In cases of governance disputes within your nonprofit, a primary platform Administrator may have restricted or even removed other Administrators' access.
Another common scenario: a new President needs to reclaim Administrator rights on a platform set up by their predecessor, with whom all contact has been lost.
As with issues accessing Administrator accounts, we require a set of legal documents in order to verify the identity of Administrators.
Legal Background
Legal Representative Status
By default, the only Legal Representative is the President of the nonprofit. For another board member (such as a Treasurer) to have the authority to represent the organization, they must be formally designated as a representative by the General Assembly.
Body Responsible for Appointing the Board
By default, the General Assembly appoints the board. If another body is responsible for this — such as a Board of Directors or Steering Committee — this must be specified in the organization's bylaws.
Requirement to Report Changes in Nonprofit Leadership
Nonprofit leaders are required to report any changes in leadership to the relevant authority within 3 months.
This declaration can be submitted online, by mail, or in person, and must be filed by one of the leaders or an authorized representative.
For more information, visit Service-public.fr.
Access Rights Transfer by Springly
General Principle
Springly cannot grant Administrator access based on a simple request alone.
Your platform may contain sensitive data. For security and data protection reasons, we require supporting evidence before we can process your request. If we suspect fraud or unauthorized access, Springly reserves the right to temporarily or permanently suspend access to your platform.
In accordance with our Terms of Service, we act solely on behalf of the nonprofit as a legal entity.
How to Get Your Rights Recognized by Springly
In the event of a dispute or uncertainty between Administrators, only official legal documents issued by the relevant authority will be accepted to identify the nonprofit's President(s).
To restore access, you will need to contact the authority responsible for your nonprofit and ask them to send us the following documents directly (stamped/certified):
- Signed bylaws
- List of Legal Representatives
- Declaration of the list of persons responsible for the administration of the nonprofit, or a filing receipt.
Important: you must CC conformite@assoconnect.com on your request so that the documents are sent to us directly.
https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F34797
A Note on "Apparent Authority"
Over the course of a nonprofit's life, members may act on its behalf or represent it without holding the title of President. This isn't necessarily a problem.
This is known as "apparent authority" — a legal principle under which a person may represent a nonprofit even without having formally received that authority.
In practice, this can sometimes be enough to interact with or enter into agreements with third parties (such as vendors) or to represent the nonprofit publicly.
Unfortunately, this principle has its limits when a dispute arises or when a sensitive action is involved — such as reassigning access rights on Springly. In such cases, we will very likely be required to accept only official documents.
It is therefore essential that nonprofits take all necessary precautions to avoid any ambiguity about the identity and authority of their leaders. We strongly recommend keeping official documents up to date on a regular basis to minimize the risk of future disputes.
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