How To Register Non Profit Organization In Florida

To first a nonprofit corporation in Florida, begin by filing nonprofit Manufactures of Incorporation with the Florida Section of State'south Partition of Corporations. You tin file your articles online or by mail. The articles of incorporation cost $seventy total to file. But truly preparing a nonprofit to pursue its mission involves several additional steps.

Hire Northwest to start your Florida nonprofit, and you tin can benefit from the free utilize of our Florida business address and limited free mail service forwarding. Additionally, all of our services come up with Privacy by Default® and the ongoing aid of our local Corporate Guides®.

Costless PDF Download

Download the Florida nonprofit Articles of Incorporation. Fill up out the form and submit to the state.

Exercise It Yourself Online

Our free account and tools will walk you through starting and maintaining a Florida nonprofit. All for free.

5 Day Florida Nonprofit

Includes registered agent service, concern accost, nonprofit templates & more.

$ 295 Total

Rated 4.6 / 5 stars by 427 clients on Google

two

To incorporate a Florida nonprofit, you must complete and file nonprofit manufactures of incorporation with the Florida Division of Corporations. Encounter the document beneath and click on any number to see what data is required in the corresponding department.

1. Corporate Name

Your nonprofit'due south proper name must comprise a corporate suffix ("Corporation," "Corp.," "Incorporated," or "Inc."), and the proper name must be distinguishable from other organizations on file with the Country of Florida. Florida'south Partitioning of Corporations no longer provides name reservations and preliminary name searches, simply you tin can search the state'southward records yourself at the Sectionalization'southward website.

2. Primary Part

Include the street address and mailing address (if dissimilar) of your nonprofit'south principal place of business concern, and keep in mind that whatever street address yous put down goes onto the public record. When you sign up for Northwest's registered amanuensis service, you tin can list the Tampa, FL, street address of our part in place of yours.

3. Purpose

Florida wants a detailed description of your nonprofit's purpose (and gives you plenty of room on the grade to write it). If your nonprofit intends to seek 501(c)(3) federal tax-exempt status, be sure to include the specific tax-exempt language required by the IRS.

4. Way of Election

Briefly indicate how your nonprofit will elect and appoint its directors.

five. Initial Officers and/or Directors

You have the pick to list the names, addresses, and titles of your nonprofit'due south directors or officers (at least three).

6. Registered Agent

Include the name and Florida street accost of your nonprofit's registered agent. Your registered agent is the individual or business organisation (similar Northwest!) authorized to accept services of procedure (legal notices) on your nonprofit's behalf. Florida requires an organization'southward registered agent to officially take the position by signing and dating the manufactures of incorporation.

7. Incorporator

Include the proper name and address of at least one incorporator. An incorporator is simply a person authorized to complete, sign, and submit your nonprofit'due south manufactures of incorporation. Hire Northwest to course your nonprofit, and we'll be your incorporator.

eight. Effective Date (Optional)

Your organization's effective date is simply the date of its official creation, which is commonly merely the engagement the Segmentation of Corporations processes the articles of incorporation. Withal, Florida gives nonprofits the pick to button the effective date back v days prior to the actual filing date or xc days afterwards—you just demand to indicate the effective date on your articles of incorporation. Most nonprofits exit this section bare.

How Much Does It Cost to Comprise a Florida Nonprofit?

Florida charges a $lxx in combined fees to file nonprofit articles of incorporation, a full that includes a $35 filing fee and a $35 designation of registered agent fee. Hire Northwest to course your nonprofit, and your total toll, which includes a full twelvemonth of registered agent service, is $295.

How Long Does It Take to Beginning a Florida Nonprofit?

If you file online, Florida will process your articles within almost 5 business organization days (mailed filings, of course, may take a bit longer). When you rent Northwest to course your Florida nonprofit, we'll file your articles online, and you tin can wait a response from the country inside 5 concern days.

Does a Florida Nonprofit Need a Registered Agent?

Yep, Florida requires a nonprofit corporation to appoint and maintain a registered amanuensis to receive service of process (legal notices) from the state, which is why your nonprofit's manufactures of incorporation must list your registered agent's Florida street address.

Yous're allowed to list yourself equally the registered agent, but nosotros think it's wiser to go with a registered agent service like Northwest. Why? Because most people can't manage and grow a new nonprofit if they tin't leave the function during normal business concern hours, and "staying put" is exactly what the state expects of a registered agent. You would also have to bargain with the fallout of listing your residential or office address on your articles of incorporation, a publicly available document. That fallout commonly includes excessive junk mail, solicitors showing up at your door, and actress fees paid to the state if yous ever need to change the location of your nonprofit's registered office.

These problems disappear when you hire Northwest, where we do the waiting instead of yous, where you get to list our Tampa office accost on your nonprofit's articles of incorporation (in place of your own), and where you get the comfort of knowing that a professional registered agent service is always there to receive legal notices and official country mail on your behalf. At Northwest, we take the infrastructure in place to scan and send whatsoever official land documents we receive on the day we receive them.

three

A federal employer identification number (a FEIN or EIN) is a must for whatsoever new nonprofit trying to navigate its finances, solicit donations, or apply for federal and state taxation exemptions. Your Florida nonprofit can get an EIN from the IRS equally shortly as the state approves your Manufactures of Incorporation. Apply through the IRS website, or you can salvage yourself the trouble entirely by calculation our EIN service for an additional fee when you lot hire Northwest.

