Chapter 68

Section 1. The deacons, wardens or similar officers of churches or religious societies, and the trustees of the United Methodist churches, appointed according to the discipline and usages thereof, shall, if residents of the commonwealth, be deemed bodies corporate for the purpose…

Section 10. The overseers or trustees of each monthly meeting of the people called Friends, or Quakers, shall be a body corporate for the purpose of taking and holding in succession gifts and grants of real or personal property made to the use of such meeting or to the use of any…

Section 11. Such monthly meeting may appoint, in such manner and for such time as it may determine, three members of any preparative meeting which belongs to it or forms a part thereof to act as a board of trustees. Such trustees and their successors shall be a body corporate for…

Section 12. Unincorporated religious societies shall have like power as incorporated societies to manage, use and employ, according to its terms and conditions, any gift or grant made to them; they may elect trustees, agents or other officers therefor, and may sue for any right w…

Section 13. All trustees, whether incorporated or not, who hold funds given or bequeathed to a town for a charitable, religious or educational purpose shall make an annual exhibit of the condition thereof to the aldermen of the city, or to the selectmen of the town to which such …

Section 14. The probate court for the county where a town is situated, to which funds have been so given or bequeathed, may, upon the petition of five persons, cite all parties interested to appear before it to answer all complaints which may then and there be made; and if a trus…

Section 16. Every person, association or corporation, domestic or foreign, soliciting or collecting by agents or solicitors, upon ways or in any other public places within the commonwealth to which the public have a right of access, contributions of money for charitable purposes …

Section 18. When used in this section, and in sections nineteen to thirty-five, inclusive, the following terms shall have the following meanings:— ''Charitable'', including but not limited to benevolent, educational, philanthropic, humane, patriotic, scientific, literary, religio…

Section 19. Every charitable organization, except one granted an exemption under the provisions of section twenty, which intends to solicit contributions from persons within the commonwealth or have contributions solicited on its behalf by other charitable organizations, commerci…

Section 19A. Any person or charitable organization established for an advocacy, benevolent, educational, humane, patriotic, philanthropic, scientific or social welfare purpose on behalf of veterans or the military that intends to solicit contributions from persons within the comm…

Section 2. When the ministers, elders or vestry of a church are joined in the gifts, grants, bequests or devises mentioned in the preceding section, as donees or grantees with the deacons, wardens or trustees, such officers and their successors, with the deacons, wardens or trust…

Section 20. The following shall not be required to file registration statements with the division or to have a certificate of registration under section nineteen: (1) any religious corporation, trust, foundation, association or organization incorporated or established for religio…

Section 22. (a) Every contract or agreement between a professional fund-raising counsel or a commercial co-venturer or a professional solicitor and a charitable organization required to have a certificate of registration pursuant to section nineteen shall be in writing, signed by…

Section 23. Solicitations by professional solicitors and solicitations by commercial co-venturers shall contain, at the time of solicitation, the following disclosures: (1) the name, address and telephone number of the charitable organization and a description of how the contribu…

Section 24. (a) No person shall act as a professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor for a charitable organization required to have a certificate of registration pursuant to the provisions of section nineteen, unless first having registered…

Section 25. Registration statements, applications, reports, contracts or agreements of professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturers and professional solicitors, and all other documents and information required to be filed under sections eighteen to thirty-five, incl…

Section 26. Every professional fund raising counsel, commercial co-venturer, professional solicitor, and charitable organization required to have a certificate of registration under section nineteen, shall, in accordance with the rules and regulations prescribed by the division, …

Section 27. The division may enter into reciprocal agreements with the appropriate authority of any other state or of the United States for the purpose of exchanging information with respect to charitable organizations, professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturers a…

Section 28. (a) No charitable organization, professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor subject to the provisions of sections eighteen to thirty-five, inclusive, shall use or exploit the fact of registration so as to lead the public to beli…

Section 29. The director shall from time to time formulate such reasonable rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of sections eighteen to thirty-five, inclusive.

Section 3. Incorporated and unincorporated religious societies and churches may appoint trustees, not exceeding five, to hold and manage trust funds for their benefit, who shall hold their offices for three years and until others are appointed in their stead. At or before the tim…

Section 30. (a) The attorney general, whenever he believes a person has violated the provisions of sections nineteen to thirty-five, inclusive, or has filed any application required under said sections which contains false or misleading information, may conduct an investigation t…

Section 31. Any charitable organization or professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor having its principal place of business without the commonwealth or organized under and by virtue of the laws of a foreign state which solicits contributi…

Section 32. (a) If any registered charitable organization, professional fund-raising counsel, commercial co-venturer or professional solicitor fails to file any registration application or statement, annual report or other information required to be filed by the division under se…

Section 33. Every person soliciting, collecting or expending, for charitable purposes, contributions from the public, and every officer and employee of any such person concerned with the solicitation, collection or expenditure of such funds, shall be deemed to be a fiduciary and …

Section 34. Any organization organized under the laws of the commonwealth, if eligible for membership, may become a member of The Common Fund for Nonprofit Organizations, a New York nonprofit membership corporation authorized under section eight E of chapter twelve to operate in …

Section 35. Any person who solicits contributions from the public by door-to-door visitation or in person for any charitable, civic or political cause or purpose, and who receives for such solicitation a wage, salary, percentage of the donations received, or other contractual rem…

Section 4. Churches or religious societies may appoint trustees, not exceeding five, who shall with their successors be a body corporate, for the purposes mentioned in section one, and shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter applicable thereto.

Section 5. The minister of a church or religious society, if a citizen of the commonwealth, shall be capable of taking in succession any parsonage land granted to the minister and his successors, or to the use of the ministers, or granted by words of like import, and may prosecut…

Section 6. No conveyance of the land of a church shall be effectual to pass the same, if made by the deacons without the consent of the church or of a committee of the church appointed for that purpose, or if made by the wardens without the consent of the vestry, or if made by th…

Section 7. No conveyance by a minister of land held by him in succession shall be valid longer than he continues to be such minister, unless made with the consent of the religious society of which he is minister, or unless he is the minister of an Episcopal church and makes the c…

Section 8. The several churches, other than those of the Episcopal denomination, may choose committees to settle the accounts of the deacons and other church officers, and, if necessary, to prosecute suits in the name of the church against them relative to the same.