The Two Lawful Shapes of a Community Organization
A community organization in Georgia has two lawful shapes: the unregistered union, which is not a legal person, and the registered non-commercial legal person founded on membership. The value of this page lies precisely in the contrast and the choice between them: on the one hand, an informal association of neighbours around a common cause is perfectly lawful; on the other, its capacities and risks differ entirely from those of a registered organization. No separate community-organization statute or registry exists — everything is resolved by the general norms of the Civil Code.
The Unregistered Union — Article 39
Article 39 defines the regime of the unregistered union, and four of its rules are decisive. First: the issues of its organization and structure are determined by the mutual agreement of its members — the union is not a legal person. Second: the members' contributions and the property acquired with them constitute the common property of the union. Third: the union may be represented in court and in out-of-court relations by its members or by persons authorized for that purpose. Fourth — the most important: creditors' claims may be satisfied from the common property of the union, and the persons who acted in its name answer personally as well, as solidary debtors. Personal liability in solidum — that is the price the unregistered form pays for its simplicity. At the same time, acting in the union's name is not governed by default rules alone: the members themselves define the format of representation through their agreement, and it is precisely that agreement which third parties and the court will invoke in a conflict. For an unregistered union, therefore, a written agreement — even a simple one — is the first instrument of risk management.
The Registered Shape — Articles 24 and 29
The second route is registration: a legal person whose purpose is non-commercial activity is registered under the procedure established by the Civil Code (Article 24). The membership-based non-commercial legal person is precisely the form that gives a community organization legal personality, its own property and limited liability. Registration requires a partners' agreement and an application; the founding documentation indicates the purpose of the activity, the rules of admission, withdrawal and expulsion of members, the organ empowered to decide on reorganization or liquidation, and the manner of creating the governing organ with the term of its authority (Article 29).