We filed an Article of Association with the IRS when we filed for non-profit status. It was totally acceptable to them. Here in CT, if you incorporate it costs you money; to file, annual fees..... Not the best answer.
If you'd like a copy of ours let me know and I'll email it to you. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Wether you need to incorporate or not depends again on the state inwhich you reside. The IRS does not require you to do so to be eligable for 501(c)(3) status unless your state so requires.
As to your organizing document, again what it is called depends upon what state you are in.
We used to have only Bylaws. But when we decided to incorporate our PTO, the paperwork we needed to fill out from the state was called Articles of Incorporation. Frankly, there was very little content in this standard fill-in-the-blank form from our state (Michigan). We just added some required language from the IRS (ex: dissolution, purpose, and assurance the money won't go to individuals) and our AOI was complete. All the "rules" of our PTO are contained in our Bylaws.
We incorporated to protect the personal assets of our officers - plus we were preparing to file for our 501c3 and we wanted to incorporate before we filed with the feds.
If you want to see the AOI for your state, you can try your state's website and search on "incorporation". Maybe that will help.
I understand that the term Articles of Association is your group's organizing document (same as a Constitution) if you are not incorporated. It gets confusing because many PTO's have bylaws already, which serve as both the group's organizing document ("Hey, this group exists!") and its policies. I suppose if we were starting from scratch, we might write some overall guidelines and parameters in the original Articles, and later the day-to-day policies would be adopted by the new group as their Bylaws.
One, what is the difference between Articles of Incorporation and Articles of Association? I'm just starting our 501 (c)(3) application and we need to have one or the other. It looks to me as though Articles of Incorporation are filed with the state, and maybe the Articles of Association aren't? And if not, is there a benefit to filing with the state?
Two, can anyone give me a sample of either of those (Incorporation or Association)? I've searched online and the ones I've found look just like our by-laws - I honestly don't see a difference. I don't know if the online ones I've found are mis-named, or if our by-laws are.
