Charitable Trusts
HOW TO FILE A COMPLAINT AGAINST A CHARITY
Have a complaint against a charity or other public benefit corporation? Please use our complaint form. Mail the completed form and any attachments to: Registry of Charitable Trusts, Office of the Attorney General, P.O. Box 903447, Sacramento, CA 94203-4470.
NEW REQUIREMENTS FOR INITIAL REGISTRATION BY CHARITIES
Charities registering for the first time with the Attorney General’s Registry of Charitable Trusts must now complete a new form, the CT-1, and provide the materials and information required by newly amended section 300 of the Attorney General’s regulations. For a summary of the principal documents and information needed to register, check the initial registration guide. The new initial registration requirements for charities became effective January 10, 2008.
NEW PUBLICATIONS
ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
Sensory Intergration
Sensory Intergration (sic) International is a nonprofit corporation that treated children with sensory integration deficiencies and conducted educational programs for health professionals who treat persons with sensory integration problems. We learned that the Executive Director of Sensory Intergration diverted substantial charitable assets for his personal use and that Sensory Intergration failed to refund fees for canceled seminars. The Attorney General filed a civil complaint against Sensory Intergration and its officers and directors seeking damages, civil penalties, restitution, an accounting, appointment of a receiver, and involuntary dissolution of the charity.
On February 25, 2008, the Court approved a settlement between the Attorney General and all individual defendants other than the Executive Director. As a result of money received from these defendants pursuant to the settlement, the Attorney General has created a special fund for consumers owed refunds of fees paid for seminars that were canceled. The Attorney General is currently processing those refunds.
Subsequently, the Attorney General obtained a default judgment against Sensory Intergration that dissolves the corporation and orders that its minimal assets be distributed to Via Services, Inc., a nonprofit corporation with a similar purpose. The Attorney General also obtained a default judgment against the Executive Director in the amount of $144,645.51.
The Attorney General’s Registry of Charitable Trusts is pleased to announce its new search feature. The new search feature allows you to search for information on charities, charity fundraising professionals, and raffle registrants that are registered with the Registry. It also allows you to view some basic information regarding charities that are either not currently registered with our office or are exempt from registration and reporting to the Registry.
With a few exceptions, the new search feature does not currently provide access to electronic copies of documents filed with the Registry, including IRS Form 990s (informational returns) filed by charities. Electronic copies of filings by certain registrants, such as the annual financial reports filed by commercial fundraisers for charitable purposes, are available elsewhere on the Charities website. Access to these reports is available at CFR search.
The Registry’s goal is to make all public information in our files available on our website. Until the Registry is able to do so, a national database of IRS Form 990s may be viewed at www.guidestar.org. The presence of a charity´s Form 990 on the GuideStar website means the organization is a federally recognized charity. It does not necessarily mean, however, that the charity has complied with the registration and reporting requirements of the Registry of Charitable Trusts. In addition, charities with gross receipts under $25,000 are exempt from filing informational returns with IRS. Copies of records filed with our office, including IRS Form 990s and Annual Registration Renewal Fee Reports (RRF-1), can be obtained by sending a request to the Registry email box. Send an email to the Registry.
To begin, use the Registry Search Feature, or use the Registry Search link on the left side of this page. The Registry's new search feature is best viewed using Internet Explorer. Access to some links within the application may not function properly using other web browsers. For help interpreting the information available on the “Search Results” screens, please review Registry Search Feature – What do the codes mean?
NOTE TO REGISTRANTS: The information that displays in the new search feature represents information currently in the Registry database. If you believe the information displayed for your organization is in error, you may send an email to the “Ask the Registrar” mailbox. In that email, please set forth the information you believe to be incorrect and supply the documentation necessary to correct your record. If your organization is incorporated, its name and facility address information must be updated with the Secretary of State’s office in order to be corrected in our database. Send an email to the Registry.
Taking time to learn about a charity before you donate can go a long way to making sure that the nonprofit organization and cause match your intentions. However, researching charities can be daunting when you consider that there are more than 700,000 federally recognized nonprofit organizations—nearly 150,000 of them in California—and no official "seal of approval" issued.
To help Californians in making important personal decisions on charitable giving, the Attorney General offers a variety of resources here. These resources include guides for charitable giving and searchable databases to learn about specific charities and commercial fundraisers in the state.
For charities and commercial fundraisers, we have forms and other information available to help them comply with state laws. We also have information on charitable fundraising raffles and corporate transactions involving the sale or purchase of nonprofit hospitals. We offer a Guide to the Nonprofit Integrity Act of 2004 
[PDF 170 kb / 8 pg], which concerns new requirements in the conduct of charities, commercial fundraisers, fundraising counsel, unincorporated associations, and trusts.
California law requires charities and commercial fundraisers to register with the Attorney General's Office and to file financial disclosure reports. All charities must file the Annual Registration Renewal Fee Report, and those with gross revenue or assets of $25,000 or more must file annual Form 990 financial reports with the Attorney General's Registry of Charitable Trusts. Since 1965 nonprofit schools, hospitals, and churches have been exempt from the law’s reporting requirements.
As the legal overseer of charities that do business in California, the Attorney General works to protect the interest of all public beneficiaries within his jurisdiction. The Attorney General may conduct investigations and bring legal actions to protect the assets of California charities and ensure the assets are used for their intended charitable purposes.
Using CFR Search, you can look up the financial disclosure reports that commercial fundraisers in California must file with the Attorney General's Registry of Charitable Trusts. These financial reports show if a commercial fundraiser is registered with the state, on whose behalf funds are being raised, and how much of the money raised actually reaches the charity.
Publications available on this website include guides for charities, annual summaries of commercial fundraising activities, summaries of nonprofit raffle activities, and notices and reports regarding nonprofit hospital transactions.
NEW IRS FILING REQUIREMENT FOR SMALL TAX-EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS
Beginning in 2008, the IRS will have a new filing requirement for small tax-exempt organizations. With certain exceptions, it will apply to tax-exempt organizations that normally have annual gross receipts of $25,000 or less and do not have to file Form 990 or 990-EZ. Filing will be done electronically by “e-Postcard,” which is due by the 15th day of the fifth month after the close of the organization’s tax year.
For more information on this new IRS filing requirement, go to www.irs.gov/eo.