Statutes of Netzwerk Apostolische Geschichte e.V., adopted at the founding meeting in Bielefeld on September 5, 2010, as amended and adopted in Hamburg on October 16, 2016 and in Dresden on September 12, 2021.
Inofficial translation. The German version is legally binding.
§ 1 – Name and Seat
The Association bears the name Netzwerk Apostolische Geschichte e.V. and is registered in the Register of Associations.
The seat of the association is Steinhagen.
§ 2 – Fiscal Year
The fiscal year is the calendar year.
§ 3 – Purpose of the Association
The Association exclusively and directly pursues charitable purposes in the sense of the section “Tax-privileged purposes” of the German Tax Code.
The purpose of the Association is the promotion of science and research, especially in the field of church history of the apostolic communities.
The purpose of the statutes is realized in particular by the realization of scientific events and research projects, through events for the transfer of knowledge about the apostolic church history, by the publication of scientific publications and the construction and maintenance of a research archive.
The fulfillment of the association’s purpose is done without favoring any political or denominational direction.
§ 4 – Selfless activity
The Association shall act selflessly; it shall not primarily pursue its own economic purposes.
§ 5 – Use of funds
The Association’s funds may only be used for purposes in accordance with the Articles of Association. Members shall not receive any benefits from the Association’s funds.
§ 6 – Prohibition of favors
No person may be favoured by expenses that are alien to the purpose of the corporation or by disproportionately high remuneration.
§ 7 – Acquisition of membership
Natural persons or legal entities may become members of the Association.
Application for membership must be made in writing to the Board of Directors.
The Board of Directors shall decide on the admission within eight weeks. If the Board rejects the application for membership, the person concerned may appeal to the General Meeting. This meeting shall make the final decision.
§ 8 – Termination of Membership
(1) Membership shall be terminated by resignation, exclusion, death or dissolution of the legal entity.
(2) Resignation shall be effected by written declaration to a member of the Executive Board authorized to represent the Association. The written declaration of resignation must be submitted to the Executive Board with a notice period of one month to the end of each fiscal year.
§ 9 – Expulsion of a member
(1) A member may be expelled with immediate effect by the Executive Board if he/she has grossly violated the interests of the Association. Before the decision is made, the member must be given the opportunity to justify his or her actions within a reasonable period of time.
(2) The decision on the exclusion shall be accompanied by reasons and made known to the member by registered letter.
(3) The member has the right to appeal against the decision to the General Assembly. The appeal must be lodged with the Executive Board within a period of one month from receipt of the registered letter. The general meeting which decides on the appeal must be convened within two months of receipt of the notice of appeal. If a member does not make use of the appeal, he/she thereby submits to the exclusion resolution with the consequence that a legal challenge is no longer possible.
§ 10 – Contributions
Contributions shall be levied from the members. The amount of the contributions and their due date shall be determined by the General Meeting.
§ 11 – Organs of the Association
The organs of the association are the general meeting and the board of directors.
§ 12 – General Meeting
(1) The General Meeting is the supreme organ of the Association. Its tasks include, in particular, the election and deselection of the Executive Board, discharge of the Executive Board, acceptance of the reports of the Executive Board, election of the auditors, determination of contributions and their due dates, passing of resolutions on amendments to the Articles of Association, passing of resolutions on the dissolution of the Association, decision on the admission and exclusion of members in cases of appeal, as well as other tasks, insofar as these arise from the Articles of Association or according to the law.
(2) An ordinary General Meeting shall be held in each fiscal year.
(3) The General Meeting shall be convened by the Executive Board with two weeks’ notice in writing, stating the agenda.
(4) The period shall commence on the day following the dispatch of the letter of invitation.
(5) The letter of invitation shall be deemed to have been received by the members if it was addressed to the last address known to the Association.
(6) The agenda must be supplemented if a member requests this in writing no later than one week before the scheduled date. The addition is to be announced at the beginning of the meeting.
(7) The General Assembly has a quorum regardless of the number of members present.
(8) The General Meeting shall be chaired by a member of the Executive Board. If no member of the Executive Board is present, the members present shall elect a chairperson for the meeting.
(9) A secretary is to be elected at the beginning of the general meeting.
(10) Each member has one vote. The right to vote can only be exercised in person or on behalf of a member upon presentation of a written power of attorney. In voting, a simple majority of the votes cast shall be decisive.
(11) Amendments to the Articles of Association and the dissolution of the Association can only be decided by a majority of two thirds of the members present. Abstentions and invalid votes shall not be taken into account.
(12) Minutes shall be taken of the resolutions of the General Meeting and shall be signed by the chairman of the meeting and the secretary.
§ 13 – Extraordinary General Meeting
(1) The Executive Board is obliged to convene an extraordinary General Meeting if at least one third of the members request this in writing, stating the reasons. It may also convene an extraordinary general meeting at its own discretion if there are important reasons.
(2) The General Meeting shall be convened by the Executive Board with one week’s notice in writing, stating the agenda. The reasons for convening the extraordinary general meeting shall be communicated to the members as part of the invitation.
(3) The period shall commence on the day following the dispatch of the letter of invitation.
(4) The letter of invitation shall be deemed to have been received by the members if it was addressed to the last address known to the Association.
(5) The agenda must be supplemented if a member requests this in writing no later than three days before the scheduled date. The addition shall be announced at the beginning of the meeting.
(6) Motions concerning the deselection of the Executive Board, the amendment of the Statutes and the dissolution of the Association, which have not already been sent to the members with the invitation to the Extraordinary General Meeting, can only be decided at the next General Meeting.
(7) The extraordinary general meeting has a quorum regardless of the number of members present.
(8) In all other respects, the regulations governing general meetings shall also apply to extraordinary general meetings.
§ 13a – Circular resolutions
(1) Resolutions of the members may also be passed by circulation without a general meeting.
(2) All members must be involved in the adoption of a resolution.
(3) The participation must be in writing. The written form shall be deemed to have been fulfilled if the letter was addressed to the last address known to the Association.
(4) Votes shall be cast in text form.
(5) The Executive Board must set a deadline of at least three weeks for the casting of votes. The period shall commence on the day following the dispatch of the letter of participation.
(6) For the resolution to be valid, at least half of the members must have cast a valid vote.
§ 14 – Executive Board
(1) The executive committee in the sense of § 26 BGB consists of the 1st and 2nd chairmen, the treasurer and the Secretary. They represent the association judicially and extrajudicially. Two members of the Executive Board shall represent the Association jointly.
(2) The board is elected by the general meeting for a period of four years.
(3) Only members of the Association may become members of the Board. Re-election is permissible.
(4) The board remains in office until a new board is elected.
(5) Upon termination of membership in the Association, the office of the Executive Board shall also end.
(6) The Executive Board shall pass resolutions by a majority of at least three of its four members.
§ 15 – Cash audit
The General Assembly shall elect one or two cash auditors for a period of two years.
The auditor(s) must not be a member of the board. Re-election is permitted.
Tasks of the cash audit are the annual audit of the financial report of the treasurer for the previous year and the report on the audit before the general meeting.
§ 16 – Dissolution of the Association
In the event of the dissolution or termination of the Association or in the event of the discontinuation of tax-privileged purposes, the assets of the Association, with the exception of the Association’s archives, shall be transferred to Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e.V., which shall use them directly and exclusively for charitable purposes.
The General Meeting shall decide on the further use of the Association’s archives when the Association is dissolved.
If nothing is determined in this regard, the archive of the Association shall be transferred to the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz.