Uruguay

Legal forms of philanthropic organizations included in the law: Association, foundation, cooperative

Five main social issues addressed by these organizations: Human rights, arts and culture, youth and family, housing and economic development, environment

Average time established by law to register a philanthropic organization: Time is not established by law; in practice, it generally takes a minimum of six months. If observations to the submission are made and paperwork needs to be amended and resubmitted, the process can take up to two years.

Average cost for registering a philanthropic organization: US$500

Costs are associated with paperwork, and are mainly due to notary public fees to authenticate documents. Timelines are not clear because they are not laid out in the legislation, so times (and therefore costs) depend highly on the attitude and discretionary judgment of the individual public official handling the request. Procedures are clear for cooperatives, which are regulated by specific legislation.

Government levels primarily regulating the incorporation of philanthropic organizations: Central/federal government

The fact that regulation is primarily done (and paperwork is handled) at the central level is, in fact, problematic. Much of the work of the concerned organizations is local, but procedures are centralized and filings have to be done with the central government in Montevideo. Although the country is geographically small and distances are, therefore, not impossible to cover, this may still imply several hours of travel and put a heavy burden on small, resource-deprived grassroots civil society organizations.