39 states verified · more in progress
Does hiring a professional fundraiser change what we have to register?
Often, yes — and in ways that are the charity's responsibility, not just the fundraiser's. This page fills in state by state as each card is verified against primary sources; we publish only what's confirmed, never a guess.
The roles states distinguish
Most states separate three: a paid solicitor (or commercial fundraiser), who asks for donations on your behalf for compensation; fundraising counsel, who plans or advises but doesn't solicit or handle funds; and a commercial co-venturer, a business running a “portion of proceeds” promotion. The duties — who registers, whose contract gets filed — turn on which role applies.
Verified states
| State | What using one changes |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Alabama's small-organization exemption (contributions of $25,000 or less, with government money and bona fide dues not counting toward the cap) requires all fundraising be conducted by unpaid persons — paying a fundraiser removes it. Professional fundraisers and co-venturers also carry their own AG registrations and bond. |
| Alaska | Alaska's small-organization exemption (intends $5,000 or less in contributions excluding government grants, OR 10 or fewer contributors) requires ALL functions including solicitation be performed by unpaid persons — any paid role defeats it. Paid solicitors register separately at $200 with a $10,000 bond and 90-day campaign reports, and unregistered paid solicitation is criminal. |
| Arkansas | Arkansas's small-organization exemption (up to $50,000 per calendar year, raised from $25,000 by Act 338 of 2023) requires ALL functions including fundraising be carried on by unpaid persons — any paid role defeats it. Paid solicitors register separately at $200 with a $10,000 bond. · contract filing |
| California | California registers every charity regardless of whether it uses a paid fundraiser, but adds duties around one: a commercial fundraiser must itself register with the Attorney General, there must be a WRITTEN CONTRACT between the charity and the commercial fundraiser for each solicitation campaign (with statutorily required terms, signed by both, and available for Attorney General inspection — it is not filed with the Registry), and the commercial fundraiser must file a Notice of Intent (Form CT-10CF) with the Registry at least 10 working days before each campaign begins. |
| Colorado | Colorado's small-organization exemption (under $25,000 gross revenue or ten or fewer contributors) is unavailable to a charity that has contracted with a paid solicitor to solicit in the state — so engaging one can make an otherwise-exempt small organization register. Since August 12, 2026, an auctioneer providing auctioneer services to a charity — contracted, paid, or volunteering — is excluded from the 'paid solicitor' definition, so hiring one does not defeat the exemption. Paid solicitors and consultants also carry their own, anniversary-based registrations. |
| Connecticut | Connecticut's small-organization exemption (normally under $50,000 in annual contributions) requires that no person be compensated primarily to conduct solicitations — a paid solicitor defeats it, though ordinary paid program staff don't. Exempt small organizations must still keep three years of fiscal records. |
| District of Columbia | DC's license duty turns on soliciting in the District, not on who does it — though the District flatly bans compensated telephone solicitation, and solicitors must carry information cards under § 44-1705. The religious exemption (solicitations solely for a church or church-supervised organization with an IRC § 501 exemption) is self-executing, with an optional affidavit. |
| Florida | Florida's small-organization exemption (under $50,000 in total contributions) requires all fundraising be carried out by uncompensated volunteers, members, or officers, with no funds inuring to a professional fundraiser — paying one removes the exemption, so an otherwise-exempt small charity must register. |
| Georgia | Georgia's small-organization exemption (under $25,000 in contributions in both the preceding and current calendar years) is available only to charities with no paid-solicitor agreement — signing one removes it, whatever your size. |
| Hawaii | Hawaii's small-organization exemption (normally under $25,000 in contributions on a three-year average) is conditioned on using no professional solicitor or counsel — engaging one removes it, so an otherwise-exempt small charity can be required to register. All Hawaii exemptions also require a filed and approved application; none is automatic. |
| Illinois | Illinois wires paid fundraising into its AUDIT tier, not just registration: any fundraising not carried on solely by unpaid persons or the charity's own staff drops the audit trigger from $500,000 to $25,000 in contributions — a condition broader than 'professional fundraiser.' Several § 3(b) no-registration categories (named-individual relief, united-fund allocatees, school PTOs) are also conditioned on unpaid fundraising. · contract filing |
| Kansas | Kansas's $10,000 small-organization exemption requires that ALL fundraising functions be carried on by unpaid persons — paying anyone to fundraise defeats it regardless of size. Kansas's exemption list is otherwise long (religious, educational, membership, ≤100 solicitees, and more) and self-executing; no exemption form exists. |
| Kentucky | Using a professional solicitor doesn't change a Kentucky charity's own filing duty — the 990-copy requirement turns on IRS filing status, not on who fundraises. Professional solicitors carry their own obligations to the AG, including campaign reports the AG may have audited. |
