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USA Statutes : massachusetts
Title : PART I. ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
Chapter : TITLE XI. CERTAIN RELIGIOUS AND CHARITABLE MATTERS
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Chapter 67: Section 1. Continuance of existing corporations Section 1. Every religious society heretofore established or organized under any statute shall continue a body corporate with the powers given to such corporations by law, and with the powers, privileges, liabilities and duties set forth in this chapter; but this chapter shall not impair the existing rights of property of any territorial parish.
Chapter 67: Section 10. Assessors or standing committee; election; tenure Section 10. The assessors or standing committee may be elected for such term, not exceeding three years, as the parish or religious society may by vote or by-law prescribe, and the vote or by-law may provide that the term of office of the assessors or members of the standing committee may expire in different years.
Chapter 67: Section 11. Management of prudential affairs Section 11. The prudential affairs of such societies shall be managed by their assessors or by a standing committee, who, unless the by-laws otherwise provide, shall have like authority for calling meetings as selectmen have for calling town meetings.
Chapter 67: Section 12. Procedure when officers fail to call meeting Section 12. If there are no assessors or committee, or if such officers unreasonably refuse to call a meeting, a justice of the peace may, upon the application of five or more membors, call a meeting in the manner provided in section twenty-two.
Chapter 67: Section 13. Warning of meetings Section 13. Meetings shall be warned in the manner provided by any by-law or vote of the society, or, if no such provision has been made, in such manner as the assessors or standing committee in their warrant may direct.
Chapter 67: Section 14. Warrant for meetings; contents Section 14. The assessors or committee shall insert in the warrant for a meeting any matter the insertion of which five or more members of the society may in writing request. Nothing shall be acted upon at a meeting unless the subject matter thereof was inserted in the warrant.
Chapter 67: Section 15. Presiding officer during selection of moderator; oath of office Section 15. The clerk or, if there is no clerk or if he is absent, one of the assessors or of the standing committee shall preside in the choice of a moderator, after which a clerk may be chosen, either pro tempore or to fill the vacancy. The moderator may administer the oath of office to the clerk, and the clerk to the assessors, treasurer and collector, or said oaths may be administered by a justice of the peace.
Chapter 67: Section 16. Collector Section 16. If the person who is chosen collector is present and accepts the office, he shall forthwith be sworn. If not present, he shall be summoned to take the oath by a constable or by any person whom the clerk or assessors appoint for the purpose. Upon the refusal or neglect of a person present to accept such office at the time, or upon the neglect of a person so summoned, for the space of seven days, to appear and take the oath, the society shall proceed to a new choice; and so from time to time until some person accepts and is sworn.
Chapter 67: Section 17. Appropriations Section 17. A religious society may, at its annual meeting or at any other meeting regularly notified seven days at least before the holding thereof, grant and vote money necessary for the settlement and support of ministers or public teachers of religion, for the building or repairing of houses of public worship, for sacred music, for the purchase and preservation of burial grounds, and for other necessary parish charges.
Chapter 67: Section 18. Assessments on pews and property of members; liability of members for parish debts Section 18. No parish or religious society shall assess taxes on the polls or estates of its members; but pews may be assessed as heretofore. No member of any territorial or other parish shall, as such, be personally liable for any debt or obligation of the parish incurred after April sixth, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven.
Chapter 67: Section 19. Sale or removal of pews or meeting-house Section 19. A religious society may, under sections thirty-three and thirty-four, for the purpose of altering, enlarging, removing or rebuilding its house or building a new house, take down any pews therein or sell the house.
Chapter 67: Section 2. Existing societies; limitation or modification of rights, privileges, etc. Section 2. Religious societies, incorporated or unincorporated, shall continue to have and enjoy their existing rights, privileges and immunities, except as limited or modified by this chapter.
Chapter 67: Section 20. “Religious society” and “society”, defined Section 20. The terms “religious society” and “society” in the preceding sections shall include parishes.
Chapter 67: Section 21. Incorporation Section 21. An unincorporated religious society, if it contains ten or more members, male or female, may become a corporation, and may hold so much real and personal estate as may be necessary for the objects of such organization, and no more.
Chapter 67: Section 22. Organization meeting; certificate of incorporation, filing, etc. Section 22. A justice of the peace, upon written application by five or more of the members of such society, may issue his warrant directed to one of the applicants, stating the objects of the proposed meeting, and requiring him to warn the members of the society to meet at a time and place appointed in the warrant; and such warrant may be served by posting an attested copy thereof on the principal outer door or some other conspicuous part of the meeting house of such society or by leaving such copy with, or at the last and usual places of abode of, the members of the society seven days at least before such meeting; and, upon return thereof, the same or any other justice of the peace may preside at the meeting during the choice and qualification of a clerk and until a moderator is chosen; and the society may thereupon choose a moderator and do such other things as parishes may do at their annual meetings, if the subject matter thereof is inserted in the warrant. The clerk shall enter at large upon the records of the society the proceedings in the organization thereof.
The moderator and clerk shall forthwith make, sign, swear to and file in the office of the state secretary a certificate stating the name of the corporation, its purpose, the town and county where located, the date of the meeting for organization and any adjournments thereof and the names of the officers elected; otherwise the organization shall be void.
Chapter 67: Section 23. Incorporation of religious society Section 23. Ten or more persons, male or female, who desire to form a religious society, may make written application therefor to a justice of the peace, who may thereupon issue his warrant, directed to one of the applicants, stating the objects of the proposed society, and requiring him to warn said persons to meet at a time and place appointed in the warrant. The warrant shall be issued, served and executed, and the meeting held in the manner and for the purposes set forth in the preceding section; and such persons, upon complying with said section, shall become a corporation under a name to be assumed at such meeting, with all the powers, rights and privileges, and subject to all the duties, limitations and restrictions, relating to religious societies.
Chapter 67: Section 24. Incorporation of owners Section 24. Persons owning or proposing to build a house of public worship may organize in the manner provided by the preceding section, and shall thereupon become a corporation with the powers and subject to the duties set forth in chapter one hundred and fifty-five and in the following sections.
Chapter 67: Section 25. Restrictions on amount of property owned; use of income Section 25. Such corporation may hold so much real and personal estate, in addition to its meeting house, as may be necessary for its objects, and no more; and the annual income thereof shall be applied to parochial purposes.
Chapter 67: Section 26. Record of organization proceedings; filing Section 26. The clerk of such corporation, within ten days after the meeting at which it was organized, shall file with the state secretary a true copy of the record of the proceedings of its organization; otherwise the organization shall be void.
