Posted on March 4, 2026
In Which States Should a Nonprofit Register First?*
Table of Contents
Charitable solicitation registration means registering your nonprofit with a state before soliciting contributions from any residents within that state, even when the solicitation happens online. This can lead to a rush of registrations within states your nonprofit might not otherwise consider, just to cover your mailing list. Resist this impulse! While fundraising registration is the law, it is also complex, and approaching compliance is best done with a strategy. Keep in mind, if you haven’t already, it’s likely that you’ll want to suspend any solicitation in states wherein you aren’t yet registered.
The following is not advice, but it is a common approach we see with nonprofits of varying sizes. They often start by picking the states in which they register with intentionality. When budget and bandwidth are tight, some organizations elect to pick a set of states where they can file and maintain without creating late renewals and cleanup work, while still considering which states can or do bring in the largest amount of financial support.
Top 3 Suggested Tips:
- Pull a 3–5 year contributions report and evaluate states by total $ and gift count.
- Flag high-risk states where a lapse could snowball into extra time, fees, and regulator follow-up.
- Build a renewal deadline-aware plan so adding states doesn’t cause missed due dates later.
Prioritizing State Charitable Solicitation Registrations: Top 10 States
There’s no official list of “the top fundraising states in which a nonprofit should register,” since any state in which you solicit, that also has compliance requirements, should be a state in which you register. Some charities take a practical shortcut by starting where giving is strongest overall, then tailoring from there. Any “top 10” lists should be treated as a simple suggested starting point. The following list is based on Fidelity Charitable’s 2025 Geography of Giving (analyzing 2024 donor-advised fund grants) and WalletHub’s 2025 Most Charitable States, which includes a “Charitable Giving” sub-rank by state.
Common top-10 baseline donor-market states:
CA, NY, TX*, FL, IL, PA, MA, WA, NC, OH
*Texas has very limited registration requirements, mostly for organizations that are soliciting on behalf of law enforcement, public safety, or veterans causes — it’s uncommon for many nonprofits to need registration in TX.
This is a baseline shortlist and the real order for any state solicitation strategy should still be generated from a nonprofit’s own 3–5 year contributions-by-state analysis. Use this only as a general guide, then replace it with your own donor analysis list based on your revenue + risk + timing.
The Framework: Revenue + Risk + Timing
The following is a suggested template to narrow down your “top states” to grow into by scoring each potential against three lenses: revenue, risk, and timing. This works when you can identify where the largest (unsolicited) donations are coming from.
A) Revenue
- Total average contributions by state (past 3–5 years, by year)
- Average gift size (total divided by donor count) by state
- Next 12 months plans: campaigns, events, partnerships, mail drops
B) Risk (where noncompliance gets expensive)
- Visibility and Enforcement: which states have regulations, how strict, and if you meet their thresholds
- Complexity: do you have what it takes to get registered? (audit, certificate of good standing, business license or registered agent pre-requisite, etc.)
- Consequences of lapse: potential late fees, reinstatement steps, extra documentation, donor/funder due diligence friction
C) Timing
- Are you waiting on the 990, audit, or board sign-offs?
- Do you have staff capacity to keep up once you add the state?
- If/when adding additional states, do you have multiple state renewals coming due in the next 60–90 days?
Sample Scoring Worksheet
Score each state based on your impression of their impact on the organization’s donations, then sort by highest Total score to pick the next states in which you can file and maintain. Revenue is based on income, Risk is based on the state’s fines and fees, and Timing is based on fiscal year-end and due dates from the state.
Scoring key (1–5)
- 1 = low impact / low risk / hard to execute now
- 3 = moderate
- 5 = high impact / higher risk / easy to execute now
Formula
Total score = Revenue score + Risk score + Timing score
Optional: weight Revenue 2× if financial growth is the top goal this year.
| State | $ received (3–5 yrs) | Average gift size ($ received ÷ gift count) |
Notes (campaign plans, growth, complexity) | Revenue score (1–5) | Risk score (1–5) | Timing score (1–5) | Total score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CA | $ | $ | |||||
| NY | $ | $ | |||||
| Add rows as needed. | |||||||
If you are going to use this worksheet to prioritize the states in which you will register first, keep in mind that the majority of states will still expect you to cease all solicitations unless/until you register within their jurisdictions. It is the law to register if you are soliciting regardless as to how cost-effective or how much of a priority it is for your organization.
Weighing the Trade-Offs
Organizations typically land in one of the following approaches when considering charitable solicitation registration, each with a different level of burden and risk:
Regulatory Burden vs Legal Risk
The more states in which you register, the lower the risk of triggering a state’s compliance requirements and not knowing it. The trade-off is usually in man-hours and time spent tracking and fulfilling regulatory obligations once you’ve submitted your organization to annual monitoring by state regulators (its own inherent “risk” factor!).
How Affinity Can Help
When balancing growth with administrative bandwidth, there’s always a third-party option available to you! Affinity Fundraising Registration is a service provider for full support charitable solicitation registration.
If you want a clean strategy, start with an estimate request and we’ll talk through your unique fundraising footprint, risk tolerance, and timeline: request a chat + free estimate.
If you’re unsure where you’re currently registered (or whether you’re fully up to date), our Compliance Assessment is a low-commitment way to help you assess your current obligations and prioritize what to tackle next.
*Disclaimer
The information provided on this page is intended purely for educational purposes and should not be construed as legal advice. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information up until the published date. However, state laws related to fundraising registration are subject to change, and variations may occur between states. Furthermore, the interpretation and enforcement of these laws can often be complex, and the specifics of your situation can impact how the law applies.
Affinity Fundraising Registration is not a law firm and, as such, cannot provide legal opinions. For all specific legal questions or concerns, we strongly recommend consulting with a qualified attorney who is experienced in nonprofit law and compliance. Hiring a legal professional ensures that your organization is fully aware of its obligations under the law and can act accordingly to remain compliant.
By using this site, you acknowledge that Affinity Fundraising Registration holds no liability for any consequences, legal or otherwise, resulting from actions taken based on the information presented on this page.