Author Archives: Sarah Else

Registering a Charity in Colorado

When registering a charity in Colorado, charitable organizations are required to register with the Colorado Secretary of State before they can begin to raise money. Charitable organizations and paid solicitors must file a “Notice of Solicitation” at least 15 days before they can begin a fundraising campaign with the Secretary of State. The notice will

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Alabama Charity Registration Process

Although Alabama law requires that organizations and institutions that solicit contributions from Alabama to register with the Attorney General’s Office, they are one of the states that have made the registration process relatively painless.  For initial registration an organization can choose to use either the state form or the Unified Registration Statement.  Renewal is simple; the state form is one page long requiring the attachment of an organization’s most recent IRS Form 990 or a Written Report.  Visit  http://www.ago.state.al.us/Page-Consumer-Protection-Consumer-Charities for details and links to the forms.  Both initial and renewal registrations require a notarized signature along with a check for $25 made out to  Alabama Office of the Attorney General.

Unfortunately, the downside of the Alabama charity registration process is that the annual renewal is due within 90 days of the close of the organization’s fiscal year.  We all know this is almost impossible for most nonprofits, especially those requiring audits prior to completion of the IRS Form 990!  The Attorney General may approve an extension to file up to 180 days.

The Alabama law governing charity registration is found in Section 13A-9-70 through 13A-9-84 of the Code of Alabama.

The Unified Registration Statement for nonprofit organizations. You may also download this registration kit at http://www.multistatefiling.org/urs_webv401.pdf.

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Accuracy and Honesty Matters in State Charity Registration

Recently a Georgia based nonprofit fundraising in Tennessee was fined $45,000 in civil penalties. The following article from the Tennessee Attorney General, published on December 23, 2014, tells the story: A Civil Penalty Imposed Against Charitable Organization Over Misleading Fundraising A civil penalty of $45,000 has been imposed against NSPIRE Outreach, a Georgia-based organization also

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