Society Trust Foundation

Trust in Bangladesh

Here at Satkhira Consulting Firm Ltd., we can help you register set up you trust. The details and procedure for opening a trust in Bangladesh is set below.

Trust can be preferred as an entity to do either social business or charity since it affords relatively greater flexibility in terms of status, registration and management. If there exists any legal clear purpose, then any person (natural/legal) can form trust through incorporating a trust deed. It can be created by any person competent to form a contract. The governing law is the Trust Act 1882 and the responsible authority is relevant sub registry office. The main document required to do Trust is trust deed - duly stamped including the intention of the author, the purpose, the beneficiary, the trust property, transfer of trust property to the trustee.

Key issues to consider
(i)
no requirement to take any permission from any authority for creating a trust, except registering the trust deed with the sub registry office
(ii)
it can be for fixed beneficiaries or discretionary in nature where the trustee will select beneficiaries of the trust
(iii)
trustee is legal owner of property; trustee must deal with the trust property “as carefully as a man of ordinary prudence would if it were his own.” S/he is personally liable for breach of trust; a trustee is bound to maintain clear accounts of the trust property
(iv)
trustee could get remuneration if clearly mentioned in the trust deed
(v)
trust property could be immovable or movable
(vi)
seeking to receive or use foreign donations must obtain approval, known as FD Registration, from the NGO Affairs Bureau (NGOAB)
(vii)
clear accounts must be maintained; beneficiary may obtain on request.

Society/foundation under The Societies Registration Act 1860:

Here at Satkhira Consulting Firm Ltd., we can help you register your Society/ Foundation. The detail and registration procedure for Society/ Foundation in Bangladesh is set out below.

You can choose to form society/foundation as your entity for doing social business or charity. In this Act, the scopes of charitable purpose include any charitable work the promotion of science, literature and fine arts; societies for the foundation and the maintenance of libraries, public museums and collections of natural history, mechanical inventions and philosophical enlightenment. A great majority of non-profit organisations in Bangladesh are formed and registered under this Act because of its wide scope and flexibility to permit a broad range of activities. This Act is silent whether foreigners could be a founding partner or not. From practical point of view, foreigners are prohibited from serving as founders in the society. The governing law is The Societies Registration Act, 1860 and the responsible authority is RJSC and Ministry of Home Affairs (for NSI clearance). The required documents to register as society include name clearance; memorandum of association; article of association and police clearance certificate by NSI.

Key issues to consider
(i)
a society is not a true legal person; it must sue or be sued in name of officers
(ii)
you need more than 7 founding/executive committee members
(iii)
the number of total members should be at least three times than the number of members in the executive committee
(iv)
seeking to receive or use foreign donations must obtain approval known as FD Registration from the NGOAB;
(v)
annual return must be submitted at RJSC
(vi)
may dissolved by vote of three-fifths of the member (if government involved with the permission of the government).

Please contact us for more details.

Association under The Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance, 1961:

Here at Satkhira Consulting Firm Ltd., we can help you register your Voluntary Social Welfare Agency. The details and registration procedure for set up of Voluntary Social Welfare Agency in Bangladesh is set out below.

This entity registration is most acceptable one when you are going to set up a charity organization and planning to receive government grants/any local donations in near future. You can set up this entity for any charitable purpose including children, youth, women welfare; welfare for the physically or mentally incapable persons; family welfare, activities for the entertainment of to protect people from the anti-social activities, social education or adult education to teach civic responsibilities; welfare and rehabilitation of the released prisoners; welfare for the adolescent criminals; welfare for the beggar or poor people; welfare for the socially incapable people; welfare an rehabilitation of the patients; welfare of the old and physically incapable persons; training for social welfare; coordination of the social welfare organizations. It does not cover charity for art, science, culture, environment. Foreigners are prohibited from serving as founders here. If you have plan to receive foreign donations, then you will need prior registration with the NGOAB. The governing law is The Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies (Registration and Control) Ordinance, 1961. The regulatory body is Social Welfare Department (SWD)/ Upazila Social Welfare Office under ministry of social welfare. The required documents include application form; constitution of the organization in Bangla; details of members, executive committee and other documents as it may require.

Key issues to consider
(i)
Social Welfare Department (SWD) plays both the role of establishment and regulatory/governance when the organization is locally established under it
(ii)
Most importantly, all organizations registered as society or trust or not for profit company, still need to be registered as NGO with SWD if they engage in activities defined in the scope of this Act and look forward to getting local funds
(iii)
SWD has broad discretion and control to suspend or dissolve an organization if it is involved in unlawful activities
(iv)
any entity registered with SWD can have bank account, can sue and be sued
(v)
must file annual reports and audited accounts at the end of every year with SWD.
(b)
law necessary to regulate such organization

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