The vast majority of associations are born out of the will of one person or a small group of people who share the same interest in supporting a particular cause. In essence, associations seek to fill gaps where public support is lacking or does not yet exist.
The official and legal framework of a non-profit association allows us to make our work more transparent, can help us raise funds and communicate and market our cause.
The bureaucratic process of setting up a non-profit association In Portugal is fairly easy and can be done practically on the spot. There are standard templates for statutes on the internet and with the help of a lawyer we can draw up the deed of incorporation simply with the presence of two members. There is a minimum of nine members for the association's governing bodies, namely 3 for the General Assembly - the president, the secretary and the member of the General Assembly; 3 for the board of directors - again a president, a secretary and a member; and another 3 for the supervisory board - a president and two members. There are also models with eleven members for the governing bodies, in which case there are five members on the association's board.
It's important to think carefully about the mix of skills we need, to ensure that the people we invite to join our association's governing bodies can each make important and significant contributions to the development of our work, to overcoming difficulties or even to opening doors to future partnerships or financial support.
There is no limit on the number of members, nor are there any compulsory rules on membership fees or dues.
Once these bureaucratic steps have been taken, we just have to carry on doing what we were doing before: trying to establish partnerships, publicize our work, find public or private financial support and try to go further and further.
I see that four years after setting up the association I helped create, we've reached a point of reflection: our work is entirely voluntary and the volume of projects has increased - how can we sustain the growth? We have already resorted to paid legal help, as the pro-bono legal support of one of our members has rarely arrived on time. Since the first year of incorporation, we've also had fixed accounting costs, the creation and maintenance of the website and bank charges - I honestly don't think it's possible to do a good job without having some minimal fixed costs. In our case, we are fortunate to have members of the governing bodies who contribute with financial support to minimize these costs.
"four years after setting up the association I helped create, we've reached a point of reflection: our work is entirely voluntary and the volume of projects has increased - how can we sustain the growth?"
What has worried us most is the fear of becoming too immersed in the day-to-day running of the association, and the risk is great that we'll stop seeing the tree because there's so much forest around us. I see that it's always the same people who take part in all the meetings and who do the vast majority of the work...
The time has come for renewal and change, and we've realised the importance of having mandates for management and other positions. The rotation of responsibilities is fundamental, an association should never depend too much on a small group of people, at the risk of disappearing the day that group decides to no longer be part of the project!
It's not going to be a quick process of change, but the important thing is to start it. We've decided to create a strategic council that will help us think, and we even hope that some of the members of this council will join a new board in the future, as well as enriching the reflection and discussion at the association's general meetings. We're going to try to have a mixed group both in age and gender, we're going to look for people with different professional backgrounds, but we want to have members on this board who have the availability and time to join our cause.
"It's not going to be a quick process of change, but the important thing is to start it. We've decided to create a strategic council that will help us think"
I've noticed a large number of non-profit associations that are being run more and more professionally, seeking to integrate members from the private sector into their governing bodies. Twenty years ago, this mix between the social and private sectors hardly happened, and on the associations' side it was often rejected and labeled as negative. With the growing concern of companies with regard to social responsibility, I see enormous potential for finding help and partners for the management of associations that will make our day-to-day lives much easier!
