Filing a Complaint About a Charity or Charitable Solicitation

All complaints are reviewed. After a complaint is processed, an acknowledgement letter is sent via email or mail. All complaints are kept confidential and not made available to the general public. We do not provide any information to the public regarding a complaint, or provide status reports to complainants.

An investigation is not opened for every complaint received given limited resources and workloads. Also, a complaint may be referred to another government agency. We do not provide status reports to complainants. And we neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation. Therefore, the general public or the complainant will not know which complaints are being investigated.

Although the California Department of Justice’s Charitable Trusts Section is prohibited from discussing pending investigations or indicating whether any specific action has or will be taken with respect to a particular organization, you may be assured that the Charitable Trusts Section seeks to administer the charitable trusts laws equitably and efficiently.

You may submit additional or new information by filing another complaint.

The California Department of Justice does not provide legal advice to the public. If you need legal assistance, please seek the advice of private counsel. For information on laws applicable to charities and fundraisers, visit our Laws & Regulations page. You may also want to review the Attorney General’s Guide for Charities.

If you have information about a crime, please report the matter to the local police department or the sheriff’s office.

While we do not typically get involved in board disputes, if there are allegations of loss or misuse of charitable assets, improper solicitation or reporting practices, we encourage you to file a complaint.

The Registry Search Tool allows you to research charities and fundraisers, including whether they are registered and current in their reporting requirements, and to view their public filings (e.g., Forms CT-1, RRF, CT-TR-1, IRS Forms 990, 990-PF, and 990-EZ). However, we can’t tell you whether a charity or its fundraiser is legitimate, or for instance, how effective the charity is, or whether it uses its money wisely. There is no Attorney General seal of approval. Individual donors are encouraged to research and vet a charity before giving. The Resources page and Donation Tips page include helpful information for donors.

Certainly. Federal law requires a charity to send you a copy of its IRS Form 990 for a reasonable charge. If the form is not available using the Registry Search Tool, this is another way to obtain the information.

Various government agencies take actions that affect the status and operations of charitable organizations. The IRS and the California Franchise Tax Board initially determine whether an organization qualifies for exemption from federal and state income tax. At any time during the operating life of a charity, the IRS or the Franchise Tax Board may audit the organization to determine its liability for taxes, penalties, or revocation of tax-exempt status.

The role of the Attorney General in overseeing California charities is different from the IRS and Franchise Tax Board. The Attorney General represents the public beneficiaries of charities who cannot sue in their own right. The Attorney General investigates charities to detect cases in which directors and trustees have mismanaged, diverted, or defrauded the charity. If such improper actions by directors have resulted in a loss of charitable assets, the Attorney General may sue the directors to recover from them the missing funds on behalf of the public.

The investigations of the California Department of Justice’s Charitable Trusts Section include the following areas of concern:

• Fraudulent or otherwise illegal or improper use of charitable funds
• Diversion or loss of charitable assets
• Losses arising out of speculative investments or the failure to diversify investments leading to insignificant gains
• Excessive compensation, including salaries, pensions, benefits, insurance, travel, entertainment, legal and other professional fees
• Breaches of fiduciary duties
• Fraudulent, deceptive, or coercive charitable solicitations and fundraising practices
• Improper or false statements in reports or filings with the Registry
• Self-dealing transactions
• Improper loans of charity assets
• Amendments to the articles of incorporation of nonprofit public benefit corporations
• Dissolutions
• Sales of charitable assets at an unfair price
• Mergers
• Conversion of a nonprofit public benefit corporation to for-profit status

The California Department of Justice also investigates allegations of criminal activity by charities. Persons with complaints of criminal activity by a charity should also contact their local police department, sheriff’s office, or district attorney.

The Attorney General has limited authority to investigate nonprofit religious corporations (e.g., Corp. Code, § 9230). Also, the California Department of Justice’s Charitable Trusts Section generally does not investigate disputes between charities and third parties over contracts or torts, internal labor or board disputes, contested elections, and disagreements between directors and members over policies and procedures. Persons with these types of complaints may choose to consult a private attorney to review legal rights and remedies.

The most secure and easiest way to file a complaint is through the Registry of Charities and Fundraisers’ Online Complaint Form (Form CT-9). However, you may mail a completed Form CT-9 (PDF) to this address:

Registry of Charities and Fundraisers
P.O. Box 903447
Sacramento, CA 94203-4470

If you have already submitted a complaint through the Registry’s Online Complaint Form, do not send a duplicate complaint through the mail.