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Charities

The Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations administers the state's charitable solicitation law. It also maintains registration and financial information on over 13,000 charities soliciting in the Commonwealth, as well as more than 450 professional solicitors and fundraising counsels. For more information on charitable organizations, professional solicitors and fundraising counsels that are currently registered with the Bureau, please use the "Charity Search" feature available on this website.

Renew or Register

Renewal dates are based on the organization’s fiscal year end and is listed on the certificate of registration as the Expiration Date & Automatic Extension. Reminders will be emailed when a valid email is on file with the Bureau. If a valid email is not on file, a renewal reminder will be mailed to the current mailing address on file.

Currently the Bureau's online system is accepting the Non-renewal BCO-2 Form, Charity Registration Statment BCO-10 Form, and the Registration Statement Form for the Purely Public Charities (IPP).  We continue to work to offer all our forms through our online system.  The Bureau is still accepting registrations sent via USPS regular mail (emailed filings are NOT permitted).  To file online, please click here.

Note: When using our online system, please refrain from using document names with special characters (&+#@, etc.) since our system will not receive them.  Make sure you use only alphanumeric names to ensure we receive your documents.

File online:

Charitable organizations may use our new online system to expedite their renewal or registration process.


File by mail:

Charitable organizations may continue to register by mail by downloading, completing, printing, then mailing our registration forms.

Contact

Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations, Charities Section

Address:
401 North Street, Rm 207
Harrisburg, PA 17120

Phone: (717) 783-1720
Toll-free: (800) 732-0999

Email: ST-CHARITY@pa.gov
(Notice: This email account cannot be used for submitting documents pertaining to registrations or the updating of information.)


Announcements

On December 22, 2017, Governor Wolf signed two bills into law.Both Acts amend the Solicitation of Funds for Charitable Purposes Act to affect several important Bureau processes. Both Acts become effective 60 days from the date they are signed by the Governor, which was February 20, 2018. You can review the changes made in Act 71 (HB 1420) and Act 72 (HB 1421) by clicking on the links provided, or by reviewing an updated version of the full Solicitation of Funds for Charitable Purposes Act found on the resources page.

Requests for extensions of time to file the Charitable Organization Registration Statement BCO-10 registrations are no longer necessary to be filed since the maximum extension of time permitted to file a renewal registration is automatically granted by the Bureau at the time a registration is approved. An extension to the 15th day of the eleventh month after the close of the following fiscal year end is automatically granted. The registration expiration date indicated on the Certificate of Registration includes this automatic extension. This expiration date is the due date for the organization's next renewal registration. This does not apply to Institutions of Purely Public Charity registrations.

Renewal reminders are now being emailed to charitable organizations, professional fundraising counsel and professional solicitors when a valid email is on file with the Bureau. If a valid email is not on file, a renewal reminder will be mailed to the current mailing address on file. The renewal due date is also indicated on the certificate of registration sent to the organization upon the approval of a filing. For charitable organizations, the renewal due date is listed on the certificate as the Expiration Date & Automatic Extension. Charitable organization renewal dates can be found on the "Registration Forms" page and are based on the organizations fiscal year end.

Organizations with questions regarding registration requirements that are not answered through resources available on our website, are encouraged to contact the Bureau.  Please see the "Registration Forms" page, as well as the "Resources" page, for more information on filing requirements.