Exactly what to do
- Pick the state where your nonprofit will live, even if it hasn’t opted into §25F yet. Creating your SGO and getting it listed by a state are two different steps; we build in one state first and add more later.
Tell us your state and this step turns into your exact links:
Your state: - Every state runs a public register of corporation names, and yours can't collide with an existing one. Type your planned name into your state's official search below; if it's taken, adjust (add “fund”, “scholars”, or your region) and search again. Keep it close to what donors will see; you'll also want the matching web domain (step 7 covers it).
Pick your home state in step 1.1 and this box fills with your state’s exact links and rules.
It prefills your articles clauses, the bylaws template, and everything downstream.
- The registered agent is who officially receives legal papers for the corporation. Two paths forward:
Option 1 ($0): your own address, or a board or family member's, as long as it meets your state's rules (an adult at a real in-state street address). Note: the address goes on the public record, and some junk mail comes with that.
Option 2 (~$100-$300/yr): a commercial registered agent company; their address goes on the form instead.Pick your home state in step 1.1 and this box fills with your state’s exact links and rules.
Prefills the articles step; you'll re-type this on the 1023, bank forms, and state registrations otherwise.
- Board members are a prerequisite for filing: the articles form asks for a name and street address for each. Your state's minimum is below; list yours and you're done.
Pick your home state in step 1.1 and this box fills with your state’s exact links and rules.
You’ll re-type these on the articles, the bylaws, the organizational minutes, and the 1023; save them once here. Aim for at least three people with no family or business ties to each other: a board of relatives invites IRS scrutiny on the 501(c)(3) application and collides with §25F's ban on scholarships to insiders' families.
What trips people up
- Naming the org something that collides with an existing SGO or a reserved word. Search the name in our directory too.
- Listing a P.O. box because the founder works from home. States reject it, or worse, accept it and you miss a lawsuit notice. Use a real street address or a commercial agent.
- Letting the agent lapse after formation. If your agent moves away or resigns and you don't file the change, states can administratively dissolve the corporation, and a lawsuit you never hear about can end in default judgment.
Questions people actually ask
My state hasn't opted in. Should I even bother?
Yes. You can form and grant scholarships under ordinary nonprofit law today, and your listing options aren't limited to your home state: participating states decide their own requirements, and Kentucky's SGO filing already accepts out-of-state nonprofits. States keep joining too (several did in the last two months), so forming now makes you first in line at home the day your state elects, and we email account holders the moment it moves. The one rule: don't promise donors the federal credit until a state has listed you.
Shouldn't I incorporate in Delaware like startups do?
No. Some states will list an out-of-state SGO (Kentucky does), but incorporating away from home buys you nothing and costs you a second registration as a “foreign corporation” in your real state anyway. Startups have venture-capital reasons for Delaware; charities don't. Form where you actually operate, and treat other states' lists as expansion, not as a home base.
We're near a state line and serve families on both sides. Which state?
Form where your schools, donors, and board actually are, and seek that state's list first. Serving families across the border raises multistate questions Treasury hasn't finalized yet, so launch single-state and expand (a second state's list, where accepted) once the September regulations land.
What counts as an "unrelated" board member?
Not connected to the others by family (spouses, parents, children, siblings) or by business (partners, employer/employee). The 1023's governance questions ask about related directors, and §25F bars scholarships to insiders' families, which is much easier to honor when the deciding board isn't one family. A couple plus one outsider technically passes in many states; a majority of unrelated members is the posture that sails through review.
What does a registered agent actually do?
They're the corporation’s official mailbox for serious mail: lawsuits (“service of process”), subpoenas, and state notices. The state publishes the agent’s name and address on the public record so anyone who needs to reach your organization legally always can. It is not a director role and carries no authority; it’s an address with a responsible human attached.
Who qualifies, and who's disqualified?
Near-universal rules: an adult individual who lives in your state, or a company authorized to do business there, reachable at a physical street address during normal business hours. Disqualified: a P.O. box or mailbox store, an out-of-state address, and, in nearly every state, the corporation itself (though a director or officer personally can serve). No license or special status is required; the law sets qualifications, not credentials.
When is a paid agent service the right call?
For real reasons only: nobody on your board has a stable in-state street address, the only available address is a home the person doesn’t want on the public record, or nobody can reliably cover business hours. Agent companies (~$100-$300/yr) hand you their address for the form and forward whatever arrives; filing services push them because it earns a subscription. Either choice is changeable later with a cheap one-page filing, so don’t agonize.
The portal asks for a "registered agent number". What is that?
Some states (New Jersey, for one) first ask for a number that only commercial agent companies have; they give you theirs if you hired one. Naming a person? Look for the “enter a registered agent/office” option and type the name and address instead. One more portal-adjacent rule: several states require the agent's signed consent with the articles, and every state expects real agreement, so get a yes first (a one-line email exchange is plenty where no form is required).
Can I be my own registered agent?
You personally, yes, if you live in the state and can list a real street address; most founders do exactly that. The corporation can't name itself, which is the distinction that trips people up: a human or a hired company must hold the role.
Is using my home address okay?
Legal in every state, and common. The trade-off is purely privacy: the address goes on the state's public record, where anyone can search it. If that bothers you (or you move often), a commercial agent's address goes on the record instead; that privacy is most of what their ~$100-$300/yr buys.
What happens if our agent moves away or quits?
File the state's change-of-agent form promptly; it's a one-pager with a small fee. Let it lapse and two bad things become possible: a lawsuit served at the stale address can proceed without you ever hearing about it, and states can administratively dissolve a corporation with no valid agent. Your dashboard's annual-renewal reminders exist partly for this.
Primary sources: IRS FSTC overview · IRS: registered agent on exemption applications (Form 1023 instructions)
