Satzung

Preamble

The aim of the major world religions is to devote people’s lives to God with spirit, soul and body and, from this unity, to become one with all fellow creatures. At various times the religions have tried out spiritual ways of achieving the desired goal in order to develop spirituality of this kind. The S.E.R. Foundation, Foundation for Subjective Experience and Research is to serve these different ways, learning them, practicing them, teaching them and researching them

Die S.E.R. Stiftung D

• respects the uniqueness of each single individual,
• esteems the variety of religious paths,
• aspires living together peacefully and
• cherishes thoughtful and careful treatment of the creation

§1 – Name, Legal Status and Headquarters

(1) The Foundation shall bear the name

S.E.R. Stiftung D — Foundation for Subjective Experience and Research

(2) It shall be a public foundation with legal capacity under civil law with its headquarters in Würzburg.

§2 – Purpose of the Foundation and Limitations

(1) The purpose of the Foundation is exclusively and directly to foster religion, religious customs and to act in a sense of universal Christian and Social welfare, especially for children- and youth services as well as at all levels of The purpose of the Foundation is realised by promoting the teaching of, practice of and research into religious and spiritual practices that have been practised by all of the religions of humanity over centuries in order to relate them to Christian spirituality. As well as initiating and fostering Projects, which aim for Dialogue and Relations to between people and organizations of different Religions and Cultures, whereas in particular Children and Youth projects are supported.

The Foundation shall support the ecumenical efforts of the Christian churches in a politically neutral manner and across all denominations and wants to help build bridges towards mutual understanding with other non-Christian religions and to promote prudent management of Creation.

(2) The Foundation shall exclusively and directly pursue charitable and/or benevolent purposes within the meaning of the “Tax-Preferred Purposes” section of the Tax Code.

(3) The Foundation shall be selflessly active. It shall not primarily pursue its own economic aims.

(4) The Foundation’s funds may be used only for the statutory purposes.

(5) The Foundation may not favour any legal or natural person by means of expenditure alien to the purposes of the Foundation or by means of disproportionately high support, grants or remuneration.

(6) There shall be no legal entitlement to grant the benefit of the Foundation, which can be revoked at any time.

§3 – Foundation Assets and Foundation Funds

(1) The basic assets of the Foundation shall be maintained permanently and without being diminished in value. They are documented in the Annex. The Annex is a key component of these Statutes.

(2) The Foundation shall perform its purposes from the revenue of the Foundation assets and the voluntary contributions of third parties, provided that the contributions are not intended to reinforce the basic assets.

(3) Donated contributions may not be reclaimed from the donors.

§4 – Foundation Bodies

(1) The bodies of the Foundation shall be:

1. 1. the Foundation Board

and

2.  the Foundation Council.

(2) Work in the Foundation bodies shall be voluntary.

The Chairpersons of the Board of Trustees may, by way of derogation, jointly decide that the Foundation bodies can be paid an appropriate remuneration for their work.

 §5 – Foundation Board

(1) The Foundation Board shall be made up of three people. The members of the Foundation Board shall remain in office until a successor is elected or appointed.

The Board shall initially be appointed by the donors of the basic assets (cf. Annex) and subsequently appointed by the Foundation Council. The Board shall be appointed for three years in each case. Reappointment shall be permitted. The Board shall elect a Chairman and a Deputy from its number.

(2) The Foundation Board shall represent the Foundation in court and out of court. The members are authorized to be sole representatives of the Foundation. Internally, the Chairman of the Foundation Board shall represent the Foundation alone; if he or she cannot do so, a Deputy shall be named.

(3) The Foundation Board shall conduct the transactions of the ongoing administration in line with the guidelines and resolutions of the Foundation Council. It shall be authorized to make urgent arrangements instead of the Foundation Council and to take care of business that cannot be delayed. It shall inform the Foundation Council of this at the next meeting at the latest.

(4) The Board shall decide by means of a simple majority on allocation of Foundation funding within the framework of the Foundation purpose.

