Founding a youth NGO in Germany can be an incredibly rewarding way to influence others positively. Nevertheless, one has to follow specific regulations dealing with legal and organisation procedures. Here are some quick and effective ways to do that.
This blog post created for “Youth Participation for Developing Sustainable Green Cities (2022-1-DE04-KA220-YOU-000085135)” EU-Founded project. Where the coordinator is L4Y, and the partners are, CIP, Walktogether, Kean, KKKE, TOG. You can read more blog posts about the project in these categories (r1, r2, and r3).
Define Your Aim and Goals for a Youth NGO in Germany
This being it you ought to be specific on why your NGO was created in the first place, what are the goals and objectives of the organisation. Your mission statement should reflect what your organisation will do — be it empowering youth, educating individuals, or protecting the environment. Equally important is targeting a certain group of people that you want to observe and, for example, these could be students, migrants or socially excluded youth. List your purpose and your NGOs’ primary activities like workshops, mentorship programs or community participation action projects.
Forming a Founding Group for Your Youth NGO
A registered association (Verein) is formed by at least seven founding members. These individuals will help to legitimise the organisation, so you should choose wisely with people who believe in your vision and goals for the NGO. In formation, it is also important that roles are selected and assigned among the founding members, like the Chairperson, secretary, and treasurer, to make sure the organisation functions properly from its inception.
Choose a Legal Form
Choose the right legal form for an NGO in Germany. Most NGOs are an e.V. (Eingetragener Verein – registered association and law person, tax exempt). If you expect that a more structured and larger organisation would be useful to you, then incorporating as a non-profit limited liability gGmbH is probably the way to go. Please take the time to seek advice from a lawyer regarding which legal form best serves your NGO’s long-term plans.
Articles of Association (Satzung)
Creating a Satzung, an Articles of Association is very essential to make your NGO legal. This document should indicate the name and address of your NGO, state your objectives and goals as an NGO, what type of members make up you membership, the governing structure within the organisation like. Board and General Assembly roles. Additionally, the Satzung must adhere to German non-profit legislation and conform with the concept of Gemeinnützigkeit (meaning public benefit) in order for our Verein to qualify for tax exemptions. These can help govern regular decision-making, meetings (quorum and other requirements), voting, as well as amending or dissolving the NGO.
Conduct a foundation (Gründungsversammlung)
Once the Satzung is drafted, the next thing to do is to have a founding meeting (Gründungsversammlung) in which the Articles of Association are adopted, and a resolution on appointing the Board of Directors. Attention should be paid to keeping records of these meeting minutes, as they are necessary for later registration. In this meeting make sure all founding members know their roles and what liability or laws are involved with the NGO.
Registering a Youth NGO in Germany
The formalisation of the e.V. can only take place by submitting all the necessary documents to the local court (Amtsgericht). This usually involves the provision of their Satzung, founding meeting minutes and board members names and addresses. Moreover you have to file an application for entry in the Vereinsregister (register of associations) as well. The registration normally costs between €50 and €100, which means it is quite a cheap aspect of the establishment process.
Tax Registration
Obtaining tax-exempt status is obligatory for non-profits in Germany. Once registered you can apply for non-profit status (Gemeinnützigkeit) with the tax office (Finanzamt). The organisation also needs to submit the Satzung, an application for tax exemption status and a description of activities. This will allow you to obtain a determination letter in this regard, receive the tax number and exemption certificate needed for donations from the NGO corporation as well as benefit of various types of merit-tax (if applicable).
Opening a Bank Account for Your Youth NGO
Once your NGO is registered and conforms to tax law, you must open a bank account in the name of the NGO. You will need to submit a copy of the registration certificate imposed by Court, Satzung and ID of Board members to the bank for this. Manage and Keep It Transparent, a dedicated bank account is necessary
Capital Raising and Financial Model
Successful NGO is one that fund raises. There are so many ways to fund and NGO in Germany for youth and social engagements by both the public as well as the private sector. Apart from getting grants and donations you can also use membership fees as a source of revenue. You can get non-profit status only if you are able to furnish annual financial reports that prove your income and expenses, so do not slack when it comes to maintaining records of the activities within the NGO.
Formulating a Communication and Outreach Strategy
Good communication is key to connecting with your target group and larger community. The first step would be creating a website to present your NGO’s objectives, activities and successes. Any platform like Instagram or TikTok are places that people are going to be able to hear you, so long as they are reaching the youth. As much as possible, it would be best to plan in collaboration with a range of other NGOs, either locally (like five villages join hands to deliver sport for health interventions) or nationally/internationally too.
Recruit Volunteers and Staff
NGOs obtain the maximum support from volunteers. Create a recruitment programme detailing tasks and training-related to potential volunteer positions. If your NGO expands, you might as well need to employ workers. Make sure all employment contracts are in accordance with German labour laws, social security contributions.
Organising Your First Event as a Youth NGO
Among the top strategies to kickstart an NGO is by way of an event or group project, and in line with your objectives. You can garner awareness and support through a youth workshop, mentor programme or community initiative. If you’re having trouble with funding, either apply for some grant in your community. Or see if businesses or local organisations want to sponsor the event.
Follow Guidelines and Requirements For Reporting
After you establish your NGO, you have to file many reports. Depending on your NGO´s structure you have to send your reports yearly to the tax office and other relevant authorities. Make sure to keep donors and other stakeholders informed of what you are doing through newsletters, reports, events. Transparencies keeps them engaged.
Additional Tips
If you have any legal-related questions regarding founding an NGO in Germany? Partners recommended to seek advice from an attorney. Who has experience and background within non-profit law in Germany to avoid the pitfalls. It can be very useful to form part of umbrella organisations. Such as the German Federal Youth Council (Deutscher Bundesjugendring), that will also give you more credibility, resources and networking.
Youth NGO in Germany: Conclusion
In Conclusion, partners created this blog post for the GreenCities project’s youth-led NGOs. But feel free to use it if you would like to.
Project partners will always back you; if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.
Meanwhile, please follow the project’s social media channels.
