Most states require that an organizational meeting be held after the certificate of incorporation has been filed. If there are no initial directors named in the certificate of incorporation, this meeting is called by the incorporators. The main purpose of the meeting is to elect the initial board of directors and adopt the by-laws of the corporation.

The statement of incorporator is a document signed by all of the incorporators, which sets out the actions taken at the meeting and passes all elements of control over the company to the initial directors. It is filed with the minute book of the corporation.

Organizational meeting requirements vary from state to state, and it is important to review the statutes governing business entities in the state where the relevant company wishes to incorporated.

For more information on the steps required to form a corporation, see Practice Note, Forming and Organizing a Corporation and Forming a Corporation Checklist. For example forms of by-laws, see Standard Documents, By-Laws (NY) and Standard Document, Private Company By-laws (Delaware Corporation).