Don’t forget to renew your Alaska charity registration statement in the month of August! You can find the renewal forms required at http://law.alaska.gov/department/civil/consumer/charityreg.html. The deadline to register as a charitable organization is September 1 of each year. If you are renewing, just submit your registration form and the appropriate filing fee. Although Alaska does not

The FTC and law enforcement partners from every state and DC have charged four sham cancer charities and their operators  with bilking more than $187 million. So many of us have lost loved ones to cancer.  I lost two amazing brothers, Jay and Joe, when they were in their 50’s, to this dreaded disease.  Cancer

Changes to the IRS Form 990 highlight the increased demand for information related to completing state charity registration process prior to fundraising activities. Failing to register can take on the aura of an intentional act. Do you think you are too small to draw the attention of the IRS?  Please don’t think that way because

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.

Please visit the Washington state Secretary of States’ Charities Program website. In an effort to improve their services to the donating public, they are asking YOU what is most important when YOU decide to donate to a charity. This is a short five question survey that also offers an opportunity to comment: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YdoUGive