(5) The Board shall be competent to pass a resolution if at least half of the members, including the Chairman and the Deputy is present. Decisions shall be made with a simple majority. If the votes are tied, the vote of the Chairman or, if he/she is absent that of the Deputy, shall decide. It shall be permitted to make decisions in writing. Otherwise the provisions of Article 8 of these Statutes shall apply accordingly to the Foundation Board’s course of business.

(6) The Board may appoint an advisory council to provide advice to the Board in matters relating to allocating funding.

§6 – Foundation Council

 (1) The Foundation Council shall be made up of: 1.) the donors of the basic assets (cf. Annex) and 2.) people who feel associated with the aims of the Foundation, donate a minimum contribution in the amount of € 500,00 to the basic assets and want to be included in the Foundation Council.

(2) The Foundation Council shall be called to a constituting meeting by the most senior donor and headed by him or her until a Chairman is elected. The Foundation Council shall elect a Chairman and a Deputy from amongst its number for a period of 3 years (Board). Re-election is permitted. The Board shall remain in office until a successor has been elected.

(3) If the number of members of the Foundation Council falls below 15 over time, then the remaining members shall elect new members who they believe to be especially associated with the aims of the Foundation. In this case, the maximum number of Foundation Council members shall be 25 people.

§7 – Responsibility of the Foundation Council

The Foundation Council shall make decisions in all fundamental matters and shall supervise the Foundation Board. In particular, it shall decide on

1. the estimated budget and the annual and internal balance sheet,
2. the guidelines on the use of Foundation funding,
3. the conclusion of legal transactions that need approval by the Foundation supervisors,
4. amendments to the Foundation Statutes and applications for conversion or dissolution of the Foundation.

The Chairman of the Foundation Council shall represent the Foundation in legal transactions with the Foundation Board or individual members of the Foundation Board.

§8 – Foundation Council Business

(1) The Foundation Council shall be called to meet by the Chairman or his/her Deputy as required, but at least once a year, with details of the agenda and notice of four weeks. Furthermore, meetings shall be called when one third of members of the Foundation Council so desire.

(2)The Foundation Council shall be competent to pass a resolution if the invitations to the meeting were issued correctly and at least one third of the members, including the Chairman or his/her Deputy, is present. Errors in the invitations shall be deemed to have been remedied if all members are present and there is no objection

1. The Chairperson of the Foundation or his/her deputy may provide, that members of the Foundation Council

 may attend meetings without attendance and exercise their rights by means of electronic communication

 (e.g. video conference, “virtual” meeting, hybrid or digital mode).

1. The members of the foundation council may participate in meetings without physical attendance by casting their vote in writing before the council meeting is held (voting delegation).  
2. The Foundation Council shall make its decisions, provided that there is no case pursuant to § 9, with a simple majority of the votes cast. If the votes are tied, the vote of the Chairman or of the Deputy, shall decide.
3. If no member objects decisions may be made in written circulars. This shall not apply to decisions pursuant to § 9 of these Statutes.
4. Written records shall be made of the meetings and signed by the Chairman or his/her Deputy as well as another member. They shall be drawn to the attention of the Foundation body.

$9 – Amendments to the Statutes, Conversion and Dissolution of the Foundation

Decisions about amendments to the Statutes and applications for conversion (changing the purposes of the Foundation) or dissolution of the Foundation shall require the approval of two thirds of the members of the Foundation Council. Decisions of this kind may not impair or

remove the tax preferential treatment of the Foundation. Together with a statement they shall be sent to the competent tax authorities of the Foundation supervisory authority (Article 11) for approval or a decision.

§10 – Accumulated Assets

In the event of dissolution or termination of the foundation or the loss of tax-privileged purposes, the assets of the foundation shall devolve to the S.E.R. Kinderhilfe e.V. Wesel, which must use it immediately and exclusively for charitable, benevolent, or ecclesiastical purposes.

§11 – Supervision of the Foundation

The Foundation shall be under the supervision of the Government of Lower Franconia..

§12 – Entry into Force

 The Foundation Statutes shall enter into force with the approval of the Government of Lower Franconia.