Raise money for your nonprofit without legal trouble!

Your nonprofit needs financial support, which means it's likely you are dependent on the kindness of donors to fill your coffers. If you plan to solicit funds by phone, letter, email, on the web, or in any other manner, it's essential that your organization stay compliant by registering with the appropriate state charity offices.

Unless your nonprofit is exempt or located in one of the few states that don’t require registration, you’ll always need to register in your home state. Nonprofits that engage in fundraising also need to register in every state that requires registration. Unfortunately, state fundraising registration can be a difficult and confusing process. Every state has its own rules, forms, exemptions, procedures, and deadlines. You can a hire professional firm to handle the registrations for you, however this cost can be prohibitive for smaller nonprofits. (The cost can run from $5,000 to $7,000 for registration in all 39 states. This doesn't include the state registration fees, which can be another $2,700 to $3,000.)

If you don't want to spend that kind of money, you can register your nonprofit yourself using Nonprofit Fundraising Registration, Nolo’s 50-State Digital Guide. Nolo's new 50-State Digital Guide provides everything you need to handle registration on your own with a minimum of time and effort, including links to all the required forms, and information on filing fee amounts, signatures required, filing addresses, supporting documents required, and more. The Guide is updated semi-annually so all the information is up to date. It also has state-by-state summaries of the fundraising registration laws for every state that cover:

• initial registration requirements
• exemptions from registration
• renewal registration, and
• ongoing financial reporting requirements.

You will also find general guidance and information on the registration process, including:

• the IRS’s role in state registration
• what triggers registration requirements
• how Internet fundraising impacts registration
• strategies to reduce the number of states in which you must register, and
• background on the Uniform Registration Statement.

By using this Guide, you will be able to figure out which states you’re required to register in and then click on the appropriate links to confidently and painlessly begin the registration process for any state. 

Because state charity registration forms, fees, and rules are constantly changing, this Guide comes with an annual subscription and will be completely updated in:

• January
• July

With these updates, subscribers will always have the latest state registration rules and requirements with links to current forms and up-to-date information at their fingertips. All you need to do to access the most current updated information is to log into your Nolo account on each semi-annual update date.

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