2023 New York Laws › NPC - Not-For-Profit Corporation › Article 14 - Special Not-for-Profit Corporations › 1410 - Boards of Trade and Chambers of Commerce.

§ 1410. Boards of trade and chambers of commerce.
(a) Definitions.
(1)  A  board  of  trade  is  a  corporation formed for the purpose of
fostering trade and commerce, or the interests of those having a  common
trade,  business,  financial  or professional interest, to reform abuses
relative thereto, to secure freedom from unjust or  unlawful  exactions,
to  diffuse  accurate  and  reliable  information  as to the standing of
merchants and other matters, to procure uniformity and certainty in  the
customs  and  usages of trade and commerce, and of those having a common
trade, business, financial  or  professional  interest;  to  settle  and
adjust  differences between its members and others and to promote a more
enlarged and friendly intercourse among business people; to advance  the
civic,   commercial,   industrial  and  agricultural  interests  of  the
territory where the corporation  is  situate;  to  promote  the  general
welfare  and  prosperity  of  such  territory  and  to  stimulate public
sentiment  to  these  ends;  and  to  provide  such  civic,  commercial,
industrial,  agricultural  and  social  features  as  will promote these
purposes.
(2) A chamber of commerce is a corporation, the members of  which  are
in  diverse lines of business, membership in which is not restricted to,
nor  in  practice  consists  primarily  of,  persons,  partnerships   or
corporations   engaged   in   or   carrying   on  the  same,  allied  or
interdependent lines of business, and which is formed for the purpose of
fostering trade and commerce, or the interests of those carrying on such
trade and commerce; to promote the general welfare and prosperity of the
state, territory or community in which such corporation is  situate;  to
reform  abuses  involving business, professional or financial interests,
to secure freedom from unjust or unlawful exactions, to diffuse accurate
and reliable information as to  the  standing  of  merchants  and  other
matters,  to  procure uniformity and certainty in the customs and usages
of trade and commerce; to settle  and  adjust  differences  between  its
members  and  others,  and  to  promote  a  more  enlarged  and friendly
intercourse  among  businessmen;  to  advance  the  civic,   commercial,
industrial  and  agricultural  interests  of  the  territory  where  the
corporation is situate; to provide such features as will  promote  these
purposes, and to stimulate public sentiment to these ends. A corporation
formed  before  the first day of January, eighteen hundred seventy-five,
the purposes and activities of which are those of a chamber of  commerce
as  herein  defined,  shall  be  a chamber of commerce regardless of its
name, and shall not be required to change its existing name by reason of
this subparagraph.
(b) Type of corporation.
A board of  trade  or  a  chamber  of  commerce  is  a  non-charitable
corporation under this chapter.
(c) Special powers.
(1)  A  board  of  trade  or  a  chamber of commerce organized for the
purposes set forth  in  paragraph  (a),  shall  have  the  power  to  be
appointed  and  to  act  under  the order or appointment of any court of
competent jurisdiction as receiver or trustee of the property or  estate
of  any  person or corporation in insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings,
and to act as assignee or trustee for the benefit of  creditors  in  any
case in which a member or members of such board of trade or a chamber of
commerce  are creditors of such insolvent or bankrupt estate; or of such
assignor for the benefit of creditors; or in any  other  instance  where
the purposes of the corporation might reasonably be involved.
(2) A board of trade or chamber of commerce organized for the purposes
set  forth  in paragraph (a) may make loans to its members, directors or
officers, or to any other corporation, firm, association or other entity

in which one or more of its members, directors or officers are directors
or officers or hold a financial interest, in any case where its board of
directors finds that the making of such loan will be in  furtherance  of
its   corporate  purposes  and  for  a  lawful  public  or  quasi-public
objective.
(3) A board of trade organized for the purposes set forth in paragraph
(a) of this section may make distributions of cash or  property  to,  or
confer  other  benefits  upon,  its members, or former members, prior to
dissolution or  final  liquidation  in  any  case  where  the  board  of
directors  of  such  corporation finds that such cash, property or other
benefit is not required for  the  conduct  of  its  corporate  purposes;
provided,  however,  that  no  such  action  shall  be  taken  when  the
corporation is currently insolvent or would thereby be made insolvent or
rendered unable to carry on its corporate purposes,  or  when  the  fair
value  of  the  corporation's  assets remaining after the taking of such
action would be insufficient to meet its liabilities.
(4) A board of trade organized for the purposes set forth in paragraph
(a) of this section may provide in its certificate of  incorporation  or
by-laws  that the members or any class of members shall, with respect to
any matter on which the members of such class are entitled to vote, have
more than, or less than, one vote.