To complete a Massachusetts charitable solicitation registration, file the Registration eForm through the Attorney General’s online Charity Portal, upload your organizing documents and IRS determination letter, pay the $100 initial fee, and request a Certificate for Solicitation before asking the public for donations.1 Every public charity that operates or fundraises in the Commonwealth has to do this, whether it was formed in Massachusetts or somewhere else.
Who Has to Register
Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 12, Section 8E requires any public charity to register with the Attorney General’s Non-Profit Organizations/Public Charities Division before engaging in charitable work or raising funds in the state. The requirement doesn’t care where you incorporated. A nonprofit based in another state that solicits Massachusetts residents is treated the same as one headquartered in Boston.
The definition of “charitable” is broad. Chapter 68, Section 18 reaches organizations with benevolent, educational, philanthropic, humane, patriotic, scientific, literary, religious, health, safety, or civic purposes, and anyone who holds themselves out as charitable or uses a charitable appeal in a solicitation.
Who’s Exempt
A short list of named organizations is exempt from the Chapter 12 registration requirement under Section 8E, including the American National Red Cross, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and several other veterans’ service organizations.
Two further exemptions, found in Chapter 68, Section 20, apply to the solicitation registration and Certificate for Solicitation:
- Religious corporations, trusts, foundations, and associations established for religious purposes, along with any charitable agency affiliated with, operated by, or controlled by a religious organization.
- Small all-volunteer charities that raise $5,000 or less per calendar year from no more than 10 donors, where every function is performed by unpaid volunteers and no assets or income benefit any officer or member. Cross the $5,000 line in any calendar year and you have 30 days to register.
If you don’t fit one of these, you need to register.
What to Gather Before You Start
The Charity Portal works best if you have everything in front of you before opening the Registration eForm. You’ll be asked for your legal name and purpose, a Massachusetts address (or the name and address of whoever keeps the financial records if you have no Massachusetts office), the date and place the organization was formed, your form of organization and federal tax status, and the names and addresses of all officers, directors, trustees, and principal salaried executives.
The form also asks whether you intend to solicit from the public, the charitable purposes contributions will fund, the names you’ll solicit under, who will have custody of the money, whether another government has authorized you to solicit, and whether you’ve ever been enjoined from soliciting.
You’ll upload:
- Your Articles of Organization or Trust Instrument (the founding document filed with the Secretary of the Commonwealth, or the equivalent from your home state).
- Your bylaws.
- Your IRS determination letter, if you have one. The portal lists this as required “if available,” so organizations still waiting on an IRS determination can file without it.
Two authorized officers, one of whom must be the chief fiscal officer, have to sign the registration statement under oath. Both need to be available to provide electronic signatures when you submit.
The Four-Step Portal Process
As of September 2023, the Division no longer accepts paper filings. Registration runs entirely through the online Charity Portal, and the process has four steps.
First, submit the Registration eForm on the Attorney General’s website and upload your organizing document, bylaws, and IRS letter.
Second, wait for your Attorney General Account Number. The Division reviews the submission and, if it checks out, emails you an AG Number. This is the identifier you’ll use for every future filing.
Third, pay the $100 initial registration fee by logging into the Charity Portal with your new AG Number.
Fourth, receive your Certificate for Solicitation by email, if you requested one. You cannot legally ask the public for donations in Massachusetts without it.
By statute, the Division issues the certificate within ten days of receiving a complete registration statement. Missing documents or inconsistencies stop that clock, so verify every upload before submitting.
Fees
The initial registration fee under Chapter 12, Section 8E is a one-time $100, paid through the Charity Portal after you receive your AG Number.
After that, annual filing fees under Chapter 12, Section 8F scale with the organization’s total gross support and revenue for the fiscal year being reported:
- $100,000 or less: $35
- $100,001 to $250,000: $70
- $250,001 to $500,000: $125
- $500,001 to $1,000,000: $250
- $1,000,001 to $10,000,000: $500
- $10,000,001 to $100,000,000: $1,000
- Over $100,000,000: $2,000
Annual Filings: The Form PC
Registration isn’t one-and-done. Every registered charity files a Form PC through the Charity Portal each year, due four and a half months after the close of the fiscal year. Organizations otherwise in compliance can request a six-month extension.
The level of financial review required depends on gross revenue. Charities with gross revenue of $500,000 or more need a review by an independent CPA. Those over $1,000,000 need a full independent CPA audit. Charities under $500,000 don’t need either.
Each person who files needs an individual Charity Portal account tied to their own email address. There is no shared organizational login. Once logged in, you complete the online Form PC, apply electronic signatures, and pay the annual fee.
If You Hire Outside Fundraisers
Chapter 68, Section 24 requires anyone acting as a professional fundraising counsel, commercial co-venturer, or professional solicitor for a registered charity to register with the Division first. Your organization cannot legally use someone who hasn’t done so.
- Professional solicitors: $1,000 annual fee and a $25,000 surety bond.
- Professional fundraising counsel: $400 annual fee, no bond.
- Commercial co-venturers: $200 annual fee and a $25,000 surety bond.
The bond protects the Commonwealth and any charity with a claim against the solicitor or co-venturer for misconduct. A partnership or corporation can file one consolidated registration and bond covering its members, officers, and employees. Each registration lasts one calendar year and must be renewed. If the Division finds your charity working with an unregistered solicitor or co-venturer, your own compliance standing is exposed.
What Happens If You Don’t Register or File
If a required registration, annual report, or other document is missing, the Division can mail a notice to the organization’s last known address. If the filing doesn’t arrive within two weeks, the Division can suspend or cancel the registration, which pulls the Certificate for Solicitation and ends your legal ability to fundraise in the state.
If the Division finds that information in a filing is false or misleading, or that the organization has violated the solicitation laws, it can suspend or cancel registration and revoke the certificate.
Criminal penalties also apply. Knowingly violating the solicitation statutes, or willfully providing false information in a filing, carries a fine of up to $1,000, up to one year of imprisonment, or both. The Attorney General or any district attorney can also seek a court injunction to stop further solicitation.
Federal Tax-Exempt Status Is a Separate Track
Registering with the Attorney General does not give you federal tax-exempt status, and getting 501(c)(3) status from the IRS does not register you in Massachusetts. The IRS user fee for Form 1023 is $600, or $275 for Form 1023-EZ, paid through Pay.gov at the time of application. You can register with the Massachusetts AG’s office while your IRS application is pending, since the portal only asks for the determination letter “if available.”
Once you have federal tax-exempt status, you’ll have an annual federal filing to keep up as well. Organizations with gross receipts of $200,000 or more, or total assets of $500,000 or more, file Form 990. Those above $50,000 but under those thresholds can file Form 990-EZ. Organizations at $50,000 or less file the Form 990-N e-Postcard. Missing three consecutive federal filings triggers automatic revocation of tax-exempt status, and that change in status is something you’d need to update with the AG’s office.