Astana, 22 October. The Ministry of Culture and Information has published a bill on the Open Legal Acts portal under which citizens raising money for their own needs, including online, would be recognised as "charity volunteers" and required to report on spending on a single digital resource.
Those who misuse donations would face administrative or criminal liability.
The document says that citizens often raise money online for personal needs, but the law does not regulate this activity in any way. The drafters propose widening the concept of "charity volunteer" to include every individual who opens a fundraiser, with rights and responsibilities. Every such volunteer would have to post on the single digital resource information about opening a fundraiser, spending reports and civil-law contracts with recipients of help.
The rules for foundations are also changing. Charitable foundations would be required to state their status in their name to distinguish them from other non-governmental organisations; a transition period is provided for re-registration. Donation boxes could be placed only under an agreement with the owner of the premises, the box would have to show the recipient, purpose, time frame and total amount, and it would be opened by at least three people with a written record. Portable boxes would be allowed only at events of volunteers and charities; an exception is made for religious associations. Contracts with donors would have to record administrative expenses.
A single digital platform for volunteering will also appear, with digital passports for participants recording their areas of work, hours worked and results. The law will single out medical, search, intellectual and "silver" volunteering, blood donation and help to animals. Victims of emergencies and organisations of people with disabilities will be officially named among recipients of charitable aid.
Under the drafters' plan, someone raising money for themselves would also become a charity volunteer.
What it means: Private fundraising on social media, now unregulated, is to be made transparent: the fundraiser gets a status, a duty to report publicly and liability for misusing money. For now it is a draft open for discussion.
Who benefits: Donors, who will be able to check where their money went. Honest foundations, which will be easier to tell apart from dubious fundraisers. Private fundraisers will take on obligations and liability risks; the drafters expect the measures to raise trust in donations.
Background: The same bill also covers other areas: rules for liquidating state funds, funding of creative unions, a classifier of NGO activity and the work of mediators, whose agreements will be recognised as title documents when registering property.
List of sources used: Informburo
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