Chapter 67: Section 27. Use of funds; purposes Section 27. Such corporation, at a legal meeting called for the purpose, may vote to alter, enlarge, repair, rebuild or remove its house, or to build a new one, and may vote the money necessary for such purpose and for the purchase of the land necessary therefor; and such corporation at its annual meeting or at any other meeting regularly called seven days at least before the holding thereof, may grant and vote money necessary for the settlement and support of ministers or public teachers of religion, for sacred music, for the purchase and preservation of burial grounds, and for other necessary charges.
Chapter 67: Section 28. Societies incorporated under special acts; powers Section 28. A religious society incorporated under a special act shall have the powers set forth in the preceding section, anything contained in any special act of incorporation or amendment thereof, or in section one, to the contrary notwithstanding.
Chapter 67: Section 29. Manner of calling meetings Section 29. A meeting for any purpose mentioned in section twenty-seven may be called in the manner prescribed in the by-laws or votes of the corporation, or, upon written application by any five of its members, by a warrant issued by a justice of the peace, directed to one of the applicants; or such meeting may be called by a notice by the clerk, who shall warn a meeting on a like application to him; and in either case the meeting may be warned by notice served as provided in section twenty-two.
Chapter 67: Section 3. Status of church privileges Section 3. Churches connected and associated in public worship with such religious societies shall continue to have, exercise and enjoy all their accustomed privileges and liberties respecting divine worship, church order and discipline, and shall be encouraged in the peaceable and regular enjoyment and practice thereof.
Chapter 67: Section 30. Collection of assessments Section 30. Money voted by such corporation may be assessed on the pews in its meeting house, and the assessment may be committed to its treasurer, who shall forthwith give notice by posting an advertisement on the principal outer door of the meeting house, stating the making of such assessment and the date of its delivery to him; and if any part of the taxes so assessed remains unpaid for three months thereafter, the treasurer shall forthwith collect the same by sales by public auction of the pews upon which such taxes remain unpaid.
Chapter 67: Section 31. Sale of pews for taxes Section 31. The treasurer, at least three weeks before the time of the sale of a pew for taxes, shall post a notice of the intended sale on the principal outer door of the meeting house, stating the number of the pew, if any; the name of the owner or occupant, if known; and the amount of the tax due thereon; and if any part of said tax remains unpaid at the time of sale, he shall sell the pew by public auction to the highest bidder and shall execute and deliver to the purchaser a bill of sale thereof. The money arising from the sale, in excess of the taxes and reasonable incidental charges, shall be paid by the treasurer to the former owner of the pew.
Chapter 67: Section 32. Notice of sale; affidavit of posting Section 32. An affidavit, annexed to an original notice or to a copy thereof and recorded on the records of the corporation within six months after the sale, shall be proof of the posting of such notice.
Chapter 67: Section 33. New or rejuvenated meeting houses; acquisition of funds by selling pews Section 33. Such corporation, for the purpose of building a new house, or of altering, enlarging, repairing, rebuilding or removing a house already built, may sell the same or take down any pews therein, the pews taken being first appraised by three or more disinterested persons chosen for that purpose. The pews newly erected shall be sold by the treasurer by public auction to the highest bidder, and bills of sale thereof shall be given. The money arising from such sale shall be applied, so far as necessary, to paying the appraised value of the pews taken down; and the deficiency, if any, shall be paid by the corporation within thirty days after the sale.
Chapter 67: Section 34. Meeting-houses unfit for worship; rights of pew owners to compensation Section 34. The preceding section shall not entitle a person to compensation for a pew taken down in a meeting house which is unfit for the purposes of public worship.
Chapter 67: Section 35. Assessments on pews Section 35. A corporation for religious purposes may assess upon the pews in a church or meeting house which it has erected or procured for public worship since March twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and forty-five, according to a valuation of said pews previously agreed upon, and recorded by the clerk, sums of money for the support of public worship and other parochial charges, and for the repairs of the house. Such assessments may be collected in the manner provided in sections thirty and thirty-one.
Chapter 67: Section 36. Assessments on pews; consent of owners Section 36. Such corporation which had erected or procured such house prior to said date may avail itself of the provisions of the preceding section, if the consent of all the pew owners is obtained, or if two thirds of its members present and voting at a meeting called for that purpose so determined.
Chapter 67: Section 37. Purchase of pews Section 37. A corporation which votes to avail itself of the provisions of section thirty-five shall, upon the application of a person owning a pew in its house, within one year after said vote, purchase such pew at the value determined by three disinterested persons, one of whom shall be chosen by the pew owner, one by the corporation, and the third by the two appraisers.
Chapter 67: Section 38. Property status of pews Section 38. Pews shall be personal estate.
Chapter 67: Section 39. Organization Section 39. In religious societies belonging to the Protestant Episcopal Church or the Reformed Episcopal Church, the rector or one of the wardens may, unless otherwise provided in some by-law, preside at their meetings with all the powers of a moderator; and the wardens, or wardens and vestry, may exercise all the powers of a standing committee in accordance with the usages and discipline of said churches. Unless they assess or collect a tax on the pews, such societies need not choose a collector or assessors; and they may in their by-laws provide that the duties of assessors shall be performed by the wardens. The officers upon whom the duties of standing committee or assessors may devolve shall be elected by ballot.
Chapter 67: Section 4. By-laws Section 4. A religious society may make by-laws consistent with law, prescribing the manner in which persons may become members and the mode of calling and warning its meetings, and regulating the management of its affairs.
Chapter 67: Section 40. Organization Section 40. The trustees of any society of the United Methodist Church, or of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, appointed according to the Discipline or usages thereof, respectively, or as such society chooses, may organize and become a corporation with the powers and duties prescribed by chapter one hundred and fifty-five, subject, however, to account to the charge conference of such society according to the aforesaid Discipline and usages.
Chapter 67: Section 41. Powers of trustees Section 41. Such trustees may receive, hold and manage all the real and personal property belonging to such society, may sell and convey the same, and may hold in trust gifts, grants, bequests or devises to such society for the support of public worship and for other religious purposes.
Chapter 67: Section 42. First meeting of trustees, etc. Section 42. The first meeting of such trustees may, upon the application of three or more of them, be called by a justice of the peace, and at such meeting the trustees may choose a secretary and other officers. The provisions of this chapter relative to the warning and organization of meetings of religious societies shall, so far as appropriate, apply to meetings for the organization of the trustees. The secretary, before entering upon the duties of his office, shall be sworn to the faithful performance thereof, and a record of such oath shall be made in the records of the trustees.
Chapter 67: Section 43. Filing record of organization Section 43. An attested copy of the record of the proceedings at such organization shall be filed with the state secretary, within the time prescribed in section twenty-six; otherwise the organization shall be void.
