Charities

The Attorney General regulates charities and the professional fundraisers who solicit on their behalf. The purpose of this oversight is to protect charitable assets for their intended use and ensure that the charitable donations contributed by Californians are not misapplied and squandered through fraud or other means. The main elements of the Attorney General´s regulatory program are:

• The attorneys and auditors of the Charitable Trusts Section investigate and bring legal actions against charities that misuse charitable assets. If you have a complaint against a charity, please use our complaint form, pdf.
• The Registry of Charitable Trusts administers the statutory registration program. All charitable trustees and fundraising professionals are required to register and file annual financial disclosure reports with the Registry. In addition, nonprofit organizations that conduct raffles for charitable purposes are required to register and file a financial report for each raffle held.
• To help charities stay within the law, the Attorney General makes available various guides and publications, including the Attorney General´s Guide for Charities, pdf. Additional guidance forcharities is available on our Resources page.
• The Attorney General also offers guidance to help Californians make important personal decisions on charitable giving. These resources include the Guide to Charitable Giving for Donors, pdf and searchable databases to learn about specific charities and charitable fundraising professionals in the state. Among the databases are Registry Search, for registrants generally, and CFR Search, which provides information and documents regarding commercial fundraisers for charitable purposes. For help using and interpreting the results from the Registry Search, please review Registry Search Feature – Tips for use and definition of the codes.

Charity Research Tool

A searchable database of the information returns that charities file annually with the IRS (Forms 990, 990-PF, and 990-EZ) is available on the Attorney General´s website. The database allows donors to research a charity before making a decision to give. A guide to reviewing the 990 is provided on the website at pages 9-14 of the Guide to Charitable Giving for Donors, pdf. The returns available in this database are those filed with the IRS directly, not with the Registry of Charitable Trusts. If you have any questions regarding Registry filings, Contact the Registrar.