2023 District of Columbia Code › Title 29 - Business Organizations. [Enacted title] › Chapter 4 - Nonprofit Corporations › Subchapter I - General Provisions › Part A - General Provisions › § 29–401.02. Definitions

§ 29–401.02. Definitions.
For the purposes of this chapter, the term:
(1) “Board” or “board of directors” means the group of individuals responsible for the management of the activities and affairs of the nonprofit corporation, regardless of the name used to refer to the group. The term includes a designated body to the extent:
(A) The powers, functions, or authority of the board has been vested in, or are exercised by, the designated body; and
(B) The provision of this chapter in which the term appears is relevant to the discharge by the designated body of its powers, functions, or authority.
(2) “Bylaws” means the code of rules, other than the articles of incorporation, adopted for the regulation and governance of the internal affairs of the nonprofit corporation, regardless of the name or names used to refer to those rules.
(3) “Charitable corporation” means a domestic nonprofit corporation that is operated primarily or exclusively for one or more charitable purposes.
(4) “Charitable purpose” means a purpose that:
(A) Would make a corporation operated exclusively for that purpose eligible to be exempt from taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, approved October 22, 1986 (68A Stat. 163; 26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(3)) (“Internal Revenue Code”); or
(B) Is considered charitable under law other than this chapter or the Internal Revenue Code.
(5) “Conspicuous” means so written, displayed, or presented that a reasonable person against which it is to operate should have noticed it. Conspicuous terms include:
(A) A heading in capitals equal to or greater in size than the surrounding text, or in contrasting type, font, or color to the surrounding text of the same or lesser size; and
(B) Language in the body of a record or display in larger type than the surrounding text, or in contrasting type, font, or color to the surrounding text of the same size, or set off from surrounding text of the same size by symbols or other marks that call attention to the language[.]
(6) “Corporation”, “domestic corporation”, “domestic nonprofit corporation”, or “nonprofit corporation” means a corporation incorporated under or subject to this chapter that is not a foreign corporation.
(7) “Delegate” means a person elected or appointed to vote in a representative assembly for the election of directors or on other matters.
(8) “Designated body” means a person or group, other than a committee of the board of directors, that has been vested by the articles of incorporation or bylaws with powers that, if not vested by the articles or bylaws in that person or group, would be required by this chapter to be exercised by the board or the members.
(9) “Director” means an individual designated, elected, or appointed, by that or any other name or title, to act as a member of the board of directors, while the individual is holding that position. The term “director” shall not include a member of a designated body, as such.
(10) “Domestic unincorporated entity” means an unincorporated entity whose internal affairs are governed by the laws of the District.
(11) “Electronic” means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.
(12) “Electronic transmission” or “electronically transmitted” means any process of communication not directly involving the physical transfer of paper that is suitable for the retention, retrieval, and reproduction of information by the recipient.
(13) “Eligible entity” means a domestic or foreign unincorporated entity or a domestic or foreign business corporation.
(14) “Eligible interests” means interests or shares.
(15) “Employee” does not include an individual serving as an officer or director who is not otherwise employed by the corporation.
(16) “Entitled to vote” means entitled to vote on the matter under consideration pursuant to the articles of incorporation or bylaws of the nonprofit corporation or any applicable controlling provision of law.
(17) “Foreign business corporation” means a corporation for profit incorporated under a law other than the law of the District that would be a business corporation if incorporated under the law of the District.
(18) “Foreign nonprofit corporation” means a corporation incorporated under a law other than the law of the District that would be a nonprofit corporation if incorporated under the law of the District.
(19) “Foreign unincorporated entity” means an unincorporated entity whose internal affairs are governed by an organic law of a jurisdiction other than the District.
(20) “Fundamental transaction” means an amendment of the articles of incorporation or bylaws, merger, membership exchange, sale of all or substantially all of the assets, domestication, conversion, or dissolution of a nonprofit corporation.
(21) “Interest holder liability” means personal liability for a debt, obligation, or liability of a domestic or foreign business or nonprofit corporation or unincorporated entity that is imposed on a person:
(A) Solely by reason of the person’s status as a shareholder, interest holder, or member; or
(B) By the articles of incorporation, bylaws, or an organic record pursuant to a provision of the organic law authorizing the articles, bylaws, or an organic record to make one or more specified shareholders, interest holders, or members liable in their capacity as shareholders, interest holders, or members for all or specified debts, obligations, or liabilities of the entity.
