South Dakota opens its §25F SGO application: a Department of Education form, due before December 15

South Dakota is taking applications. On October 23, 2026, the South Dakota Department of Education announced it is accepting applications from scholarship granting organizations for the state's list under the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit (IRC §25F), which the department calls the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program. Organizations must apply “prior to December 15 annually,” the department's program page says, and it expects a list of eligible South Dakota SGOs to be available in early 2027. Gov. Larry Rhoden announced South Dakota's participation in November 2025, and the state is on the IRS list of participating states. “Whether a student attends a traditional public school, private school, microschool, classical school, or homeschool, the goal remains the same,” Secretary of Education Joseph Graves said in the release.

What the form asks for. The online Application for Scholarship Granting Organization (SGO) Certification in South Dakota is for the state's list for calendar year 2027. It asks for your legal name as registered for 501(c)(3) status, your EIN, the date of your IRS determination letter, whether you're a multistate SGO and which other states you award scholarships in, and the name, county and state of residence, and profession of your board chair and treasurer. You describe your mission and the students and schools your scholarships are meant to support. Then you check six certifications that track §25F: you'll fund at least 10 students who don't all attend the same attendance center, spend at least 90 percent of your income on scholarships (85 percent where the rules allow it), pay only expenses described in §530(b)(3)(A), verify household income and family size against the area median gross income limit, give priority to prior-year recipients and their siblings, and never earmark contributions for a particular student. Neither the page nor the form lists a fee.

Submitting the form doesn't finish the application. The form has you acknowledge that your application isn't complete until the department receives and acknowledges five documents, emailed to FSTC@state.sd.us before the deadline: a copy of your IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter, a complete list of your board, a list of the schools your scholarships will support “and documented outreach,” your conflict-of-interest policy and financial controls or procurement policy, and a cover letter signed by your board chair or chief executive. Because the form requires the letter's date and a copy, an organization whose Form 1023 is still pending should ask the department before it applies. The school list is the item a new organization is least likely to have on file. It means talking to schools before you apply, not after.

Two programs, two lists. South Dakota has run Partners in Education since 2016. It is an insurance-premium tax credit for gifts to scholarship granting organizations, run by the Division of Insurance, and it keeps its own list. The federal list is a separate application to the Department of Education, so an organization already approved for Partners in Education still has to apply. The federal credit is up to $1,700 per taxpayer for qualified contributions made from January 1, 2027, or $3,400 on a joint return when each spouse gives, under Treasury's proposed regulations, which taxpayers may rely on for 2027.

Located in South Dakota. Under Treasury's temporary regulations, which take effect without a comment period and apply from September 1, 2026, an organization is located in South Dakota if it is authorized to do business there and complies with the state's charity laws. A South Dakota office isn't required, and the state's list must include every organization located there that asks to be listed and meets the federal requirements. An organization incorporated elsewhere gets a certificate of authority from the South Dakota Secretary of State ($125); South Dakota registers paid telephone solicitors, not charities. The residence rule still applies: the department's page says students must be “resident in South Dakota,” so a scholarship from a South Dakota-listed SGO goes to a South Dakota student (scholarships follow the student's state). Donors can live anywhere.

Public schools and home schools. The department's page tells schools and districts they can set up their own 501(c)(3) to serve their students, as long as it supports more than one attendance center and funds at least 10 students. That is the route public-school foundations in Denver and Clark County are taking; others, like Bowling Green in Kentucky, are partnering with an existing SGO instead. The release and the page also say South Dakota intends to support students who are homeschooled or in microschools. Whether home-school costs qualify is still an open federal question: the proposed regulations tie “school” to §530(b)(3)(B), a school as determined under state law, and Treasury's separate §530 guidance on qualified expenses hasn't come out yet (the homeschool question).

For organizations. Have your 501(c)(3) determination letter, a segregated §25F account, and governing documents and written policies that state the §25F rules in so many words: a new organization is judged on those documents until it has a track record (§ 1.25F-5T(d)(4)). Line up the schools you plan to serve, then file the form and email the documents well before December 15. Our South Dakota application guide has the steps and state fees, our free SGO builder walks through formation, and our South Dakota page and South Dakota SGO list page track the state's process. Every state's official list is in one place.