State guide — Pennsylvania

Incorporate a nonprofit in Pennsylvania

State facts checked against Pennsylvania official sources — October 2026

Pennsylvania files nonprofit articles with the Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations, and uses a registered-office system — you name an office address (or a commercial provider) rather than designating an agent in the usual way. The articles' purpose statement must carry the nonprofit, no-pecuniary-gain character Pennsylvania expects, into which the IRS clauses are built.

The steps

1. Choose a name and confirm it is available in Pennsylvania — and distinguishable from existing entities in the filing office's records.
2. Line up your agent: a registered office in Pennsylvania, or a Commercial Registered Office Provider (CROP) — Pennsylvania uses the registered-office system rather than a standard registered-agent designation.
3. Draft the articles with the 501(c)(3) clauses in them — see the language section below. This is the step that decides whether the IRS accepts your application months from now.
4. File with Department of State and pay the state fee. File through the state's Business Filing Services portal. Keep the filed copy and your docketing statement records for the IRS application.
5. Get the EIN — free from the IRS once the corporation exists. The EIN guide covers the traps.
6. Run the eligibility checker and file Form 1023-EZ or Form 1023 on Pay.gov. Then handle Pennsylvania charity registration (below) before you fundraise.

The 501(c)(3) language in Pennsylvania

The articles state the corporation's purpose (field 3 of the form) and carry the statement that the corporation is organized on a nonstock basis and does not contemplate pecuniary gain or profit for its members. For 501(c)(3) purposes, draft the purpose field as a specific exempt purpose and add the IRS purpose limitation and dissolution dedication as additional provisions — Pennsylvania formation alone, like every state's, does not satisfy the federal organizational test.

We do not publish a fee for this state. We checked the official sources available to us on the date below and could not confirm the current articles fee on an official state page — and publishing a number we could not verify is how founders get surprised at checkout. The filing office's own fee schedule (linked from its business portal) is the only figure to trust; confirm it before you budget. This page will be updated the moment we can verify the fee from the state itself.

The federal requirement underneath all of this is the organizational test: your organizing document must limit the organization to exempt purposes and permanently dedicate its assets to exempt purposes on dissolution. The IRS publishes sample wording — a purpose clause and a dissolution clause — and the kit's generator builds both into your articles automatically.

Pennsylvania traps and notes

• Terminology: if a guide tells you to 'appoint a registered agent' in Pennsylvania, it was written for another state. Pennsylvania uses a registered office or a CROP.
• Charitable organizations have a second home at the same bureau — the BCCO also runs charitable solicitation registration (below).

After incorporation: Pennsylvania charitable solicitation registration

Status: Required. Regulator: Department of State — Bureau of Charitable Organizations.

Pennsylvania requires most charities to register with the Bureau of Charitable Organizations before soliciting contributions in the Commonwealth, with renewal filings thereafter. Exemptions exist for defined categories — confirm yours with the Bureau.

The national picture — which states require registration, which don't, and the exemptions that actually apply — is in our guide to charitable solicitation registration.