Attorney General requires charities to efile

Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office has created an online filing system that charities will use to electronically register and file annual reports that are required by Ohio law. Groups required to file annually with the attorney general are mandated to use the online system if their fiscal year ended after Nov. 30, 2011.

Nonprofits – including foundations – need to register in the new system to fulfill their duties under the Charitable Trust Act (RC 109.23) and the Charitable Solicitations Act (R.C. 1716.02).  Based on the answers they provide to some basic questions, the system determines what filings and information they must provide. It then guides users through the efiling process and will also send charities email reminders about future filing deadlines as well as other helpful information. First-time filers may want to read the AG’s 30-page, step-by-step guide before they start the process. The efiling system also allows consumers – and funders – to easily check the filing status of nonprofits. As AG DeWine said in a recent article in OGF Connection, “For the first time, the public will be able to search online for organizations in our database to get basic information in real time on charities and learn if they are in compliance with registration requirements.”

AG DeWine says the online system, which has been several years in development, is a “first step forward in a series of initiatives that will provide the public with more useful information in evaluating the effectiveness of charities.”

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