Greetings everyone,

I have been searching on the Internet for the better part of a day and have found surprisingly very little information relating to the Dutch specificities.

I am a student at the University of Maastricht and conducting a comparative report of the procedures, statutory requirements, registration costs, and volunteer legal regimes of laws relating to the incorporation of a non-profit corporation in several countries.

I was wondering if anybody had any English-language resources concerning this specific topic. If, such resources not being available, would anyone know themselves what the procedures are?

Thank you for your help,

Regards,

Kim L. Smouter
MA European Public Affairs Student
University of Maastricht
(<a href="mailto:aomtealfox@rpgnewworlds.net" Target="_BLANK">aomtealfox@rpgnewworlds.net</a>)

I I also had a lot of difficulty finding internet info on this subject. Seems one has to go and pay one's accountant rather a lot of money to hear all the complexities. If you get anywhere with info, drop me a line!

P.S does anyone know what the most obvious benefits of owning a stiching are if you are not attempting to create a business to sell? What is the BTW status of a stichting and how can an ondernemer benefit from changing status to stichting if he/she works for no profit? thanks!

Hello all, I was also hoping to have the same questions Sneak asked and I am not sure where to find this info. The Kamer van Koophandel site is very limited (at least in English). Any info anyone may have, I would be grateful. <a href="mailto:Lategola@gmail.com" Target="_BLANK">Lategola@gmail.com</a>

I have contacted the Kamer van Koophandel and hopefully will be getting a response from them soon.

Whatever information I receive, I will be sure to give to you lot.

Regards,

Kim

I’m an Australian living in Sittard just north of Maastricht. I have just gone through the process of setting up a charity called the Rens Blom Foundation. I didn’t have any information in English to guide me but had people in accounting, legal, chamber of commerce and notaries help me get it all together. I couldn't have done it though without my Dutchy boyfriend and his paitent translating services. Now I'm in the process of interviewing some students to get some help with applying for subsidies from the government and other day to day stuff that can be very difficult to manage if you don't read or speak Dutch very well.

The Kamer van Koophandle has a department dedicated to helping entreprenuers (ondernamers in Dutch) including those who want to start foundations (stichtings). Personally the guy who was supposed to help me was an absoulte waste of time and cost me at least 2 months in time wasted waiting for him to reply to my emails and phone calls. I believe this is an isolated case though and would encourage you to contact the Kamer van Koophandel in you area and set up a meeting with one of their advisers. They can answer all of your questions about tax breaks, employees etc.

In the end we recieved all of our advice from our accountant (who is a sponsor of ours so we didn't have to pay for their advice etc) and the notary (also a sponsor) who took our business plan and wrote it into a legal document stating the purpose of our foundation etc. We then submitted this to the KVK and they registered the foundation.

I’d be happy to talk to you about my experience if you think it might be helpful. Email me at <a href="mailto:renee@rensblom.nl" Target="_BLANK">renee@rensblom.nl</a>

Good luck to all of you!