MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING FOR A CSR-FUNDED PROJECT
This MoU is between __________, a company with its registered office at __________ (the Company), and __________, __________, constituted by __________ (the NGO).
PURPOSE
The Company wishes to fund, out of its corporate social responsibility spending under the Companies Act, 2013 and the rules made under it, a project carried out by the NGO as its implementing agency. This MoU records the terms. The Company is not buying goods or services from the NGO, and the funding is not paid in return for any benefit to the Company, its directors or its employees.
THE PROJECT
NGO'S STANDING
The NGO confirms that its registration reference under the CSR rules is __________, that it is a trust or registered society whose objects cover the Project, and that it will give the Company proof of its registrations and keep them in force for the life of the Project. If a registration lapses or is withdrawn, the NGO tells the Company at once.
FUNDING
USE OF THE MONEY
The NGO uses the money only for the Project and keeps it, and its records of it, separate from other money. Any share of the money used for the NGO's own running costs is limited to what the Company agrees in writing and the CSR rules allow. No part is paid to any director, trustee, member or employee of the Company or the NGO, or to a relative of any of them, except as pay or fees for work they actually do and that is agreed in writing in advance.
REPORTS AND ACCESS
UNSPENT MONEY AND CHANGES
NAME AND PUBLICITY
ENDING EARLY
The Company may stop further payments and ask for unspent money back if the NGO uses the money for anything other than the Project, gives a false report, loses a registration it is required to hold, or does not carry out the Project. Either side may end this MoU by written notice if the other breaks it and does not put it right within a reasonable time after being told.
DISPUTES
The two sides will first try to settle any disagreement by talking to each other. If that fails, the courts that have jurisdiction at the NGO's office will decide it.
LEGAL BASIS
Punjab and Chandigarh: This is an ordinary agreement under the Indian Contract Act, 1872. The Company's CSR duties, what counts as an eligible activity and eligible implementing agency, and what must be reported, are fixed by the Companies Act, 2013 and the CSR rules in force on the date of the funding, not by this MoU. Where those rules and this MoU differ, the rules prevail.
PERSONAL DATA NOTICE
This notice is given under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
The purpose of collecting personal data in this MoU with a CSR donor is to identify the Company and the NGO and their signatories, record the Project and its funding, and support the reports and checks each side must make.
If the matter does not proceed, the personal data will be retained for 90 days and then erased. If the matter proceeds, the record will be retained for the matter plus 12 months, except where a statute requires a longer named retention period.
Data minimisation: this document does not collect a full Aadhaar number, an Aadhaar-card copy, a password or bank credentials.
SIGNATURE