It is important that a new association is correctly registered as a non-profit organization in your country. Some countries have decided to be part of a bigger association (e.g. heart and lung associations) while most become an association on their own.

The first thing to do in order to officially establish an association, is to get the association registered as a non-profit organization in your country. This is also a pre-requisite in order to become a member of PHA Europe.

Most PH associations are stand-alone associations. However, in some countries the association has joined forces with larger associations and become a so-called «interest group» in the larger association. The heart and lung association is often the natural choice. The advantage of joining another association is that it does not require as much work for the founding members. The mother association is already registered, has statutes, runs a budget and accounting, etc. The problem might be, however, that the mother association puts limits on the PH interest group and the interest group might «disappear» in the larger association. This is something that should be addressed when negotiating with the potential mother association. One example of a PH association that is part of the heart and lung association is PHA Norway.

If the founding members decide to start a brand new association, one needs to look into the rules for registering an association in the given country. A board probably needs to be established and statutes need to be written. It is essential that the association is registered as a non-profit association.