TURKPOL has amended its statute: what changes, and why

The association has filed an amended statute with the Polish National Court Register (KRS). The amendment is awaiting registration and is not yet in force — until the court enters it, the previously registered statute is what binds TURKPOL. We are publishing the new text now, in full, so that members can read it before it takes effect rather than after.

The full text is at /about/statute, in Polish (the binding version) and English.

What actually changed

The statute grows from 34 paragraphs in six chapters to 54 paragraphs in eight. Two chapters are entirely new: one on public-benefit activity, one on data protection, ethics and transparency. About thirty provisions are added and roughly six are modified.

What did not change

The name, the registered office, the objectives, and the three-part governance structure — General Meeting, Board, Audit Committee — are carried over unchanged. So are the three categories of membership, the three-year terms, the appeal procedure in membership matters, and the two-thirds majority required to amend the statute or dissolve the association. This is an amendment, not a new constitution.

Why now — three reasons

Public-benefit status, and a deadline. TURKPOL is applying for status as a public-benefit organisation (organizacja pożytku publicznego). That status requires specific wording in the statute: political and religious independence, a prohibition on lending the association's assets to its own officers or their relatives, an independent supervisory body whose members are not related to or subordinate to the board, and a rule that assets on dissolution pass to another public-benefit organisation. Several of these clauses did not exist in the registered text. To receive designations from the 2026 tax year, an organisation has to be on the NIW-CRSO register by 30 November 2026, and registration of a statute change takes months — which is why this could not wait.

To be clear about what that does and does not mean today: the 1.5% mechanism lets a taxpayer in Poland direct part of tax already owed to a public-benefit organisation, at no cost to themselves. TURKPOL cannot receive it yet and is not asking anyone for it. We will say so plainly if and when the status is granted.

European project funding. Programmes the association is positioning for — CERV, AMIF, Erasmus+, the European Solidarity Corps, the EEA Active Citizens Fund — expect provisions our statute simply did not contain: the ability to pass sub-grants to partner organisations, a distinction between paid and unpaid public-benefit activity, separate accounting, external audit, and a formal basis for hosting volunteers. Applications are marked down or rejected for their absence. The amendment adds each of them.

Governance that has caught up with the association. Several changes are simply the association writing down how it already works, or fixing gaps a mature organisation should not have. Meetings and votes may now be held remotely or in hybrid form, with remote participants counting towards the quorum — which matters for a membership split between two countries. The Board gains a Vice-President, a quorum rule, a casting vote and a succession rule. There are financial thresholds on who may commit the association to what: the President alone up to 20,000 złoty, two board members jointly above that, a board resolution above 100,000, and a General Meeting resolution above 300,000 or for anything involving real property. The President may not serve more than two consecutive terms. Local chapters and thematic clubs — which already exist in Warsaw, Kraków and Wrocław — now have a statutory basis.

The expulsion procedure is stricter than before

Worth singling out, because it protects members rather than the organisation. Previously the statute said little about how a member could be sanctioned. It now sets a ladder of sanctions — warning, written reprimand, suspension of the right to stand for office, expulsion — each requiring a two-thirds majority of the Board and written reasons. Expulsion on objective grounds requires prior written notice and a 30-day period to put things right. The member has the right to be heard, and may appeal to the General Meeting within one month, during which the sanction is not enforceable. Proceedings cannot be opened more than 24 months after the conduct complained of.

Two changes members should know about specifically

The statute now permits the Board to be remunerated, up to one times the average monthly salary in the enterprise sector, and only under a separate General Meeting resolution. No such resolution exists and the Board is not paid. The clause exists because EU project work can require it; the practice of serving unpaid can continue indefinitely.

The association may now conduct economic activity, but only as secondary to its public-benefit work and with separate accounting. All income goes to statutory objectives. The statute states explicitly that the association is non-profit and distributes nothing to its members.

What happens next

The registry court reviews the filing. If it accepts it, the amended statute takes effect on entry and the association proceeds with the public-benefit application. If the court asks for changes, we will say so here. Either way the next step after registration is a set of internal regulations the statute now calls for — membership fees, board and audit committee working rules, chapters and sections, volunteering, sub-granting, procurement, anti-corruption and whistleblowing.

Questions about any of this go to the secretariat.