Chapter 67: Section 44. Incorporation Section 44. The Roman Catholic archbishop or bishop of the diocese in which a Roman Catholic church is erected or intended to be erected, the vicar-general of such diocese and the pastor of such church, for the time being, or a majority of them, may associate with themselves two laymen, communicants of said church, and may, with such laymen, sign a certificate in duplicate, showing the name or title by which they and their successors shall be known as a body corporate, which certificate shall be acknowledged in the same manner as conveyances of land. One copy of such certificate shall be filed in the office of the state secretary, and the other recorded in the registry of deeds in the county where such church is erected or intended to be erected; and thereupon such church shall be a body corporate by the name expressed in such certificate, and the persons so signing the same shall be the trustees thereof.
Chapter 67: Section 45. Status and powers of archbishop’s successor Section 45. The successor of any archbishop, bishop, vicar-general or pastor shall, by virtue of his office, be for the time being a member of such corporation in place of his predecessor; and such laymen shall hold office respectively for one year; and when the office of any such layman becomes vacant, his successor shall be appointed in the manner provided for the original selection.
Chapter 67: Section 46. Powers of corporation Section 46. Such corporation may receive, hold and manage all real and personal property belonging to such church; may sell and convey the same; and may hold in trust gifts, grants, bequests or devises to such church for the support of public worship and for other religious purposes; but all the property belonging to any one church or parish and held by such corporation shall never exceed one hundred thousand dollars exclusive of the church buildings.
Chapter 67: Section 47. Authorization Section 47. Any church may be incorporated under the following sections.
Chapter 67: Section 48. Notice of meeting Section 48. A notice, signed by one or more of the members of such church, stating the object, time and place of the meeting for its incorporation, and the first election of officers, shall, at least fifteen days before such meeting, be posted in a conspicuous place near one of the principal entrances of the usual place of meeting of said church.
Chapter 67: Section 49. Election of officers Section 49. At the time and place stated in said notice, the resident members of such church may assemble at their place of worship and by ballot elect a moderator, a clerk, who shall be sworn, a treasurer, a standing committee of not less than three nor more than twenty-four members or a board of trustees, managers, directors, executive committee, prudential committee, wardens and vestry or other officers with the powers of a standing committee, and such other officers as they may deem necessary.
Chapter 67: Section 5. Membership; rights and restrictions Section 5. A person belonging to such society shall continue a member thereof until he files with the clerk a written declaration of the dissolution of his membership; but after filing such notice he shall not be liable for any grant or contract thereafter made on entered into by such society. No person shall be made a member of a religious society without his written consent.
Chapter 67: Section 50. By-laws Section 50. The church may make by-laws and may prescribe therein the manner in which and the officers and agents by whom the purposes of its incorporation may be effected. If no provision is made by a vote or by-law of the church for calling meetings, they shall be called in such manner as the standing committee may direct.
Chapter 67: Section 51. Certification of organization to state secretary Section 51. The standing committee or other officers shall certify the organization of such church to the state secretary, in such form as he shall prescribe; and upon payment of a fee of five dollars to the secretary shall perform the same duties and with the same legal effect as in the case of corporations organized under chapter one hundred and eighty.
Chapter 67: Section 52. Church members only to be members of corporation; associate membership Section 52. None but members of such church shall be members of such corporation, and only resident members shall vote; but any such corporation may, upon such conditions as it may prescribe, admit any regular financial supporters of the church to associate membership, with a vote upon financial questions only: provided, that no action of a meeting in which associate members have taken part, looking to the reduction of a minister’s salary or the alienation of church property, shall be valid until the same has been ratified by a meeting of church members only, or until sixty days have elapsed without a written request of ten church members for such a meeting.
Chapter 67: Section 53. Conveyances by church officers Section 53. The deacons, wardens, trustees or similar officers of a church so incorporated which holds real or personal property under chapter sixty-eight may, subject to the same uses and trusts as when held by them, convey it to said church.
Chapter 67: Section 54. Conveyances from religious societies Section 54. Any religious society connected with a church so incorporated may, at any meeting called for the purpose, by a three fourths vote, authorize one or more persons in its name and behalf to convey any real or personal property belonging to it to such church, and such property shall thereafter be held by the church subject to the same uses and trusts as when held by said religious society.
Chapter 67: Section 55. Orthodox churches; incorporation Section 55. This section shall apply to all churches, congregations, parishes, committees and other religious organizations governed by jurisdictions, archdioceses and dioceses of any Orthodox Patriarchate, Synod or national church of the Orthodox Church (the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church), recognized by the apostolic historic Orthodox Patriarchates of Constantinople, Antioch, Moscow and Yugoslavia and in general to all churches, congregations, parishes, committees and other religious organizations founded or established with the intent and for the purpose of adhering to and maintaining the apostolic and historic communion, doctrine, discipline, canon law, tradition, worship and unity of the Orthodox Church.
An unincorporated church, congregation, parish or any other religious organization may apply to the appropriate hierarch, archbishop, bishop or administrator for permission to incorporate under this section. When such permission has been granted in writing, it shall be attached to the certificate of incorporation.
The certificate of incorporation shall be in the form provided by the state secretary for religious corporations and must, in addition, recite therein that the purpose and intent of the corporation is to maintain, propagate, practice and forever perpetuate religious worship, services, sacraments and teachings in full accordance and unity with the doctrine, ritual, canon law, faith, practice, discipline, traditions and usages of the Orthodox Church and for the carrying out of the said purpose and intent to maintain a religious organization which will be adherent and obedient to the Orthodox ecclesiastical jurisdiction and authority and which shall recognize and remain subject to the duly appointed and canonical Orthodox hierarch, archbishop, bishop or administrator appropriate for the Orthodox communicant members comprising the same.
Chapter 67: Section 6. Membership; women and non-residents Section 6. A religious society may admit women to membership with full rights and privileges, and a territorial parish may admit to membership persons who are not residents of its territory.
Chapter 67: Section 7. Meetings; election of officers; tenure; vacancies Section 7. Every incorporated religious society shall hold an annual meeting at such time as it shall prescribe by its by-laws, and, if the by-laws do not otherwise provide, at a place appointed by its assessors or standing committee; and at such meeting it shall choose a moderator, clerk, a standing committee or two or more assessors, a treasurer, a collector, and such other officers as it may think necessary, all of whom, except the moderator, shall, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, hold office until the next annual meeting and until their successors are qualified. Vacancies in said offices may be filled at any legal meeting.
