say everything has to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election Management"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Rechtliches1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5558,"url":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/electoral-research\/board-of-directors-associations","url_meta":{"origin":674,"position":3},"title":"How Board of Directors Elections in Associations work","date":"24\/08\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Associations are established by people who share a common interest. They solely exist to serve their membership. In order to have a smoothly running association, the members elect a board of directors\u00a0to lead the association on their behalf. Members generally have the right to vote but in some associations, there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Electoral research"","img":{"alt_text":"Association Board of directors elections","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/paper-dolls-14611_640.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5450,"url":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/electoral-research\/what-is-an-hoa","url_meta":{"origin":674,"position":4},"title":"What is an HOA?","date":"01\/08\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Homeowners Associations (HOA) are responsible for the smooth running of property development areas on behalf of the homeowners and the real estate developers.\u00a0They manage the approximately 62 million residents across the United States. Read on for more information about Homeowners Associations. HOAs are formed by real estate developers when the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Electoral research"","img":{"alt_text":"HOA","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/What-is-an-HOA-Blog.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1131,"url":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/en\/election-management\/practical-tips-for-planning-elections-8-expect-the-unexpected","url_meta":{"origin":674,"position":5},"title":"Practical Tips for Planning Elections: #8 Expect the unexpected","date":"12\/10\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Murphy\u2019s Law states: \u201cWhatever can go wrong will go wrong.\u201d Of course, this is not the most positive way to pass through life, but at least you are always prepared for anything. Even during an election, many things may not go as planned. In this event there are two options:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election Management"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/polyas_wahltipps8.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2808,"href":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674\/revisions\/2808"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.polyas.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}