General Counsel Manual

Dealing with Charities and the Charitable Solicitation Licensing (CSL) Division

Information available from CSL

Charitable organizations have to provide extensive information to us in order to become licensed and renew their licenses. G.S. §131F-6.

Practice Tip: If you or your client are dealing with a charitable organization, you may find it useful view the wealth of information available on our CSL Division’s website. For example, information available includes license applications. Contracts between charitable organizations and fundraising consultants and solicitors are also available. To search for the information, go to Charities.

Searching the CSL Registry:

Practice Tip: Unless you are absolutely certain that you have the business entity’s correct legal name in North Carolina, you may get better results if you search using either “Name starting with” or “Name contains all words.” The reason is that North Carolina is a “distinguishable upon the record” state. G.S. § 55D-21(b). For practical purposes, this means that names of business entities may differ only slightly – just that little bit makes them distinguishable from other entities.

Practice Tip: Foreign entities (created outside NC) may have more than one name in our database. You can find both the home state/country legal name and the fictitious foreign entity name in our database. Look for the term “Home State.” The reason is that sometimes foreign entities have legal names in their state or country of creation that are not distinguishable from other entities in the records of the Secretary of State. In those instances, the foreign entity may use a “fictitious name” that is distinguishable from other entities’ names for use in North Carolina, G.S. § 55D-22.

Advising Clients about Working with Charitable Organizations:

Practice Tip: When advising clients, recommend that they ask for charitable organizations’ and sponsors’ legal names on record with the Secretary of State. And, recommend that they use those names in contracts. The reason is that because North Carolina is a “distinguishable name” state, even small differences in entity names can create significant issues when legal problems crop up. Remember that some “foreign” organizations may be exempt from obtaining a certificate of authority to do business in North Carolina. Call the Secretary of State’s Business Registration Division if you have questions about this issue.

NOTE: You may also want to tell your clients that it may be helpful to also obtain business entities’ assumed or “d/b/a” names, as well.

Practice Tip: Consider advising your clients that they should exercise care when sponsoring charities or donating to them. They should consider whether they want to deal with charities unless they are licensed and in good standing with the CSL Division of the Secretary of State. A search of the CSL website will show you an entity’s license status, including: