Regulation on the Principles and Procedures of Fundraising Has Been Amended! 17 November 2021

About the effectuated amendments

With the publication in the Official Gazette numbered 31655, some changes and additions were made to the text of the Regulation, and some printed documents were included in its annexes.

With the amendment, fundraising activities to be carried out on the internet are now included in the scope of the Regulation. Therefore those who want to carry out fundraising activities over the internet will need to obtain the permission under the procedures specified in the Regulation.

Associations, institutions, and foundations, which are able to collect charity without the permission of the President, are obliged to report their activities to the relevant and competent authorities with the Charity Collection Results Notification Form added as Annex-4 to the Regulation's annexes at the end of the activity.² In other words, the amendment brings the necessity of making a notification using the printed form specified to the annexes of the Regulation.

The application process of institutions and organizations that want to collect charity has been arranged in a way that requires notification to the competent authority with the Charity Collection Application Form, whose content is changed and which is specified as Annex-1.

As a new regulation, it is obligatory to write the charity collection permission number given over the Associations Information System on all kinds of materials that those who receive charity collection permission will use in fundraising activities, including activities via the internet. (For associations, institutions, and foundations, which are decided to collect charity without permission of the President, it is stated that it will be sufficient to write the year and number of the decision.) In addition, persons and organizations that were granted permission to collect charity by opening an account at the bank or using electronically processed systems will need to notify their number of the bank account to be used in the charity activity, their SMS number and similar information to the permitting authority in 30 days following the permission.

Article 8, titled "Identity Document", has been arranged in such a way that requiring the identity document requested from those who are deemed appropriate to take part in the charity collection activity must be submitted with the document attached as Annex-2.

As a result of the amendments and additions made in the article titled "Delivery of Collected Charity Funds", it has been stated that the collected charity should be delivered to the responsible accountant member at least once every fifteen days or deposited to the accounts opened in banks for this purpose. It has been stated that the collected money will be deposited in the bank without waiting for this period if the amount of charity collected exceeds twenty-five thousand Turkish Liras for associations and foundations that keep books based on the balance sheet, and if the amount of aid collected exceeds ten thousand Turkish Liras for other persons, institutions, and organizations.

Under Article 14 renamed as “Final Account, Notification and Audit”, an amendment was made stating the notification of “Charity Resolution Form” added to Annex-4 of the Regulation, which contains information on the expenditure of income received at the end of the charity activity to be made within 90 days of the declaration of the final account.

An addition has been made that the works and transactions to be carried out within the scope of the regulation can be carried out in electronic environment. The procedures and principles regarding the applications to be made in the electronic environment will be determined by the General Directorate of Civil Society Relations.

The Regulation Amending the Regulation on the Principles and Procedures of Fundraising comes into force on the date of its publication (10.11.2021).

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1}According to the Law on Charity Collection, persons and organizations authorized to collect assistance were determined as individuals, associations, institutions, foundations, sports clubs, newspapers and magazines which in order to achieve their goals, provide assistance to people in need, and perform or support one or more of the public services in accordance with the public interest
²According to the law, persons and organizations cannot collect assistance without obtaining permission from the competent authority. However, associations, institutions and foundations working in the public interest that can collect aid without permission is determined and announced by the President. For Organizations that can collect charity without permission (siviltoplum.gov.tr)