Who is behind 501c3.help
We help founders in the United States build nonprofit organizations that actually run: the entity, the IRS status, the state filings that keep it in good standing, and the resource package most new 501(c)(3)s never claim.
This page says who we are, what we do, and just as importantly what we do not do. If you are about to hand your organization to someone, you should be able to read all three in one place.
Why this exists
I started 501c3.help after watching the same story repeat too many times.
Someone with real expertise, a contractor, a teacher, a nurse, a therapist, decides to turn their work into something public. They pay a filing service, they wait, and one day a determination letter from the IRS arrives. Then nothing happens. The organization exists on paper and nowhere else.
Nobody told them that a new 501(c)(3) can claim well over $100,000 a year in advertising credits, software, and payment terms. Nobody told them their state has its own registration, its own annual report, and its own charitable solicitation filing, each with its own deadline. Nobody told them what a board is actually for.
The paperwork was never the hard part. Running the organization after the paperwork is the hard part, and that is exactly where almost everyone is left alone.
So we built the other half. We shape the mission so it holds up to the way the IRS actually reads it. We prepare the documents as drafts for review by licensed professionals. And then we stay: the compliance calendar, the state filings, the benefits package, the fundraising infrastructure.
We also say no. If a nonprofit is the wrong structure for what you are trying to build, you will hear it from us in the first conversation, before you spend anything. A status you cannot maintain is worse than no status at all.
The public side of this site follows the same rule. Our state guides cite the state's own agencies, every page carries the date it was last verified, and when a fee or a deadline changes we publish the change instead of quietly editing the old number. If you find something wrong on any page, write to me and we will fix it.
What we do, and what we do not do
Both columns matter. The second one is the reason our clients know which questions to bring to us and which ones belong to a licensed attorney or a CPA.
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Mission architectureThe public benefit, the programs, and the board structure, written so the IRS reads your organization the way you intend it.
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Formation documentsArticles of incorporation, bylaws, and governance policies, prepared as drafts for review by a licensed attorney.
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The IRS applicationForm 1023 or 1023-EZ with the narrative, the budget, and the schedules assembled around your actual programs.
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State registration and complianceIncorporation, charitable solicitation registration, annual reports, and the deadline calendar that keeps the entity in good standing.
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The resource packageGoogle Ad Grants, Workspace, software, and payment programs a 501(c)(3) qualifies for, set up and then kept compliant.
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Ongoing operationsForm 990 preparation support, Ad Grants management, donation infrastructure, and the reporting a working organization needs.
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We are not a law firmWe do not give legal advice and we do not represent you. Documents we prepare are drafts for review by a licensed attorney.
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We are not a CPA firmWe do not give tax advice and we do not sign returns. Tax positions belong to your accountant.
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We are not a government agencyWe are not a filing office and we have no standing with the IRS or with any state beyond what any applicant has.
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We do not file in your nameFilings are submitted by you through your own accounts. You own every login and every credential from the first day, including if you leave us.
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We do not promise IRS approval501(c)(3) status is determined solely by the IRS. Anyone who guarantees it is selling you something they do not control.
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We do not promise Ad Grants approvalGoogle Ad Grants eligibility and approval are determined solely by Google, under rules Google can change.
How a case moves through us
Where the numbers on this site come from
Most of this site is not marketing. It is a compliance library: a guide for each state we cover, plus a running feed of briefs on what changed and when.
Every fee, deadline, and form number in it is traced to the agency that publishes it, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Department of Revenue, the IRS. Each page carries the date it was last verified against those sources.
When a state raises a fee or moves a deadline, we publish a dated brief rather than quietly editing the old figure, so you can see what changed and when it changed. We publish the method itself too, including what we do when two official sources disagree with each other.
Bring us your case
Tell us what you want to build and where you are. You will get a straight answer about whether a nonprofit fits, what it will take, and what it will cost, before anyone asks you for money.
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