Starting a nonprofit, state by state.
A 501(c)(3) is built in layers, and the order is not optional. Nonprofit Articles of Incorporation with your state. Then IRS Form 1023 for federal tax-exempt status. Then state tax exemptions, applied for separately. Then charitable solicitation registration before you fundraise, where the state requires it. The federal layer is identical everywhere. The three state layers are not.
Four layers, and which ones move.
One of these four is the same for every nonprofit in the country. The other three are decided by the state you incorporate in, and they are where founders lose weeks they did not plan for.
How many directors
States set a minimum number of directors for a nonprofit corporation and the minimums are not the same. Some are satisfied with one. Others want three before they will accept the Articles. It is the requirement most likely to hold up a filing, because recruiting a board takes longer than completing a form.
The state entity comes first
Nonprofit Articles of Incorporation are filed with the state, and the organization does not exist until they are accepted. Everything after this step assumes it has happened, which is why the sequence is not negotiable and why a rushed first filing tends to be paid for later.
Federal is not state
Form 1023 gets you federal 501(c)(3) status. It does not get you out of state taxes. Sales, income and property exemptions are applied for separately, with the state, on that state's terms and only where they apply. Two applications, two authorities, two answers that arrive independently.
Registration before you ask
Most states want a charitable solicitation registration on file before a nonprofit asks the public there for support. Some do not run a general registration and handle particular fundraising activity by notice instead. Either way it is a state answer, and it applies in every state you actually raise in.
Four layers, one order. Start with the state.
Pick your state.
Each state page covers that state's Nonprofit Articles of Incorporation, its board minimum, the state tax exemptions available there, whether charitable registration is required before fundraising, and the Form 990 and state filings that follow. Start with the state you will incorporate in.
A clean handoff, in four steps.
The order does most of the work here. Clear the name, file the Articles with the board your state requires, adopt the governing documents, then take the federal and state exemption layers in sequence.
Reserve the name
We check the nonprofit name against the state's register and hold it if the board is not ready to file, so the name survives the gap between deciding on it and filing for it.
File the Articles
Nonprofit Articles of Incorporation prepared and filed with your state, with the board that state requires in place before the filing goes in rather than after.
Bylaws and policy
Bylaws and a conflict-of-interest policy adopted by the board. These are internal documents rather than state filings, and they are the governance everything later is built on.
1023 and the state layers
IRS Form 1023 for 501(c)(3) status, then the state tax exemptions and the charitable registration your state expects. Ongoing Form 990 and state filings start from there.
Incorporation is one afternoon. The exemption layers are the project.
The rest of Form a business.
Every one of these is built the same way: a national explainer above its state pages. They are the filings that sit closest to this one.
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The questions founders ask before they incorporate.
Do I have to incorporate before applying to the IRS?
In practice, yes. Form 1023 is an application about an organization, and the state incorporation is what brings that organization into existence with governing documents attached. That is why the four layers are described as sequential rather than parallel. Starting with the federal application and working backwards is the most common way a first-time founder loses several weeks.
How many directors does a nonprofit need?
It depends on the state you incorporate in. Some states accept a single director. Others require at least three before they will accept Nonprofit Articles of Incorporation. Because recruiting board members takes longer than any filing in this process, the board minimum is worth reading first, on your own state's page, before a timeline is promised to anybody.
Is 501(c)(3) status the same as state tax exemption?
No. Form 1023 produces federal tax-exempt status from the IRS. State exemptions from sales, income and property tax are separate applications made to the state, on its own terms, and only where they apply. A nonprofit can hold federal status and still owe state taxes it never applied to be exempt from, which is a quiet and common gap.
Do we need to register before fundraising?
In most states, yes: a charitable solicitation registration is expected to be on file before the organization asks the public there for support. Some states do not run a general registration and instead handle particular fundraising activity by notice. It is a state-level answer, and it applies in every state you raise in rather than only the one you incorporated in.
What keeps a nonprofit compliant after formation?
Two streams. Federally, the Form 990 series each year. At state level, whatever periodic filing the state requires to keep the entity current, plus renewals of any charitable registration you hold. Neither stream announces itself. Nonprofits that go quiet for a year or two usually discover the gap when a grant application asks for documents they cannot produce.
Can one person start a nonprofit?
One person can start the process, but a nonprofit is governed by a board rather than owned by a founder, and the state's board minimum decides who has to be in place when the Articles are filed. That is the practical constraint. Some states will accept a single director; others want three, and the people have to be real and willing to serve.
Keep going, in order.
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