V. Financing Acquisition of Funding 37. The law shall clearly state that associations have the right to seek, receive and use funds freely in compliance with not-for-profit aims. a. Associations shall be free to conduct fundraising through various means, including engaging in economic activities designed to support the aims of the organization. b. Associations shall be free to acquire resources in the form of cash as well as property, goods, services, investments, and other assets. 38. Associations shall be able to seek and receive funds from local private sources, the national state, foreign states, international organizations, transnational donors and other external entities.30 States shall not require associations to obtain authorization prior to receipt of funding. 39. Associations shall be subject to the same general laws governing money laundering, fraud, corruption, trafficking and similar offenses as individuals and for-profit enterprises.31 40. Income generated shall not be distributed as profits to the members of not-forprofit associations. Associations shall however be able to use their income to fund staff and reimburse expenses pertaining to the activities of the association and for purposes of sustainability.32 30 See UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Report to the UN Human Rights Council (Funding of associations and holding of peaceful assemblies), UN Doc. A/HRC/23/39 (Apr. 24, 2013), Section 20; Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Guidelines on Freedom of Association (2015), paras. 218, 223. In particular, states should not prohibit funding solely on the basis that it is foreign, require that funds pass through a state-run entity before being received, impose excessive reporting requirements relative to foreign funding, ban foreign-funded associations from otherwise legitimate activities, stigmatize or delegitimize foreignfunded associations, initiate aggressive auditing campaigns, or impose criminal or other excessive penalties on the basis of receipt of foreign-funding as such. 31 This article is key, highlighting that, as in other areas, where there are criminality and law enforcement concerns, the appropriate laws and enforcement procedures will apply. Of fundamental importance however is that such issues be dealt with in the appropriate context, through legal approaches of general application, and that particular legal regimes, designed with a presumption of the criminality of civil society and the aim of restricting its work, not be carved out. Measures taken to fulfill such aims shall be clearly laid out by law, necessary and proportionate, shall be carefully targeted and the least intrusive means to fulfill such objectives, shall not be overly burdensome, shall be impartially applied and shall not be used as cover for illegitimate purposes, such as to prevent funding to associations of which the authorities disapprove. Funding for human rights organizations in particular shall not be targeted under such pretexts. 32 Regulations preventing excessive salaries, which may be a means of bypassing the prohibition on engagement in for-profit activities, are however reasonable. Guidelines on Freedom of Association and Assembly in Africa  | 17