The law on non-profit organizations adopted in the Russian Federation determines the position and procedure for the functioning of non-profit organizations and the use of their property, the basics of management, ways and methods of supporting their activities by the state. It applies to all such organizations throughout the Russian Federation. This law does not apply to consumer cooperatives, the functioning of which is determined by the norms of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Certain articles of this law do not apply to religious organizations.
The law under consideration was adopted in addition to the contents of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which sets out only the concept of a non-profit organization, and also describes some forms of these organizations as legal entities.
The subject of regulation of the law are relations that determine the activities of any legal entity from the moment of its creation to liquidation. Particular attention in the articles of the law is given to forms of support by state bodies of non-profit organizations.
Due to the fact that the law applies to the entire territory of the Russian Federation, no changes or exceptions to its norms can be made within the framework of the lawmaking of subjects . The current law on non-profit organizations establishes that such is understood as one which does not set as the main goal of its creation and activity the receipt of profit and its distribution between participants. They, as a rule, are formed for the realization of social goals, and the main directions of their work are charity, cultural and educational work and services, health care, sports development and others. The main feature for all these species is their non-commercial nature. In this sense, the law under consideration is also a law on autonomous non-profit organizations, which is defined as an organization that does not have a fixed and official membership, created on the basis of voluntary contributions and declares the areas indicated above as its fields of activity.
As provided by the law on non-profit organizations, they are formed in the form of public associations, partnerships, associations and unions, institutions, foundations, as well as other forms. Their common goal is the achievement of social benefits.
This legal act establishes and regulates the legal status of non-profit associations. So, they are considered created as a legal entity from the date of registration. It is envisaged that a non-profit association may own separate property, be a subject of a lawsuit, and may acquire property and non-property rights. Moreover, it should have a separate balance.
In practice, one should distinguish between the subject of regulation of the law in question and the subject that the federal law on public organizations implies . This law provides for principles and procedures for regulating content-wide relations that are related to the rights to create public associations.
A nonprofit organization, as provided by the law on nonprofit organizations, is created for an unlimited period, if such a period is not provided for by the organization in its statutory documents. In addition, the law gives the right to open representative offices in the Russian Federation, while a branch can only be considered a separate unit, which is geographically located outside the location of the parent organization.
The organization of the activities of non-profit institutions implies a guarantee of participation in civil circulation. This turnover, according to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, is carried out, as a rule, in the form of activities of a legal entity.