(a) Nonprofit corporations may be organized under this chapter for any lawful purpose or purposes, including, without being limited to, any one or more of the following purposes:
(1) Charitable,
(2) Benevolent,
(3) Eleemosynary,
(4) Educational,
(5) Civic,
(6) Patriotic,
(7) Political,
(8) Religious,
(9) Social,
(10) Fraternal,
(11) Literary,
(12) Cultural,
(13) Athletic,
(14) Scientific,
(15) Agricultural,
(16) Horticultural,
(17) Animal husbandry,
(18) Professional, commercial, industrial or trade association,
(19) Cemetery operation and maintenance, and
(20) Historical.
(b) Labor unions, cooperative organizations and organizations subject to any of the provisions of the insurance laws of Alabama may not be organized under this chapter.
(c) Whenever 10 or more retail merchants wish to form a nonprofit association, cooperative society, or corporation in the sense of paying interest or dividends on stock, but for mutual benefit through the application of cooperation or other economic principles, they may become a body corporate in the manner provided in this chapter.
(d) Whenever 10 or more wholesale merchants wish to form a nonprofit association, cooperative society, or corporation in the sense of paying interest or dividends on stock, but for mutual benefit through the application of cooperation or other economic principles, they may become a body corporate in the manner provided in this chapter.