Charitable Status EGM - Explanatory Letter

Regarding the 5th September 2015 Extraordinary General Meeting to approve changed to our constitution in order to obtain charitable status.

Dear member,

As you may be aware, for some months now we have been working with the Inland Revenue Department regarding our Application for Tax Exemption under Section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance. That is to say, our application for Charitable Status.

These negotiations have resulted in a number of proposed changes to our constitution. Such changes have primarily been requested by the Inland Revenue Department to ensure that our association would be within the scope of Section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance. In short, these changes mostly concern the objects our association (to ensure that they are charitable), and the governance clauses (to ensure that the public benefits, not our membership).

Simply put, these changes are necessary for us to obtain charitable status, and must be accepted as is (without amendment) in order to streamline the process. The Inland Revenue Department has recently confirmed that with these changes, our association would be within the scope of Section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance.

Your executive committee has reviewed these changes and is recommending to our membership that they be approved and that we now finalise our application for charitable status.

Along with this explanatory letter, you will find the notice of extraordinary meeting as well as a proxy form and explanatory documents. If you can attend in person that would be wonderful and we look forward to seeing you. If you cannot attend, we hope that you will appoint a proxy to vote on your behalf (this can be anyone you appoint who will attend the meeting). You may indicate the vote you require to be made on the proxy form.

Sincerely,

Mark Webb-Johnson
Chairman, Charged Hong Kong
19th August 2015