Scope and Content: Per St 1867 c 243, s 1, in Massachusetts every private society or institution for charitable purposes that was aided by a grant of money from the state treasury had to prepare and send to the Board of State Charities a report of all its proceedings, income, and expenditures. (Per St 1875, c 118, institutions for the instruction of the deaf and dumb and of the blind were to report instead to the Board of Education.) The 1867 mandate extended to reporters to Board of State Charities successors, the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity (1879-1886) (see PS 1882, s 16), the State Board of Lunacy and Charity (1886-1898), and the State Board of Charity (1898-1919) (RL 1902, c 84, s 13). It was apparently subsumed (per RL 1902-1908 supplement) under an omnibus provision for statewide annual reports (St 1905, c 211). –Meantime, per St 1899, c 259 , as amended by St 1901, c 179 (RL c 1902, c 84, s 14 ), every charitable organization whose personal property was exempt from taxation by PS c 11 s 5 (RL 1902, c 12, s 5 per St 1903, c 402) was to transmit to the State Board of Charity an annual report showing property, receipts, expenditures, number of beneficiaries and other information. St 1901, c 405 made the board responsible for investigating the applicants and proposed purpose of those applying for charitable incorporation for illegal activity or unsuitable persons before the issuance of a certificate of incorporation by the state secretary. –St 1909, c 379, as amended by St 1913, c 82, required the board, upon the request or with the consent of a charitable corporation required to make an annual report, to visit and inspect the institution or investigate the work of the corporation. St 1919, c 350, s 87 abolished the Board of State Charities, replacing it with a Dept. of Public Welfare, with responsibility for the same function (GL 1921, c 180, s 11), successively through its Subdivision of Private Incorporated Charities and Bureau of Incorporated Charities. –Per St 1954, c 529, s 1 (MGLA c 12, ss 8A-M), the responsibilities for charitable corporations were passed to a newly established Division of Public Charities in the Attorney General’s Office. A public charity had to file with the division a copy of its charter and articles or certificates of incorporation, along with an annual fiscal year report in order to obtain official status as a charitable institution. Filings with the division include audits, probate files such as trust instruments, annual financial reports, wills, probate court pleadings and filed actions, and subsequent status reports.
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