Chapter 67: Section 8. Method of election of officers Section 8. Moderators for meetings held for the choice of officers shall be elected by ballot. Clerks, assessors, treasurers and collectors shall be elected by ballot, and shall be sworn. Other officers may be elected in such manner as the society determines.
Chapter 67: Section 9. Powers of moderator Section 9. The moderator shall have like powers with the moderator of a town meeting; and whoever is guilty of disorderly behavior at a meeting of a religious society shall be subject to the penalties provided for like offences in town meetings.
Section 1. The deacons, wardens or similar officers of churches or religious societies, and the trustees of the United Methodist churches, appointed according to the discipline and usages thereof, shall, if residents of the commonwealth, be deemed bodies corporate for the purpose of taking and holding in succession all gifts, grants, bequests and devises of real or personal property, made either to them and their successors, or to their respective churches, if unincorporated, or to the poor of their churches.
Quakers as corporation Section 10. The overseers or trustees of each monthly meeting of the people called Friends, or Quakers, shall be a body corporate for the purpose of taking and holding in succession gifts and grants of real or personal property made to the use of such meeting or to the use of any preparative meeting belonging thereto; and they may manage or convey such property according to the terms and conditions of such gifts and grants, and may prosecute or defend any action relative to the same; but the income thereof to any one of such meetings for the uses aforesaid shall not exceed five thousand dollars a year. Such corporation may hold funds in trust and apply the income thereof to the improvement or embellishment of any cemetery owned or controlled by it or to the care, preservation or embellishment of any lot or its appurtenances.
trustees; powers and duties Section 11. Such monthly meeting may appoint, in such manner and for such time as it may determine, three members of any preparative meeting which belongs to it or forms a part thereof to act as a board of trustees. Such trustees and their successors shall be a body corporate for the purpose of taking, holding managing or conveying any real estate which may be owned or acquired by such preparative meeting or granted to the use of said meeting, and, upon their appointment, the power of the overseers of such monthly meeting to receive, hold or manage any real estate for the use of such preparative meeting shall cease, and they shall convey to said trustees any real estate the legal title to which is vested in them as the body corporate in trust for such preparative meeting to be held by said trustees upon the same trusts. The trustees may manage and convey any real estate held by them upon the same terms and conditions upon which it was granted and may prosecute or defend any action relative thereto, but they shall not convey it without the written consent of the preparative meeting, granted as the decision of said meeting. The income of real estate so held by them in trust and the income of any gifts of personal estate which may be held by overseers for the same preparative meeting under the preceding section shall not, in all, exceed five thousand dollars a year.
Section 12. Unincorporated religious societies shall have like power as incorporated societies to manage, use and employ, according to its terms and conditions, any gift or grant made to them; they may elect trustees, agents or other officers therefor, and may sue for any right which may vest in them in consequence of such gift or grant; for which purposes they shall be corporations.
Section 13. All trustees, whether incorporated or not, who hold funds given or bequeathed to a town for a charitable, religious or educational purpose shall make an annual exhibit of the condition thereof to the aldermen of the city, or to the selectmen of the town to which such funds have been given or bequeathed; and the records of all transactions by the trustees relative to such funds shall be open to inspection by the board to which such exhibit is to be made.
Section 14. The probate court for the county where a town is situated, to which funds have been so given or bequeathed, may, upon the petition of five persons, cite all parties interested to appear before it to answer all complaints which may then and there be made; and if a trustee neglects or refuses to render such annual exhibit, or is incapable of discharging the trust reposed in him, or unsuitable to manage the affairs of the same, the court may remove him and fill the vacancy.
charitable purposes on public ways Section 16. Every person, association or corporation, domestic or foreign, soliciting or collecting by agents or solicitors, upon ways or in any other public places within the commonwealth to which the public have a right of access, contributions of money for charitable purposes or represented to be for such purposes, or receiving any money so collected, shall keep a full and true record of the names and addresses of all such solicitors and collectors and of the amounts so collected by each, and also such a record of all expenditures and disbursements of said money, and the names and addresses of all persons to whom expended or disbursed. Said records shall include money received from any other source and expended for the purposes of such solicitation or collection. All records required hereunder shall be open to inspection at all times by the attorney general, and upon demand shall be presented to him for inspection. Upon an information in equity brought by the attorney general the supreme judicial or superior court may enforce the provisions of this section and may restrain the soliciting of contributions by or on behalf of a person, association or corporation violating its provisions.
Section 18. When used in this section, and in sections nineteen to thirty-five, inclusive, the following terms shall have the following meanings:—“Charitable”, including but not limited to benevolent, educational, philanthropic, humane, patriotic, scientific, literary, religious, eleemosynary, health, safety or welfare-related, or in furtherance of governmental or civic objectives, and benefiting the general public or some indefinite class thereof;“Charitable organization”, any person whose purposes or actual operation are charitable in nature or one holding himself out to be a charitable organization in whole or in part, including any person who in any manner employs a charitable appeal as the basis of any solicitation or an appeal which could be reasonably interpreted to suggest that there is a charitable purpose to any such solicitation;“Commercial co-venturer”, any person who for profit or other commercial consideration, conducts, produces, promotes, underwrites, arranges or sponsors a performance, event, or sale to the public of a good or service which is advertised in conjunction with the name of any charitable organization or as benefiting to any extent any charitable purpose. Any such person who will benefit in good will only shall not be deemed a commercial co-venturer if the collection and distribution of the proceeds of the performance, event or sale are supervised and controlled by the benefiting charitable organization;“Contributions”, the promise or grant of any money, property, credit, financial assistance, sponsorship or anything of value including the payment or promise to pay in consideration of a performance, event or sale of a good or service by a charitable organization or a commercial co-venturer. Payments by members of a charitable organization for membership fees, dues, fines or assessments or for services rendered to individual members, if such fees, dues, fines or assessments confer a bona fide right, privilege, professional standing, honor or other direct benefit, shall not be deemed contributions;“Director”, the director of the division of public charities in the department of the attorney general;“Division”, the division of public charities in the department of the attorney general;“Parent organization”, that part of a charitable organization which co-ordinates, supervises or exercises control over policy, fund-raising and expenditures; or assists or advises one or more chapters, branches or affiliates in this commonwealth;“Person”, any individual, organization, trust, foundation, group, association, partnership, corporation, society or any combination of them;“Professional fund-raising counsel”, any person who is retained for a financial or other consideration by a charitable organization to plan, conduct, manage, carry on, advise or act as a consultant whether directly or indirectly in connection with the solicitation of contributions in this commonwealth for or on behalf of any charitable organization but who actually solicits no contributions and has neither custody nor control of contributions as part of such services. A bona fide salaried officer or regular, nontemporary employee of a charitable organization maintaining a permanent establishment within the commonwealth shall not be deemed to be a professional fund-raising counsel;“Professional solicitor”, any person who is retained for a financial or other consideration by a charitable organization to solicit in this commonwealth contributions for charitable purposes directly or in the form of payment for goods or services, whether such solicitation is done individually or through other persons under the direction of the professional solicitor. A person who otherwise is a professional fund-raising counsel shall be deemed a professional solicitor if at any time he has custody or control of contributions. A bona fide salaried officer or regular, nontemporary employee of a charitable organization maintaining a permanent establishment within the commonwealth shall not be deemed to be a professional solicitor. No attorney, investment counselor or banker who advises an individual corporation or association to make a charitable contribution shall be deemed, as the result of such advice, to be a professional fund-raising counsel or a professional solicitor;“Solicit” or “solicitation”, any direct or indirect request for a contribution on the representation that such contribution will be used in whole or in part for a charitable purpose, including but not limited to:(1) any oral request that is made in person, by telephone, radio or television or other advertising or communications media;(2) any written or otherwise recorded or published request that is mailed, sent, delivered, circulated, distributed, posted in a public place, or advertised or communicated by press, telegraph, television or other media;(3) any sale of, offer or attempt to sell, any advertisement, advertising space, sponsorship, book, card, chance, coupon, device, food, magazine, merchandise, newspaper, subscription, ticket or other service or tangible good, thing or item of value; or(4) any announcement requesting the public to attend an appeal, assemblage, athletic or competitive event, carnival, circus, concert, contest, dance, entertainment, exhibition, exposition, game, lecture, meal, party, show, social gathering or other performance or event of any kind.