| Louisiana | The professional solicitor IS the trigger in Louisiana — the charity-side registration duty exists only while one is engaged, making this the purest fundraiser-triggered regime in the country. In-house salaried staff of a charity with a permanent Louisiana establishment don't count as professional solicitors. Counsel flag: § 51:1901(6)'s salaried-staff exclusion applies only to a charity maintaining a permanent establishment within Louisiana, AND interstate solicitations into Louisiana are deemed professional solicitation — an out-of-state charity's own paid staff soliciting into LA may count as professional solicitors, so the 'in-house fundraisers do not trigger the duty' takeaway holds cleanly only for charities with a permanent LA establishment. A salaried employee soliciting for more than one organization for a fee is likewise deemed a professional solicitor. |
| Maine | Maine's small-organization exemption is unusually generous — under $35,000 in contributions OR 35 or fewer contributors per calendar year, disjunctive — but only without a professional solicitor; hiring one defeats it (and the membership-solicitation exemption too). Professional solicitors hold their own OPOR license; fund-raising counsel and commercial co-venturer licensing was repealed in 2013–14. |
| Maryland | Every Maryland exemption in Bus. Reg. § 6-102(c) — religious, members-only, under-$25,000, named-individual, foundation-funded — is conditioned on NOT using a professional solicitor; hiring one means registering regardless. Even below $25,000, using a professional solicitor turns the $0 fee into $50. |
| Massachusetts | Massachusetts's small-organization exemption from the solicitation certificate (contributions of $5,000 or less, or ten or fewer contributors, in a calendar year) requires all-volunteer operation on either prong — compensating anyone, including a paid fundraiser, removes it. |
| Michigan | Michigan's small-organization exemption (up to $25,000 per 12-month period) requires that all fund-raising functions be carried on by unpaid persons and that a financial statement be publicly available — paying anyone to fundraise defeats it. The named-individual-relief exemption likewise requires unpaid fundraising with 100% passing to the beneficiary. |
| Minnesota | Employing a professional fundraiser voids Minnesota's small-organization and member-only exemptions (§ 309.515, subd. 2) — though not the religious or educational ones. The small-org exemption already requires ALL functions including fundraising be performed by unpaid persons. Professional-fundraiser contracts must be filed with the AG within 7 days of execution. · contract filing |
| Mississippi | Paid fundraising cuts twice in Mississippi: the small-organization exemption requires all fundraising be done by unpaid persons, so paying anyone to fundraise removes it — and separately, ANY paid fundraising triggers the audited-financial-statement requirement regardless of the charity's size, a trap most summaries miss. |
| Missouri | Missouri's hospital exemption is conditioned on not using an outside professional fund-raiser — a hospital that hires one loses it. The headline 501(c)(3)/(c)(7)/(c)(8) exemption, by contrast, carries no fundraising condition at all: a paid fundraiser doesn't change most charities' exempt status here. |
| Nevada | Using a paid fundraiser doesn't change a charity's own Nevada registration — every non-exempt soliciting charity files the CSRS regardless, and Nevada's narrow exemptions (fewer than 15 people solicited, relatives, named-person appeals, alumni associations) carry no fundraiser condition. Nevada also registers no charity 'because of' a fundraiser: the registration duty is already universal. |
| New Hampshire | New Hampshire's registration trigger is holding and spending charitable assets, not how you fundraise — using a paid solicitor doesn't change the charity's own duty, and the RSA 7:19 carve-outs (government, religious) aren't conditioned on volunteer fundraising. Fundraising counsel and paid solicitors have their own obligations under RSA 7:28-c through 7:28-e. |
| New Jersey | Using a paid professional fundraiser forces a New Jersey charity onto the long form (CRI-150I/CRI-300R) regardless of size — the short form and its lower fee are only for all-volunteer solicitation. Fund raising counsel and independent paid fund raisers register separately with the Division at $250 a year. · contract filing |
| New Mexico | Using a paid fundraiser doesn't change a charity's own New Mexico registration — every non-exempt charity registers regardless, and New Mexico has no small-organization exemption for one to lose. Professional fundraisers carry their own obligations, with a separate $500 late fee for the fundraiser itself. |
| New York | New York's small-organization exemption from Article 7-A registration is available only to charities that raise under $25,000 a year AND use no professional fundraiser or fundraising counsel. Using a paid fundraiser removes that exemption, so an otherwise-exempt small organization can be required to register once it engages one. |
| North Carolina | North Carolina's small-organization exemption (under $50,000 in contributions, raised from $25,000 effective 2023-09-14) requires that NO officer, trustee, organizer, incorporator, fund-raiser, or solicitor be compensated — a single paid officer, not just a paid fundraiser, defeats it. Attorney and accountant professional fees don't count as compensation. |
