Exactly what to do
- Open the free fillable SGO bylaws template. It is not a starting sketch, it's the whole thing: standard governance articles (board, officers, meetings, quorum, committees, amendments) plus a dedicated §25F article, every clause explained. Your organization name, state, and fiscal year fill in automatically from your account; answer the short fill-in checklist at the top of the page, save it as a PDF, and your document work for this step is done. Once the board adopts it at the organizational meeting, upload the adopted copy here. (Writing your own bylaws instead? The questions below list what yours must include.)
Adopted bylaws
Upload the board-adopted copy; the 1023, bank, and state vetting all want it.
- A conflict-of-interest policy answers one question: what happens when a board member could personally gain from a decision? (They announce the connection, leave the room for the vote, and sign a short yearly disclosure.) The 501(c)(3) application asks point-blank whether you have one, and the answer needs to be yes. Open the ready-to-sign policy; it's the IRS's own sample word-for-word with your organization's name filled in, nothing to edit. Print it (or create the signing link); the board adopts and signs it at the organizational meeting (next step), and the signed copy comes back here.
Conflict-of-interest policy (signed)
Upload the signed copy after the meeting; the 1023 and state vetting ask about it.
What trips people up
- Bylaws are adopted by the board, not filed with the state. Adopting them at the organizational meeting (next step) and recording it in minutes is what makes them real.
- Borrowing generic bylaws from a non-SGO nonprofit. They say nothing about §25F, and the previewed state vetting checks that your documents require compliance; our template's Article VIII exists precisely for that check.
Questions people actually ask
Writing your own bylaws instead of the template? Here's the bar
They must require (not merely describe) each of these: 90/10 spending, 10+ students across more than one school, the award priority order, no earmarking, income verification, no scholarships to insiders, and segregated §25F accounts. The previewed federal framework has your state verifying that the documents themselves mandate compliance, which is why generic borrowed bylaws are expected to fail vetting. (Our template's Article VIII does all of this; if you use it, just don't delete or water down that article.)
Do the bylaws get filed with the state?
No. Bylaws are internal: the board adopts them by vote and they live in your records book. You'll show them to the IRS (with the 1023), the bank, and your state's SGO vetting, but no government office stamps or keeps them. That's also why adopting them at the organizational meeting with minutes matters; the minutes are the proof they're in force.
Can we change the bylaws later?
Yes, by the amendment vote the bylaws themselves set (the template uses two-thirds of the board). One guardrail is built in: the template's Article VIII says no amendment may break 501(c)(3) or §25F compliance, so future boards can tune governance without being able to quietly gut the rules your state listing depends on.
Do we really need a lawyer for this?
No law requires one. We still recommend a licensed attorney in your state read your adapted bylaws before adoption, because state nonprofit acts have quirks no national template can fully absorb. That review is typically an hour or two of billed time, not a drafting engagement; the template exists precisely so the lawyer reviews instead of writes.
Primary sources: About Form 1023 (instructions + sample conflict-of-interest policy)
