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8 WWW. UNWLA.ORG “НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ЖОВТЕНЬ 201 STATE FUNDRAISING REGISTRATION Part III of presentation compiled by the UNWLA Parliamentarian, retired U.S. Administrative Law Judge Oksana Xenos, which was delivered on May 28, 2017, by Ver a Andrushkiw (President of Detroit Regional Council) at the UNWLA XXXI Convention at Tampa, Florida. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Se- curity Administratio n, or the United States govern- ment. As long as we request donations from residents of any of the 40 - plus states that require nonprofits to register in order to solicit contributions, then we need to know about nonprofit fundraising registration. Most of these states have long required registration, but in the past, nonprofits may have been able to get by while letting these requirements slide. Nothing usually happened because most states lacked the re- sources to enforce their registration laws. But now the IRS and state governments are cracking down, and the game has changed. The new Form 990 that nonprofits file with the IRS now requires them to provide information about their state registration. In addition, states may impose fines and other penalties on nonprofits that fail to register. These fines can be substantial. Also, the state may order the organization to stop soliciting donations within the state until it registers. 1 How do you register a nonprofit? Registration involves filing an application with the appropriate state agency, paying a registration fee (ranging up to $500), and providing financial information, includ- ing a copy of the most recent Form 990. There is usually an initial application, plus an annual renewal requirement. Unfortunatel y, at this time there is no single national registration application that works in every state, although some progress is being made to develop an application that will satisfy the requirements of all the states. 2 Instead, an organization must individually register in every state that requires registra- tion, following that state’s particular requirements. Fundraising registration is a real hassle, although there are some exemptions from the require- ments. However, determining whether an organization is exempt can be difficult. Because the require- ments differ from state to state, a nonprofit can be exempt in one state but not in another. For example, a nonprofit that receives contributions under $25,000 per year may be exempt from registering in New York, but n ot in California. In addition, exemptions are not automatic. An exemption application must still be filed with and confirmed by the state charity office. State registration requirements come into play when organizations solicit donations. So, what is a so licitation? A solicitation is any type of request for donations by mail, phone, advertisements, email or internet, regardless whether the organization actually receives any donations. Fundraising online can include crowdfunding, website “Donate Now” button s, email campaigns, and social media. Asking for donations using any of these online methods constitutes soliciting in every state and subjects the charity to registration requirements. In an attempt to unify requirements for charity websites, guidelines i n the form of a flowchart were issued by the National Association of State Charity Officials (NASCO). These are called the Charleston Principles. However, it is important to remember that these are simply guidelines; they are not laws, and not all states f ollow them.
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