of statement; contents Section 19. Every charitable organization, except one granted an exemption under the provisions of section twenty, which intends to solicit contributions from persons within the commonwealth or have contributions solicited on its behalf by other charitable organizations, commercial co-venturers, or professional solicitors shall, prior to any such solicitation, file an annual registration statement with the division upon prescribed forms, which shall be refiled in the next and each following year in which such charitable organization is engaged in solicitation activities; provided, that the provisions of this chapter have been complied with, the director of the division shall issue a certificate of registration to a charitable organization within ten days of receipt of the registration statement. No charitable organization required to be registered under this section shall solicit funds without a valid certificate of registration. The president, chairman or principal officer of such charitable organization shall file the statements required under sections eighteen to thirty-five, inclusive. Such statements shall be sworn to and shall contain the following information: (1) The name of the organization and the purpose for which it was organized; (2) the address of the organization and the address of any offices in this commonwealth or, if the organization does not maintain an office, the name and address of the person having custody of its financial records; (3) the place where and the date when the organization was legally established, the form of its organization and its tax exempt status for federal income tax purposes; (4) the names and the addresses of the officers, directors and trustees and the principal salaried executive staff officers; (5) a copy of the annual financial report for the organization’s immediate preceding fiscal year as required under section eight F of chapter twelve; (6) whether the organization intends to solicit contributions from the public; (7) whether the organization is authorized by any other governmental authority to solicit contributions and whether it is or has ever been enjoined by any court from soliciting contributions; (8) the charitable purpose or purposes for which the contributions to be solicited shall be used; (9) the name or names under which it intends to solicit contributions; (10) the names of the individuals or officers of the organization who shall have final responsibility for the custody of the contributions; (11) the names of the individuals or officers of the organization responsible for the final distribution of the contributions. The registration forms and any other documents prescribed by the division shall be signed by any two authorized officers, including the chief fiscal officer, of the charitable organization and shall be verified under oath. Every charitable organization which will be soliciting funds before its first annual financial report is due under section eight F of chapter twelve, except an organization granted an exemption under section twenty, shall pay to the division a registration fee of fifty dollars before soliciting funds. Every charitable organization having one or more chapters, branches or affiliates in this commonwealth and filing on behalf of such chapter, branches or affiliates shall pay a single registration fee.
officials Section 2. When the ministers, elders or vestry of a church are joined in the gifts, grants, bequests or devises mentioned in the preceding section, as donees or grantees with the deacons, wardens or trustees, such officers and their successors, with the deacons, wardens or trustees, shall be deemed the corporation for the purposes mentioned in said section.
Section 20. The following shall not be required to file registration statements with the division or to have a certificate of registration under section nineteen: (1) any religious corporation, trust, foundation, association or organization incorporated or established for religious purposes, nor any agency or organization incorporated or established for charitable, purposes and engaged in effectuating one or more of such purposes, which is affiliated with, operated by, or supervised or controlled by a corporation sole or other religious corporation, trust, foundation, association, or organization incorporated or established for religious purposes, nor any other religious agency or organization which serves religion by the preservation of religious rights and freedom from persecution or prejudice or by fostering religion, including the moral and ethical aspects of a particular religious faith; (2) charitable organizations which do not actually raise or receive contributions from the public in excess of five thousand dollars during a calendar year or do not receive contributions from more than ten persons during a calendar year, if all of their functions, including fund-raising activities, are carried on by persons who are unpaid for their services and if no part of their assets or income inures to the benefit of, or is paid to any officer or member; provided, however, that if the contributions raised from the public, whether or not all is received by any charitable organization during any calendar year, is in excess of five thousand dollars, it shall within thirty days after the date it shall have received total contributions in excess of five thousand dollars, register with and report to the division as required by section nineteen.
Section 21. (a) No professional solicitor or commercial co-venturer or their agents, servants or employees, including agents, servants or employees assigned to work under the direction of a professional solicitor or commercial co-venturer, shall receive compensation which in the aggregate amounts to a total in excess of twenty-five per cent of the total moneys, pledges or other property raised or received by reason of any solicitation activities or campaigns, including reimbursement for all expenses incurred in the solicitation. (b) For purposes of this section, the total moneys, funds, pledges or other property raised or received shall be adjusted by first deducting therefrom the actual cost, not to exceed fair market value, to the charitable organization or professional solicitor or commercial co-venturer of performances, events or goods sold to the public.
