7 steps to establish an organization:

1. Choice of a legal status

You must first of all choose the legal status of an organization depending on the intended activity i.e. whether your organization should be an association, a public establishment, or a charity and sponsorship fund.

Association is chosen when a large number of members or volunteers is anticipated, i.e. when a certain affinity group aiming for common goals wants to unite under a single umbrella. The association is also preferred when several organizations, i.e. legal persons, intend to pursue common goals.

Public establishments and charity and sponsorship funds are more closed, i.e. the role of their incorporators is significant - they take decisions or let the management to decide upon the activities, meanwhile the people active in an organization (workers or volunteers) are only to implement them. Public establishments and charity and sponsorship funds are similar today, however historically the funds used to be (and often are to this day) more oriented to distribution of certain assets or aid, while public establishments provide services and implement projects themselves.

There is a widespread notion that only public establishments may be engaged in commercial activities. This opinion is nevertheless unfounded: as a result of the amendments that came in force in 2004 all the aforementioned legal forms are allowed to be engaged in commercial activities provided it is in conformity with their purposes.

2. Incorporators

After the legal status is chosen, the required number of incorporators becomes clear: there should be no more than three incorporators of an association (all adult persons or organizations), meanwhile there may be the only incorporator of a public establishment or a charity and sponsorship fund (either natural or legal person).

3. Drafting of Articles of Association

The next step should be drafting of Articles of Association, i.e. you have to put on paper the activities, the membership and management structure of your organization as well as its name, registered office, etc. Articles of Association is like the fundamental "law" of the organization, like the "rules of the game" which have to be observed and respected once approved. The specific requirements for the Articles are detailed in the laws on associations, public establishments and charity and sponsorship funds.

The laws (in English) may be accessed at:

• Law on Associations
• Law on Public Establishments
• Law on Charity and Sponsorship Funds

The recommendations by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania (in Lithuanian) are very helpful when drawing Statutes on your own.

Statutes of association

Sample Articles of Association of charity and sponsorship fund

4. Statutory meeting

After the Articles of Association are ready, the Statutory Meeting is convened; the Articles are approved and the responsibilities at the onset of establishment are distributed: the president is appointed, the initial funding and the acceptance procedure of first members are established. During the meeting the minutes of the Statutory Meeting is drawn.

Draft Minutes of a Statutory Meeting (in Lithuanian)

This step may be omitted in case of a single incorporator.

5. Memorandum of Association /Decision of the Incorporator

All incorporators shall sign a Memorandum of Association. In case of a single incorporator, he shall pass his decision on the incorporation.

Sample Memorandum of Association (in Lithuanian)

6. Notarization

All three documents, i.e. the Articles of Association, Minutes of the Statutory Meeting, and the Memorandum of Association, have to be notarized. It should not be forgotten that the organization must have its registered office whose owner's approval of the registration of an organization in his premises (flat) has to be presented to the notary as well. If the intended registered office of your organization belongs to another legal person, e.g. an organization, company or municipality, the owner's consent of a free form has to be produced to the notary. In the even the organization is to be registered in a flat or other premises owned by a private individual, e.g. you yourself or your relatives, a person HIMSELF should have the consent notarized. Although the consent can be notarized with the incorporation of an organization at once, a separate notarization of the owner's consent at any other notary is also possible.

• General information about the documents to be produced to the notary (in Lithuanian)
• List of notary's offices in Lithuania
• Standard notary fees are approved by the order of the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania (in Lithuanian)

7. Registration in the Register of Legal Entities

As a final step, all the three notarized documents have to be registered in the Register of Legal Entities which shall issue the registration certificate of your organization; it is considered established from the day of issuance of the registration certificate. In order to do that you will have to fill in several forms of the Register of Legal Entities. The form JAR 1 has to be filled in any case (it may be accessed at the given link) while the other forms depend on the type of the organization being established and the governing bodies, their competence, etc. All the issues related to the filling in and registration of the forms may be consulted over the telephone 8 52688262 in Vilnius.

Registration charges of the incorporation documents (in Lithuanian).

Please note!!! The Statutory Meeting and registration of the data in the Registry of Legal Entities may be no more than six months apart, otherwise the decisions of the Meeting will cease power.