Starting a successful nonprofit ways getting anybody in the system on the aforementioned page, and bylaws are what make that possible. Will your nonprofit have voting members? How long is a director's tenure? What are the officers' responsibilities? What if your nonprofit needs to suspend a managing director? Questions like these become addressed in your bylaws, and without them your nonprofit's directors and officers tin't really guide the organization at all. Most nonprofits adopt their bylaws at the organizational meeting (the showtime coming together of the directors after incorporating) and earlier seeking 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the IRS.

It'southward tough to write bylaws, but Northwest can help. You tin accept a look at our Florida nonprofit bylaw guide, which includes admission to our template for writing nonprofit bylaws. We likewise provide numerous other free nonprofit forms to help your nonprofit start successful and stay successful. Why? Because we want you to sign up for our registered amanuensis service year afterwards twelvemonth, and that requires that your nonprofit stays in concern and continues to abound. Your success is our success.

Your nonprofit will pay federal income taxes, like any business organization, unless it obtains federal tax-exempt status from the IRS. This involves submitting an Application for Recognition of Exemption to the IRS to demonstrate that your organization qualifies every bit i of effectually 2 dozen dissimilar types of exempt organizations described under department 501(c) of the Internal Acquirement Code. Since most nonprofits go formed for charitable purposes, the bulk of new nonprofits seek 501(c)(3) status for public charities and individual foundations.

If your nonprofit intends to seek 501(c)(3) revenue enhancement-exempt status, make sure your articles of incorporation include the special tax-exempt language required by the IRS. This language, which includes a statement of purpose and a provision governing what happens to your nonprofit'due south assets if it always shuts downwardly, is designed to make sure your nonprofit is defended exclusively to the pursuit of one or more tax-exempt purposes recognized by the IRS.

Things go more complicate at the state level. In general, your nonprofit will pay the Florida reemployment tax if it consistently has more than iv employees, merely 501(c)(3) charitable organizations, if already recognized past the IRS, are usually exempt from the country'due south corporate income tax. Information technology is as well possible to get a sales and utilize tax exemption (at least on purchases) if the nonprofit obtains a Consumer's Certificate of Exemption.

six

Does a Florida Nonprofit Need a Concern License?

Florida'due south equivalent of a business license is called the Business Tax Receipt, which typically gets granted by the county government, and most counties require businesses, including nonprofits, to become a business tax receipt. This is one of the more than complicated elements of starting a nonprofit (or any business) in Florida, so information technology's probably best to merely accomplish out to your local taxation collector'due south function to go clear about the requirements and fees specific to your nonprofit.

Should a Florida Nonprofit Register for Land Tax Accounts?

If your nonprofit will have paid employees or make sales of any kind (amidst numerous other kinds of business concern-similar transactions), yous will likely need to submit a Business Revenue enhancement Awarding (Form DR-1) to the Florida Department of Revenue. Annals online at the Florida Department of Revenue's website.

Should a Florida Nonprofit Register equally a Clemency?

If your Florida nonprofit intends to solicit charitable contributions from the public, you're required to register equally a charity with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and renew each year. However, the application process and costs differ depending on your nonprofit's annual revenue. Check out our guide to Florida Charity Registration for details.

To open up a banking company account for your Florida nonprofit, yous will need to bring the following items with you lot to the bank:

A copy of your nonprofit'due south articles of incorporation
A copy of your nonprofit'southward bylaws
Your nonprofit'due south EIN

It's wise to call your alee of time to check its requirements. Some banks may require you to bring a resolution authorizing you to open up a bank account in your nonprofit'southward name (particularly if your nonprofit has several directors and/or officers).

eight

Florida requires nonprofits to file annual reports to keep the Department of State'due south records current, including information about your nonprofit'south registered amanuensis and the names and addresses of your officers and directors. The filing fee is $61.25, and you must file online at the Florida Section of Land'due south website. The borderline is May 1st each year.

Rent Northwest every bit your registered agent service, and we'll send yous a reminder when your annual report's deadline approaches, merely we can likewise complete and submit the study ourselves. Just add our convenient Florida annual report service, for an additional $161.25 fee, when y'all hire Northwest.

Let U.s.a. Be Your Guide

Registered Agent Office Graphic

At Northwest Registered Agent, we've spent years crafting our Florida Nonprofit Service. When you hire us, we'll grade your Florida nonprofit for $295 full and include:

Privacy by Default®
1 twelvemonth of registered agent service
Gratuitous Florida business address employ
Free post forwarding (up to 10 pieces of non-land mail scanned per year for Costless)
Digital notifications
Florida almanac report reminders and directions for fast filing
A secure online account filled with intuitive business maintenance tools and forms to make upkeep simple
Lifetime Corporate Guide Service—call u.s. someday and one of our Corporate Guides® will help you navigate any business problem, chore or curiosity you accept.

Northwest Registered Agent is the merely national nonprofit formation service defended to your personal privacy. We don't well data to third-parties, and nosotros do everything we tin to go on your personal information secure.

Kickoff YOUR FLORIDA NONPROFIT FOR $295 Full