(22) “Material interest” means an actual or potential benefit or detriment, other than one that would devolve on the nonprofit corporation or the members generally, that would reasonably be expected to impair the objectivity of an individual’s judgment when participating in the action to be taken.
(23) “Material relationship” means a familial, financial, professional, employment, or other relationship that would reasonably be expected to impair the objectivity of an individual’s judgment when participating in the action to be taken.
(24) “Member” means:
(A) A person that has the right, in accordance with the articles of incorporation or bylaws, and not as a delegate, to select or vote for the election of directors or delegates or to vote on any type of fundamental transaction; or
(B) A designated body to the extent:
(i) The powers, functions, or authority of the members has been vested in, or are exercised by, the designated body; and
(ii) The provision of this chapter in which the term “member” appears is relevant to the discharge by the designated body of its powers, functions, or authority.
(25) “Membership” means the rights and any obligations of a member in a nonprofit corporation.
(26) “Membership corporation” means a nonprofit corporation whose articles of incorporation or bylaws provide that it must have members.
(27) “Nonmembership corporation” means a nonprofit corporation whose articles of incorporation or bylaws do not provide that it must have members.
(28) “Nonregistered foreign corporation” means a foreign corporation that is not authorized to conduct activities in the District.
(29) “Officer” includes:
(A) An individual who is an officer as provided in § 29-406.40; and
(B) If a nonprofit corporation is in the hands of a custodian, receiver, trustee, or other court-appointed fiduciary, that fiduciary or any person appointed by that fiduciary to act as an officer for any purpose under this chapter.
(30) “Organic record” means a public organic record or the private organic rules.
(31) “Record date” means the date established under § 29-405.07 on which a nonprofit corporation determines the identity of its members and the membership interests they hold for purposes of this chapter. The determinations shall be made as of the close of business on the record date unless another time for doing so is specified when the record date is fixed.
(32) “Religious corporation” means a domestic nonprofit corporation that is a church or an integrated auxiliary of a church, as defined under the federal Internal Revenue Code or regulations promulgated thereunder, or any other such nonprofit corporation whose principal purpose is the advancement of religion.
(33) “Secretary” means the corporate officer to whom the articles of incorporation, bylaws, or board of directors has delegated responsibility under § 29-406.40(b) for custody of the minutes of the meetings of the board of directors, any designated body, committees, and the members, and for authenticating records of the nonprofit corporation.
(34) “Shareholder” means the person in whose name shares are registered in the records of a corporation or the beneficial owner of shares to the extent of the rights granted by a nominee certificate on file with the corporation.
(35) “Shares” means the units into which the proprietary interests in a business corporation are divided.
(36) “Unincorporated entity” means an organization that either has a separate legal existence or has the power to acquire an estate in real property in its own name and that is not a domestic or foreign business or nonprofit corporation, an estate, a trust, a governmental subdivision, a state, the United States, or a foreign government. The term “unincorporated entity” includes a general partnership, limited liability company, limited partnership, limited cooperative association, business or statutory trust, joint stock association, and unincorporated nonprofit association.
(37) “Vote”, “voting”, or “casting a vote” includes the giving of consent in the form of a record without a meeting. The term does not include either recording the fact of abstention or failing to vote for a candidate or for approval or disapproval of a matter, whether or not the person entitled to vote characterizes such conduct as voting or casting a vote.
(38) “Voting group” means one or more classes of members that under the articles of incorporation, bylaws, or this chapter are entitled to vote and be counted together collectively on a matter at a meeting of members. All members entitled by the articles of incorporation, bylaws, or this chapter to vote generally on the matter are for that purpose a single voting group.
(39) “Voting power” means the current power to vote in the election of directors or delegates, or to vote on approval of any type of fundamental transaction.
(July 2, 2011, D.C. Law 18-378, § 2, 58 DCR 1720; Mar. 5, 2013, D.C. Law 19-210, § 2(d)(2), 59 DCR 13171.)
Section References
This section is referenced in § 29-404.01 and § 29-404.02.
Effect of Amendments
The 2013 amendment by D.C. Law 19-210 substituted “Nonregistered” for “Nonqualified” in (28).
Editor's Notes
Application of Law 19-210: Section 7 of D.C. Law 19-210 provided that the act shall apply as of January 1, 2012.