Section 22. (a) Every contract or agreement between a professional fund-raising counsel or a commercial co-venturer or a professional solicitor and a charitable organization required to have a certificate of registration pursuant to section nineteen shall be in writing, signed by two officers of the charitable organization, and filed with the director of the division within ten days after such contract or agreement is entered into. No solicitation shall be conducted prior to the filing of such contract or agreement. (b) Every contract or agreement between a professional solicitor or a commercial co-venturer and a charitable organization shall include: (1) a statement of the charitable purposes to be described in the solicitation; and (2) a statement of the guaranteed minimum percentage of the gross receipts from fund-raising which will be utilized exclusively for the charitable purposes described in the solicitation.
percentage utilized for charitable purposes Section 23. (a) All solicitations by professional solicitors and all solicitations by commercial co-venturers shall contain, at the time of solicitation, the following disclosures: (1) the name, address and telephone number of the charitable organization and a description of how the contributions raised by the solicitation will be utilized for charitable purposes, or if there is no charitable organization, the name, address and telephone number of the professional solicitor or commercial co-venturer and a description of how the contributions raised by the solicitation will be utilized for charitable purposes; (2) the statement that the solicitation is being conducted by a “paid fund-raiser”; (3) the guaranteed minimum percentage of the gross receipts from fund-raising that will be utilized exclusively for the charitable purposes described in the solicitation; and such other disclosures as required by relevant rules and regulations promulgated under section twenty-nine. If the solicitation is for advertising, the disclosure shall also include the geographic distribution and the circulation of the publication in which the advertising will appear. (b) For purposes of this section, the guaranteed minimum percentage required to be disclosed by clause (3) of subsection (a) shall be the percentage stated in the contract or written agreement between the professional solicitor or commercial co-venturer and the charitable organization.
counsel, commercial co-venturer, or professional solicitor; annual financial report Section 24. (a) No person shall act as a professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor for a charitable organization required to have a certificate of registration pursuant to the provisions of section nineteen, unless first having registered with the division. Applications for such registration shall be in writing under oath in the form prescribed by the division and shall contain such information as the division may require. The application for registration by a professional solicitor, professional fund-raising counsel or commercial co-venturer shall be accompanied by an annual fee as follows: (a) professional solicitor, three hundred dollars; (b) professional fund-raising counsel, two hundred dollars; (c) commercial co-venturer, fifty dollars. A partnership or corporation which is a professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor may register for and pay a single fee on behalf of all its members, officers, agents and employees. (b) Commercial co-venturers and professional solicitors shall, at the time of making application, file with and have approved by the division a bond in which the applicant shall be the principal obligor in the sum of ten thousand dollars with one or more sureties satisfactory to the division whose liability in the aggregate shall at least equal said sum. Said bond shall run to the division for the use of the commonwealth and to any charitable organization which may have a cause of action against the obligor of said bond for any malfeasance or misfeasance in the conduct of solicitation activities. A partnership or corporation which is a commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor may file a consolidated bond on behalf of all its members, officers and employees. The aggregate liability of the surety for all breaches of the conditions of the bond shall, in no event, exceed the sum of said bond. (c) For each calendar year, commercial co-venturers and professional solicitors shall file with the division on a form prescribed by the division a financial report stating, for each contract or agreement with a charitable organization, the name of the charitable organization, the gross receipts collected pursuant to that contract or agreement, the amounts paid to the charitable organization to be utilized exclusively for the charitable purposes described in the solicitation, the amounts paid to the commercial co-venturer and the professional solicitor; all additional expenses not otherwise stated; and such other information as the director may require. This report shall be co-signed by representatives of the charitable organizations for whom solicitation was conducted. (d) Each completed registration shall be valid for a period of one calendar year or a part thereof and may be renewed for additional one-year periods upon written application under oath in the form prescribed by the division and containing such information as it may require, the filing of all contracts or agreements as required by section twenty-two, the bond, where applicable, and the fee prescribed by this section.
Section 25. Registration statements, applications, reports, contracts or agreements of professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturers and professional solicitors, and all other documents and information required to be filed under sections eighteen to thirty-five, inclusive, or by the division, shall be public records in the office of the division and shall be open to the general public for inspection at such times as the division may prescribe.
Section 26. Every professional fund raising counsel, commercial co-venturer, professional solicitor, and charitable organization required to have a certificate of registration under section nineteen, shall, in accordance with the rules and regulations prescribed by the division, keep true fiscal records as to such activities within the commonwealth as may be covered by sections eighteen to thirty-five, inclusive, in such form as will enable them accurately to provide the information required by said sections. Upon demand such records shall be made available to the division for inspection. Such records shall be retained for a period of at least three years after the end of the period of registration to which they relate.
Section 27. The division may enter into reciprocal agreements with the appropriate authority of any other state or of the United States for the purpose of exchanging information with respect to charitable organizations, professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturers and professional solicitors. Pursuant to such agreements the division may accept information filed by a charitable organization with the appropriate authority of another state or of the United States in lieu of the information required to be filed by the charitable organization in accordance with the provisions of sections eighteen to thirty-five, inclusive, if such information is substantially similar to the information required under said sections.
Section 28. (a) No charitable organization, professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor subject to the provisions of sections eighteen to thirty-five, inclusive, shall use or exploit the fact of registration so as to lead the public to believe that such registration in any manner constitutes an endorsement or approval by the commonwealth. (b) No person shall, in connection with the solicitation of contributions for or the sale of goods or services of a person other than a charitable organization, misrepresent to or mislead any one by any manner, means, practice or device whatsoever to believe that the person on whose behalf such solicitation or sale is being conducted is a charitable organization or that the proceeds of such solicitation or sale will be used for charitable purposes if such is not the fact. (c) No person shall in connection with the solicitation of contributions or the sale of goods or services for charitable purposes represent to or lead any one by any manner, means, practice or device whatsoever to believe that any other person sponsors or endorses such solicitation of contributions, sale of goods or services for charitable purposes or approves of such charitable purposes or a charitable organization connected therewith when such other person has not given consent to the use of his name for these purposes. Any member of a board of directors or trustees of a charitable organization or any other person who has agreed either to serve or to participate in any voluntary capacity in the campaign shall be deemed thereby to have given his consent to the use of his name in connection with the progress of such campaign. (d) No person shall make any representation that he is soliciting contributions for or on behalf of a charitable organization or shall use or display any emblem, device or printed matter belonging to or associated with a charitable organization for the purpose of soliciting or inducing the contribution of funds from the public without first being authorized to do so by the charitable organization. (e) No commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor shall solicit in the name of or on behalf of any charitable organization unless he has in his possession the written authorization of two officers of such organization, a copy of which shall be filed with the division, and exhibits such written authorization on request to any person solicited, to any police officer or to any agent of the division. Such authorization shall bear the signature of the solicitor and shall state on its face the period for which it is valid, which shall not exceed one year from the date issued.
