Annual and Ongoing Requirements for a California Nonprofit

Most people forming a nonprofit picture a single annual filing, the way an LLC files one annual report. A California nonprofit is different: it answers to three separate authorities, each with its own filing and deadline. Miss one and you can be in good standing with two regulators while quietly falling out of compliance with the third.

• California Secretary of State — keeps the corporate record current through the Statement of Information.
• California Attorney General — oversees charities through the Registry of Charitable Trusts and its annual report.
• IRS and Franchise Tax Board — govern your tax-exempt status through the annual information return.

Treating these as one obligation is the single biggest source of accidental non-compliance for California nonprofits. Track them as three distinct tracks with three distinct deadlines.

The Statement of Information (Form SI-100) keeps the state's record of your organization accurate — your officers, directors, principal address, and agent for service of process.

The schedule

• Initial filing: due within 90 days of incorporating.
• Ongoing filing: nonprofit corporations file it biennially (every two years) after the initial one.

File it through bizfile Online. It's a short informational filing, not a financial disclosure — you're confirming who runs the organization and where it can be reached, not reporting revenue.

Why it's easy to miss

Because it's biennial rather than annual, it's simple to lose track of. Two years is long enough that a board can turn over and forget the filing exists. If your officers, address, or agent change between filings, you can (and should) file an updated Statement of Information at any time — you're not limited to the biennial window.

This is the filing out-of-state templates never mention and California nonprofits most often overlook. Every charity registered with the Attorney General's Registry of Charitable Trusts must file an annual report, Form RRF-1.

What it covers

The RRF-1 reports basic financial and operational information to the Attorney General, who oversees how charitable assets are handled in California. Depending on the organization's revenue, it may need to be accompanied by a copy of the IRS Form 990 and, for larger organizations, audited financial statements.

The stakes

The Registry is where the Attorney General watches for charities that misuse assets, and the RRF-1 is the annual check-in. Fail to file and the organization can be listed as delinquent, lose Registry good standing, and face penalties. Because this filing goes to a different agency than everything else, a board can be diligent about its Secretary of State and IRS filings and still let the RRF-1 lapse. Put it on the calendar as its own recurring task.

Tax-exempt doesn't mean filing-exempt. To keep 501(c)(3) status, a nonprofit files an annual information return with the IRS, and California expects a corresponding state filing.

The Form 990 family

• Form 990-N (e-Postcard) — for the smallest organizations, a very short online filing.
• Form 990-EZ — for mid-sized organizations.
• Form 990 — the complete return that larger organizations must file.

Which one you file depends on your gross receipts and assets. The 990 is due a set number of months after your fiscal year ends, and the deadline is driven by the fiscal year you set in your bylaws.

The automatic-revocation trap

This is the harshest deadline in the whole nonprofit calendar. If an organization fails to file the required 990 for three consecutive years, the IRS automatically revokes its tax-exempt status. Getting reinstated is a paperwork ordeal that can involve re-applying. Even the smallest nonprofits filing only the 990-N have to file every year — skipping it because "there was no activity" is exactly how organizations lose their exemption.

The California side

California requires exempt organizations to file with the Franchise Tax Board as well (commonly Form 199 or the 199N e-Postcard, depending on size). Maintaining your FTB exemption means keeping these state filings current alongside the federal ones.

Beyond the scheduled filings, a nonprofit has to keep its basic corporate hygiene in order — and lapses here quietly undermine everything else.

Maintain a valid agent for service of process

Your agent must remain reachable at a physical California street address throughout the organization's life. If a volunteer agent moves or leaves the board, update the designation with the Secretary of State. A nonprofit with an invalid agent is out of compliance even if every other filing is current, and it risks being served a lawsuit through the Secretary of State without ever seeing it.

Hold meetings and keep minutes

California nonprofits are expected to operate through their board. Hold the meetings your bylaws require, keep minutes documenting decisions and votes, and maintain your corporate records — Articles, bylaws, EIN letter, determination letters, and minutes — in an organized permanent file. This isn't busywork; it's the evidence that the board is exercising its fiduciary duties, and it's exactly what a funder, bank, or regulator asks to see.

Renew licenses and permits

Any local business licenses, charitable solicitation permits, or program-specific permits your organization holds run on their own renewal cycles, separate from the state and federal filings above. Track them so none lapse.

The organizations that never fall out of compliance treat the calendar as a system, not a memory exercise.

Build a single compliance calendar that lists all three tracks — the biennial Statement of Information, the annual RRF-1, and the annual 990 and California FTB filing — with the actual due dates for your fiscal year and reminders well in advance. Assign each filing to a specific person on the board or staff so nothing falls into the gap between "everyone assumed someone else had it." When leadership turns over, hand off the compliance calendar deliberately so the incoming board inherits the deadlines, not a surprise.

We can serve as your agent for service of process, which keeps that piece constant through board changes and keeps a home address off the public record. For the rest, an organized calendar and clear ownership are what separate the nonprofits that stay in good standing from the ones scrambling to reinstate after an avoidable lapse.