Jamtaa

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A jamtaa (Arabic: جمتع, IPA: [ʒæmtæʕ]; an abbreviation of جمعية تعاونية jamaʿiyah taʿawniyah) is a type of legal entity under Arab corporate law, broadly equivalent to the charitable cooperative in Western counties. Unlike the privately held "limited company" (shamḥ) nor the multi-investor "startup-to-corporation" (jammaj), a jamtaa exists for non-profit-purposes. As such, all charities, whether they be campaigns (temporary or permanent), on the road, legally occupying a premises, publishing material, physical or digital, to further benefit campaign goals, etc. are registered as a jamtaa. Campaigns are permitted to raise money utilising a variety of methods, including the capitalist method shared by other corporate entity types (for example, buying a product in bulk and selling parts of said product individually to generate profit)—all is permissible as long as falling within the rule of law.

Just like the shamḥ or jammaj, the jamtaa is also required to engage in accurate bookkeeping. It is legally required a jamtaa take in more than it expends. From the pool of income generated, jamtaa personnel may pay for work-related products which objectively make their position necessary. Herein lay the difference between the shamḥ and jammaj on one hand and the jamtaa on the other. While all income generated by the former two corporate categories not spent on necessities is to be kept as pure profit for the corporation (excluding taxes), the same generated income by a jamtaa, agter paying for equipment and other resources vital to the continued work of the jamtaa and equally paying all workers, is to be spent on the charitable endeavour for which the organisation was set up. As such, the better a jamtaa does economically, the better all workers do economically, and the better the jamtaa functions as a charitable organisation.

Further reading[edit | edit source]

Arab corporate law