Section 29. The director shall from time to time formulate such reasonable rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of sections eighteen to thirty-five, inclusive.
rules and regulations Section 3. Incorporated and unincorporated religious societies and churches may appoint trustees, not exceeding five, to hold and manage trust funds for their benefit, who shall hold their offices for three years and until others are appointed in their stead. At or before the time of the first appointment of such trustees, the society may establish regulations for their government, which shall not be subject to alteration or amendment except by consent of all the trustees then in office and by a two thirds vote of the church or society interested therein. Any funds held by the bodies corporate mentioned in the two preceding sections may be transferred to said trustees to be held in trust in like manner by them.
Section 30. (a) The attorney general, whenever he believes a person has violated the provisions of sections nineteen to thirty-five, inclusive, or has filed any application required under said sections which contains false or misleading information, may conduct an investigation to determine whether in fact such person is in violation of said provisions, or has filed any false or misleading information. In conducting such investigation the attorney general may: (1) take testimony under oath; (2) examine or cause to be examined any documentary material of whatever nature relevant to such alleged violations or false or misleading information; and (3) require attendance during such examination of documentary material of any person having knowledge of the documentary material and take testimony under oath or acknowledgement in respect of any such documentary material. Such testimony and examination shall take place in the county where such person resides or has a place of business or, if the parties consent or such person is a non-resident or has no place of business within the commonwealth, in Suffolk county.
(b) Notice of the time, place and cause of such taking of testimony, examination or attendance shall be given by the attorney general at least ten days prior to the date of such taking of testimony or examination.
(c) Service of any such notice may be made by (1) delivering a duly executed copy thereof to the person to be served or to a partner or to any officer or agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process on behalf of such person; (2) delivering a duly executed copy thereof to the principal place of business in the commonwealth of the person to be served; or (3) mailing by registered or certified mail a duly executed copy thereof addressed to the person to be served at the principal place of business in the commonwealth or, if said person has no place of business in the commonwealth, to his principal office or place of business.
(d) Each such notice shall: (1) state the time and place for the taking of testimony or the examination and the name and address of each person to be examined. if known, and, if the name is not known, a general description sufficient to identify him or the particular class or group to which he belongs; (2) state the statute and section thereof, if any, of the alleged violation which is under investigation and state the general subject matter of the investigation; (3) describe the class or classes of documentary material to be produced thereunder with reasonable specificity, so as fairly to indicate the material demanded; (4) prescribe a return date within which the documentary material is to be produced; and (5) identify the members of the attorney general’s staff to whom such documentary material is to be made available for inspection and copying.
(e) No such notice shall contain any requirement which would be unreasonable or improper if contained in a subpoena duces tecum issued by a court of the commonwealth; or require the disclosure of any documentary material which would be privileged or which for any other reason would not be required by a subpoena duces tecum issued by a court of the commonwealth.
(f) Any documentary material or other information produced by any person pursuant to this section shall not, unless otherwise ordered by a court of the commonwealth for good cause shown, be disclosed to any person other than the authorized agent or representative of the attorney general, unless with the consent of the person producing the same.
(g) The superior court for the county of Suffolk or for any county in which any person served in accordance with the section resides or has his usual place of business may, at any time prior to the date specified in the notice, or within twenty-one days after the notice has been served, whichever period is shorter, upon motion for good cause shown, extend such reporting date or modify or set aside the notice provided for in this section.
This section shall not be applicable to any criminal proceeding, nor shall information obtained under the authority of this section be admissible in evidence in any criminal prosecution for substantially identical transactions.
process Section 31. Any charitable organization or professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor having its principal place of business without the commonwealth or organized under and by virtue of the laws of a foreign state which solicits contributions from people in the commonwealth, subject to sections nineteen to thirty-five, inclusive, shall be subject to the provisions of said sections, and shall be deemed to have irrevocably appointed the state secretary as its agent upon whom may be served any summons, subpoena duces tecum or other process directed to such charitable organization or any partner, principal officer or director thereof, professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor in any action or proceeding brought under the provisions of said sections. Service of such process upon the state secretary shall be made by personally delivering to and leaving with him a copy thereof at the office of said secretary in Boston and such service shall be sufficient service; provided notice of such service and a copy of such process shall be forthwith sent by said secretary to such charitable organization or professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor by registered mail, with return receipt requested at its or his office as set forth in the registration form required to be filed in the division pursuant to sections nineteen and twenty-four, or in default of the filing of such form, at the last address known to said secretary.
penalties; injunctions Section 32. (a) If any registered charitable organization, professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor fails to file any registration application or statement, annual report or other information required to be filed by the division under sections eighteen to thirty-five, inclusive, the division may notify the delinquent charitable organization, professional fund-raising counsel or professional solicitor by mailing a notice by registered mail to its last known address. If the required registration application or statement, annual report or other information is not filed within two weeks after the formal notification of receipt of such notice, the division may cancel or suspend the registration of such delinquent charitable organization, professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor.
(b) If as the result of an investigation the division finds that any information contained in any application required under sections eighteen to thirty-five, inclusive, is false or misleading or that a registrant under said sections has violated said sections, it may, subject to the provisions of section thirteen of chapter thirty A of the General Laws, suspend or cancel the registration and revoke the certificate of registration.
(c) The registration of any charitable organization, professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor which or who knowingly makes a false statement in any registration application or statement, annual report or other information required to be filed by the division or sections eighteen to thirty-five, inclusive, may, subject to the provisions of section thirteen of chapter thirty A of the General Laws, be revoked by the division.
(d) Any person who knowingly violates any provision of sections nineteen to thirty-five, inclusive, or who willfully and knowingly gives false or incorrect information to the division in filing statements or reports required by said sections, whether such report or statement is verified or not, may be fined not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.
(e) Whenever the attorney general or any district attorney has reason to believe that any charitable organization, professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor is operating in violation of the provisions of sections eighteen to thirty-five, inclusive, or has knowingly and willfully made any false statement in any registration application or statement, report or other information required to be filed under said sections, or whenever a charitable organization has failed to file a registration statement required under said sections, or whenever there is employed or is about to be employed in any solicitation or collection of contributions for a charitable organization any unfair or deceptive acts or practices, as defined by chapter ninety-three A, or any device, scheme or artifice to defraud or to obtain money or property by means of any false pretense, representation or promise, or whenever any of the principal officers of any charitable organization have refused or failed after notice to produce any records of such organization, in addition to all other actions authorized by law, the attorney general or district attorney may bring an action in the name of the commonwealth against such charitable organization and its officers, such professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor or any other person who has violated said sections or who has participated or is about to participate in any solicitation or collection by employing any unfair or deceptive acts or practices, as defined by said chapter ninety-three A, or any device, scheme, artifice, false representation or promise, to defraud or obtain money or other property, to enjoin such charitable organization or professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor or other person from continuing such violation, solicitation or collection or engaging therein or doing any acts in furtherance thereof and for such other relief as to the court seems appropriate.
