All neighborhood associations that are non-profit corporations must have Articles of Incorporation filed with the Oregon Secretary of State's Office. (This includes nearly all of Portland's 95 neighborhood associations.)

 

Articles of Incorporation are an organization's most important governance document and usually establish organization's purpose, the type of corporation, whether the corporation will have members, and what to do with the organization's assets if the corporation is dissolved. and may include other important elements. A neighborhood associations bylaws must conform to the organization's Article of Incorporation.

 

The Oregon Non-Profit Corporation Handbook (2005), co-authored by Cynthia Cumfer and Kay Sohl, discusses the purpose and possible content of non-profit corporation Articles of Incorportion on pages 31-40.

 

Neighborhood association board members should be familiar with their association's Articles of Incorporation and with the organization's bylaws.

 

Neighborhood associations can reqest a copy of their Articles of Incorporation from the Oregon Secretary of State Corporation Division: http://filinginoregon.com/pages/business_registry/copies/index.html

Bylaws for many neighborhood associations are available on the ONI website at: http://www.portlandonline.com/oni/index.cfm?c=30148

 

ONI has Articles of Incorportion for many neighborhood associations and is working on making them available on this web site. Look for your neighborhood name below to see whether ONI has a copy of the Articles of Incorporation for your neighborhood. (If you have a more recent version of your neighborhood association's bylaws, please send a copy to paul.leistner@portlandoregon.gov.)

 

For more information, contact: Paul Leistner, 503-823-5284, paul.leistner@portlandoregon.gov.

 

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Neighborhood Association Articles of Incorporation