Some rules are still provisional. Items marked provisional come from Treasury’s June 2026 preview of the §25F framework. Proposed regulations are expected by the end of September 2026; we re-verify every provisional item the week they publish, and our news feed tracks each change.

First, the fork that matters

§25F’s hardest rule for an existing organization is 90/10: under Treasury’s anticipated reading, at least 90% of your organization’s entire income (not just §25F gifts) must go to scholarships. An organization that is already (mostly) a scholarship fund can retrofit and sail. An organization with other real programs, a food pantry, a school, a community center, would have to squeeze every non-scholarship dollar into the 10%, which usually means the honest answer is a fresh, separate SGO entity instead: start stage 1 from scratch (it’s faster than untangling a mixed budget) and let your existing organization keep doing what it does.

The audit: check off what you already have

These are the same checkboxes as the from-scratch path, so ticking them here fills in your dashboard and every stage page. The amber box under each is the gap existing organizations typically need to close.

  1. Incorporation gave you all four stage-1 prerequisites.

    Check two things: your registered agent is current with the state (stale agents get corporations administratively dissolved), and your board has at least three members with no family or business ties to each other: §25F bars scholarships to insiders’ families, and a related board makes that rule near-impossible to honor. Save your details in step 1 so the templates and later filings prefill.

  2. The corporation exists; nothing to re-file.

    The common gap: older articles often lack the 501(c)(3) purpose clause and dissolution clause the IRS requires in the articles themselves, and no existing nonprofit’s articles mention §25F. Read yours; if a clause is missing, file a certificate of amendment with your state (small fee, same portal you filed through) using the exact language in step 2.2.

  3. Every operating nonprofit does.

    Save it in step 3 (with the CP 575 letter if you can find it) so later filings prefill.

  4. Standard governance documents most nonprofits adopted at formation.

    The big one. The previewed federal framework has your state verifying that your governing documents require §25F compliance; generic bylaws fail that check. Amend yours to add our template’s Article VIII (the §25F article) by your bylaws’ own amendment vote. No conflict-of-interest policy? Adopt the IRS sample at the same meeting.

  5. Your organizational meeting happened years ago.

    You still need one meeting: the board votes the articles amendment, the bylaws amendment (Article VIII), the conflict-of-interest adoption, and the segregated-account authorization, recorded in minutes. Run it exactly like step 5 (the agenda scripts adapt: “amend” instead of “adopt”).

  6. Your exemption is done; no new IRS application.

    Verify the classification: §25F requires a public charity, not a private foundation. Your determination letter says which you are (or check IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search). Private foundation? Talk to counsel about converting or forming a fresh entity; retrofitting alone won’t get you listed.

  7. Operations exist.

    One addition: open a separate account used exclusively for §25F contributions (the statute requires qualified contributions in segregated accounts); see step 7. One per state once you serve several.

Then continue like everyone else

With the gaps closed, you’re exactly where a from-scratch builder stands at the end of stage 1: qualify under the §25F operating rules (stage 2), confirm your charitable-solicitation registration (stage 3) (many established nonprofits already have this one), and get on your state’s list (stage 4).

Questions existing organizations ask

We’re already an approved SGO/STO in our state’s own tax-credit program. Are we set?

You’re the best-positioned org in the country, but state program approval is not §25F listing: the federal credit has its own tests (the governing-documents requirement, 90/10 on all income, the federal award rules) and its own state list submitted to the IRS. Run the audit above (your gaps are usually just the bylaws article and the segregated account), then watch stage 4 for your state’s §25F filing.

Do we have to re-apply to the IRS?

No. Your 501(c)(3) determination carries over; the retrofit is state-level paperwork (articles amendment) and internal governance (bylaws amendment, policy adoption, new account). Amending your articles’ purposes doesn’t require a new exemption application when the new language stays within 501(c)(3) exempt purposes, which our clauses do.

We’re a private foundation. Can we retrofit?

Not directly: §25F requires a public charity. Converting a private foundation is a real legal project (termination or 60-month conversion), so for most foundations the practical path is funding or forming a separate public-charity SGO. Talk to counsel before choosing.