Door-to-Door Fundraising in Georgia: Registration Rules

Start your Georgia field preparation by verifying whether your group qualifies for a statutory exemption or needs an active state filing before any canvasser walks a street. Under guidance from the Georgia Department of Law Consumer Protection Division, organizations and individuals that solicit contributions from the public for charitable purposes are required to register every year with the Secretary of State unless otherwise exempt, with educational institutions and religious and political organizations among those exempted. If your organization is required to register, Georgia Secretary of State Rule 590-9-4 directs a charitable organization that intends to solicit or have contributions solicited in the state on its behalf to file an effective registration statement with the Secretary of State on Form C100 or the Uniform Registration Statement and comply with the requirements of O.C.G.A. § 43-17-5 prior to any solicitation. Under the Georgia Charitable Solicitations Act, the fee for the initial registration of a charitable organization is $35.00, and the fee for renewal of a charitable organization's registration is $20.00. Keep the effective registration confirmation and fee receipt in your program folder before putting neighborhood shifts on the schedule.

Write the mandatory Georgia statutory statements directly into your field script and printed materials before sending teams out to knock. Under the Georgia Charitable Solicitations Act, every charitable organization, paid solicitor, or solicitor agent required to be registered under the Code section must include the disclosures required by O.C.G.A. § 43-17-8 at the time of any solicitation that occurs in or from Georgia. During pre-shift briefings, field managers should verify that canvassers soliciting for a registered charitable organization, along with any paid solicitor or solicitor agent on the route, deliver the O.C.G.A. § 43-17-8 disclosures during the doorstep conversation. For how state registration and doorstep rules compare across jurisdictions, see the door-to-door fundraising rules by state hub along with the guides for California and Florida.

Set up a post-shift filing routine before your canvass begins so every follow-up note and donor record from the field goes into a central archive at the end of the day. Under Georgia Secretary of State rules, a Georgia charitable organization must maintain, for a period of not less than three years, records of all correspondence and memoranda concerning all contributions over $25.00 received from any one person or organization.

Choose Civic and community programs, write your own field question and invite volunteers to record standard responses. Export the program's data as CSV for your own records and the next round of visits. Storing that CSV export alongside all correspondence and memoranda for contributions over $25.00 from any one person or organization keeps your field logs and statutory documentation together for the full three-year retention period.

Verify each Georgia statutory requirement with your field coordinator before assigning streets to your canvassers. Reviewing your registration standing, doorstep script language, and donor record folders together ensures that every rule under O.C.G.A. § 43-17-5 and O.C.G.A. § 43-17-8 is satisfied prior to any solicitation in the state.

• Exemption or annual registration check: Confirm whether your organization is among those exempted (such as educational institutions and religious and political organizations) or whether it must register every year with the Georgia Secretary of State to solicit contributions from the public for charitable purposes.
• Form C100 or Uniform Registration Statement on file: If your charitable organization is required to register, verify that an effective registration statement on Form C100 or the Uniform Registration Statement has been filed with the Secretary of State in compliance with O.C.G.A. § 43-17-5 prior to any solicitation in Georgia.
• Initial or renewal fee paid: Confirm payment of the $35.00 fee for initial registration of a charitable organization or the $20.00 fee for renewal.
• O.C.G.A. § 43-17-8 disclosures in the doorstep script: Ensure that every registered charitable organization, paid solicitor, or solicitor agent includes the disclosures required by O.C.G.A. § 43-17-8 at the time of any solicitation that occurs in or from Georgia.
• Three-year archive for contributions over $25.00: Prepare your filing system to maintain, for a period of not less than three years, records of all correspondence and memoranda concerning all contributions over $25.00 received from any one person or organization.