Section 33. Every person soliciting, collecting or expending, for charitable purposes, contributions from the public, and every officer and employee of any such person concerned with the solicitation, collection or expenditure of such funds, shall be deemed to be a fiduciary and acting in a fiduciary capacity.
membership; investments Section 34. Any organization organized under the laws of the commonwealth, if eligible for membership, may become a member of The Common Fund for Nonprofit Organizations, a New York nonprofit membership corporation authorized under section eight E of chapter twelve to operate in the commonwealth and organized to aid and strengthen such corporations, community chests, funds and foundations as are organized and operated exclusively for nonproprietary and nonprofit-making purposes and otherwise eligible for membership by providing means for the investment of their funds in shares or interests in one or more common funds. Any such organization may, either as fiduciary or otherwise, and in addition to any other lawful investment, invest any part or all of the funds which it holds for investment in shares or interests in a common fund or funds established by The Common Fund for Nonprofit Organizations; provided, however, that in the case of funds held as fiduciary, such investment is not prohibited by the language of the will, deed or other instrument creating the fiduciary relationship.
fine Section 35. Any person who solicits contributions from the public by door-to-door visitation or in person for any charitable, civic or political cause or purpose, and who receives for such solicitation a wage, salary, percentage of the donations received, or other contractual remuneration or thing of value, but not to include reimbursements for expenses incurred in soliciting, shall inform each person so solicited that the solicitation is a paid solicitation. Such information shall be so provided in writing or in the form of a clearly displayed badge or sign bearing the words “Paid Solicitor”. Any person who violates this section shall be punished by a fine of one hundred dollars for each such violation.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to the finance chairman, accountant, treasurer or auditor of any organization, trust committee, foundation, group, association, partnership, corporation, society, or any combination thereof; provided, however, that such financial officer is not directly soliciting; nor shall such provisions apply to any ordained clergyman, minister, priest, rabbi, officer or any duly authorized member of any religious order or any other tax exempt religious organization.
Section 4. Churches or religious societies may appoint trustees, not exceeding five, who shall with their successors be a body corporate, for the purposes mentioned in section one, and shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter applicable thereto.
Section 5. The minister of a church or religious society, if a citizen of the commonwealth, shall be capable of taking in succession any parsonage land granted to the minister and his successors, or to the use of the ministers, or granted by words of like import, and may prosecute or defend any action relative to such land.
Section 6. No conveyance of the land of a church shall be effectual to pass the same, if made by the deacons without the consent of the church or of a committee of the church appointed for that purpose, or if made by the wardens without the consent of the vestry, or if made by the trustees of the United Methodist Church without the consent of the charge conference.
Section 7. No conveyance by a minister of land held by him in succession shall be valid longer than he continues to be such minister, unless made with the consent of the religious society of which he is minister, or unless he is the minister of an Episcopal church and makes the conveyance with the consent of the vestry.
Section 8. The several churches, other than those of the Episcopal denomination, may choose committees to settle the accounts of the deacons and other church officers, and, if necessary, to prosecute suits in the name of the church against them relative to the same.
Chapter 68A: Section 1. Prohibited acts of trusts Section 1. In the administration of any trust which is a “private foundation”, as defined in section 509 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, or a “split-interest trust” as defined in section 4947(a)(2) of said Code, the following acts shall be prohibited:(a) engaging in any act of “self-dealing” (as defined in section 4941(d) of said Code, which would give rise to any liability for the tax imposed by section 4941(a) of said Code;(b) retaining any “excess business holdings” (as defined in section 4943(c) of said Code) which would give rise to any liability for the tax imposed by section 4943(a) of said Code;(c) making any investments which would jeopardize the carrying out of any of the exempt purposes of the trust, within the meaning of section 4944 of said Code, so as to give rise to any liability for the tax imposed by section 4944(a) of said Code; and(d) making any “taxable expenditures” (as defined in section 4945(d) of said Code) which would give rise to any liability for the tax imposed by section 4945(a) of said Code; provided, however, that this section shall not apply either to those split-interest trusts or to amounts thereof which are not subject to the prohibitions applicable to private foundations by reason of the provisions of section 4947 of said Code.
Chapter 68A: Section 2. Distributions of trusts Section 2. In the administration of any trust which is a “private foundation” as defined in section 509 of said Code, or which is a “charitable trust” as defined in section 4947(a)(1) of said Code, there shall be distributed, for the purposes specified in the trust instrument, for each taxable year, amounts at least sufficient to avoid liability for the tax imposed by section 4942(a) of said Code.
Chapter 68A: Section 3. Application of sections one and two Section 3. The provisions of sections one and two shall not apply to any trust to the extent that a court of competent jurisdiction shall determine that such application would be contrary to the terms of the instrument governing such trust and that the same may not properly be changed to conform to such sections.
Chapter 68A: Section 4. Prohibited acts of corporations Section 4. No corporation which is a “private foundation” as defined in section 509 of said Code, shall(a) engage in any act of “self-dealing” (as defined in section 4941(d) of said Code), which would give rise to any liability for the tax imposed by section 4941(a) of said Code;(b) retain any “excess business holdings” (as defined in section 4943(c) of said Code), which would give rise to any liability for the tax imposed by section 4943(a) of said Code;(c) make any investment which would jeopardize the carrying out of any of its exempt purposes, within the meaning of section 4944 of said Code, so as to give rise to any liability for the tax imposed by section 4944(a) of said Code; or(d) make any “taxable expenditures” (as defined in section 4945(d) of said Code) which would give rise to any liability for the tax imposed by section 4945(a) of said Code.
Chapter 68A: Section 5. Distributions of corporations Section 5. Each corporation which is a “private foundation” as defined in section 509 of said Code shall distribute, for the purposes specified in its articles of organization, for each taxable year, amounts at least sufficient to avoid liability for the tax imposed by section 4942(a) of said Code.
Chapter 68A: Section 6. Application of sections four and five Section 6. The provisions of sections four and five shall not apply to any corporation to the extent that a court of competent jurisdiction shall determine that such application would be contrary to the terms of the articles of organization or other instrument governing such corporation or governing the administration of charitable funds held by it and that the same may not properly be changed to conform to such sections.
Chapter 68A: Section 7. Rights and powers of courts and attorney general unimpaired Section 7. Nothing in this chapter shall impair the rights and powers of the courts or the attorney general of the commonwealth with respect to any trust or corporation.
Chapter 68A: Section 8. References to Internal Revenue Code Section 8. All references in this chapter to sections of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 shall include future amendments to such sections and corresponding provisions of future Internal Revenue laws.
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