How to start a nonprofit in South Carolina

How to start a nonprofit in South Carolina, step by step

1. Name your South Carolina nonprofit

   South Carolina requires no corporate ending. The name may not state or imply a purpose other than one permitted by the nonprofit act and your articles, and must be distinguishable from entities of record. A reservation is optional, costs $10, and holds the name for a nonrenewable 120 days.

2. Choose your first board of directors

   Plan on at least three people who are not related to each other. Some states allow fewer on paper, but three unrelated directors is what the IRS application works best with, and what funders expect. Pick people who will actually show up.

3. File your Articles of Incorporation (Form F0014)

   File Form F0014 with the Secretary of State's Division of Business Filings for $25, online or by mail. If you intend to apply for 501(c)(3), attach Form F0028, the 501(c)(3) attachment, which costs nothing and carries the IRS-required purpose and dissolution language. Filing without it means amending later.

4. Name your registered agent

   South Carolina requires both a registered agent and a registered office at the same address, in state. The agent may be a resident individual or a corporation authorized in South Carolina, and must sign the articles consenting to the appointment.

5. Adopt bylaws and hold your first board meeting

   Bylaws are your internal rulebook: how directors are chosen, how votes work, what officers you have. At the first meeting the board adopts them, elects officers, and approves opening a bank account. Keep minutes; they are your first governance record.

6. Get your free EIN

   It is free from the IRS; any site charging for an EIN is reselling a free thing. Apply online if your responsible party has an SSN or ITIN and your principal place of business is in the US. It takes minutes. Three limits to know: one EIN per responsible party per day, the tool is not open around the clock, and it times out after 15 minutes with nothing saved. Without an SSN or ITIN you file Form SS-4 by fax or mail instead, which takes weeks. You need the EIN for the bank account and every filing after this.

7. Apply for 501(c)(3) status with the IRS

   Two forms, two fees. The short Form 1023-EZ has a $275 user fee, but you may use it only if you clear the whole Eligibility Worksheet. That means three things. Gross receipts did not exceed $50,000 in any of the past three years. They are not projected to exceed $50,000 in any of the next three years. And total assets are $250,000 or less. Churches, schools, hospitals and a few other types cannot use it at all. Everyone else files the full Form 1023, $600. This is the step that makes donations tax-deductible. The IRS currently issues 80 percent of 1023-EZ decisions within about 22 days and 80 percent of full 1023 decisions within about 191 days. It publishes current figures on its status page. Fees read 1 September 2026.

8. Handle South Carolina taxes

   Income tax is straightforward: a nonprofit corporation organized under Chapter 31 and exempt under section 501 is not subject to the annual report or license fee with the Department of Revenue. File SC990-T if you file a federal 990-T for unrelated business income. Sales tax is not automatic and is narrower than founders expect: apply on Form ST-387, and note the exemption excludes public entities, schools, colleges, nonprofit hospitals and nonprofit museums.

9. Register to fundraise

   Register with the Secretary of State's Division of Public Charities before soliciting, using the Registration Statement for a Charitable Organization, $50, renewed annually with an Annual Financial Report or your IRS Form 990 within four and a half months of fiscal year end. Exemptions exist under $20,000 a year if you use no professional solicitors, and under $7,500 regardless. Both are applied for annually on the free Application for Registration Exemption; neither happens by itself.

10. Stay in good standing

    There is no Secretary of State annual report for South Carolina nonprofit corporations, and 501(c) corporations organized under Chapter 31 are outside the Department of Revenue annual report and license fee. Your recurring obligation is the Public Charities renewal and financial report, on the four-and-a-half-month clock.

South Carolina-specific things to know

1. The exemption is an annual filing, not a status

   A charity under $20,000 is not quietly exempt. It files an Annual Application for Registration Exemption every year, free but mandatory. Assuming you are too small to file anything is the most common way South Carolina nonprofits fall out of compliance.

2. Ten dollars a day, up to two thousand

   Late charity reports accrue $10 per day of noncompliance per delinquent report, capped at $2,000. On a $50 registration, that is a penalty two hundred times the fee.

3. Attach F0028 or amend later

   The 501(c)(3) attachment is free and takes a minute at formation. Skipping it means going back to the Secretary of State with an amendment when the IRS asks for the language.

General information for people starting a nonprofit in South Carolina, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and fees are updated; confirm specifics with the South Carolina offices named on this page, the IRS, or a qualified professional before you file.

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Sources: SC Secretary of State nonprofit forms and fees; S.C. Code Title 33, Chapter 31; S.C. Code Title 33, Chapter 56 (Solicitation of Charitable Funds); SCDOR tax-exempt organizations. Read 1 September 2026.