| North Dakota | Using a paid fundraiser doesn't change a charity's own North Dakota registration — every non-exempt soliciting charity registers regardless, and North Dakota has no small-organization exemption for a fundraiser to disqualify. Professional fundraisers carry their own annual registration ($100, expiring September 1) and a $20,000 bond. |
| Ohio | Ohio's small-organization exemption (gross revenue of $25,000 or less, excluding government and 501(c)(3) grants) applies only if no person is compensated primarily to solicit — so paying a fundraiser can make an otherwise-exempt small charity register under Chapter 1716. |
| Oklahoma | Oklahoma's fraternal/patriotic/civic membership exemption holds only without paid solicitors — engaging one puts the organization back under the registration duty. With the small-org exemption gone since 2011, that leaves paid solicitation with essentially no exempt lane outside the religious, educational, and named-individual categories. |
| Oregon | Oregon's registration duty turns on holding charitable assets — how you fundraise doesn't change it, and the narrow ORS 128.640 exemptions (religious corporations, cemeteries, sole-beneficiary CRT trustees) carry no fundraising conditions. Professional fundraising firms have their own obligations to the DOJ under ORS 128.821 et seq. |
| Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania's small-organization exemption ($25,000 or less in annual contributions) applies only when no compensated solicitor is used — paying one means registering regardless of size. The Bureau also starts the registration clock the moment any compensated person solicits, even before the $25,000 line is reached. |
| Rhode Island | Using a professional fundraiser independently triggers Rhode Island registration in DBR's administration — even under the $25,000 line — and defeats the small-organization exemption, which requires no professional fundraiser and no inurement. |
| South Carolina | Most of South Carolina's exemptions — including the $25,000 small-organization exemption — are available only to charities that use no professional solicitor, counsel, or commercial co-venturer, so engaging one removes them. Only the public-school and $10,000 micro-organization exemptions survive the use of a paid fundraiser, and a professional fundraiser working for an exempt charity must still register itself. |
| Tennessee | Tennessee's small-organization exemption (public contributions of $50,000 or less) is void if the charity uses any professional solicitor, fundraising counsel, or commercial co-venturer — engaging one means registering within the normal rules, whatever your size. |
| Virginia | Virginia's small-organization exemption (at or under $5,000 in the current and each of the three preceding years) requires that all functions be carried on by persons unpaid for their services — any paid staff defeats it. Professional fundraising counsel and solicitors register separately with VDACS on Forms 103 and 104. · contract filing |
| Washington | Washington's small-organization exemption requires that all activities, including fundraising, be carried on by unpaid persons — so paying anyone to fundraise, including a commercial fund-raiser, removes it. Commercial fund-raisers must also register themselves before soliciting. Separately, when a charity uses a commercial fund-raiser, the fund-raising CONTRACT must be registered before the campaign — with the CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION responsible for filing the signed contract, the registration form, and the fee, and for written notice of addenda or changes within 30 days. |
| West Virginia | West Virginia's small-organization exemption (up to $50,000 per calendar year, raised from $25,000 in 2020) holds only when no professional solicitor or fundraiser is used — engaging one requires registration at any size. |
| Wisconsin | Wisconsin's small-organization exemption (up to $25,000 in intended contributions) requires ALL functions including solicitation be performed by unpaid persons — any paid role, fundraiser or otherwise, defeats it. The membership-only fraternal/civic exemption is likewise a no-paid-solicitation shape. |
Check where you stand
The free scan factors in whether you use a paid fundraiser when it reasons about your obligations. See where you stand in every state.
Common questions
- Does hiring a professional fundraiser change what we have to register?
- It can. States distinguish a few roles — a paid solicitor who asks for donations, fundraising counsel who advises without soliciting, and a commercial co-venturer running a charity promotion — and several add duties when one is involved: the fundraiser itself may have to register, and the contract between the charity and the fundraiser may have to be filed. In some states, using a paid solicitor is itself a registration trigger regardless of how much you raise.
- Do we have to file our contract with a fundraiser?
- In several states, yes — the contract between a charity and a commercial fundraiser must be filed with the state, often before the fundraising begins. The states we've verified are listed on this page; where it applies, it's cited on that state's guide.
- What should we ask a fundraiser before signing?
- Whether they're registered in the states where they'll solicit on your behalf, who files the contract and by when, and how the arrangement affects your own registrations. Getting this straight before signing avoids a compliance gap that's the charity's problem, not just the fundraiser's.
Related: where do we need to register? · are we exempt? · all state requirements
Rules reflect cited sources as of the dates shown on each state's guide. Informational, not legal advice.