Charity Registration Single Portal Initiative
New Attempt to Replace the Unified Registration Statement
Its back! The much-hoped for, but difficult to achieve, initiative to develop on online system that allows nonprofits and professional fundraisers to comply with all states registration and annual filing requirements through a single portal has resurfaced.
Last month the National Association of State Charities Officials (NASCO) and the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), in cooperation with The Multistate Registration and Filing Portal, Inc. (a Delaware nonprofit corporation), posted a Request for Information to invite input and proposals for development of this “one-stop” portal. See mrfpinc.org.
The goal is to create a portal that will maximize efficiency, data transparency, and information sharing by enabling compliance with registration requirement for all participating states without duplication of data entry. It will also make the collected data available to the public in a searchable and interactive format. State filing fees will be collected and disbursed to states through the Single Portal.
Twelve state have agree to participate as pilot states: California, Illinois, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, and Tennessee. Interestingly, these states run the gamut from a very simple charity registration process (Alaska and Missouri) to some of the most difficult charity registration processes (California, Illinois, and Massachusetts). It will be fascinating to see if middle ground can be found. After the initial platform has been developed and tested, the plan is to expand to all states that require charity registration.