A nonprofit organisation is a tax-exempt religious, social, scientific, literary institution that works for the benefit of the public. NPOs can provide goods, services, and financial aid, to either individuals, communities, or other nonprofits in need of these.
The government requires nonprofit organisations to publicise information on how they operate, their sources of funding, and how they utilise these funds. NPOs need to be transparent to enable them to get donors to support their cause.
The government does not demand taxes on the amount that an individual/organisation donates to a nonprofit. It also does not require the NPO to pay as much as a rand on the money it receives. This is because the NPO does not make any money from transactions.
Stay put while we find out how to register an NPO.
NPO Requirements
- Voluntary Association – Constitution
- Section 21 – Certificate of incorporation and memorandum and articles of association
- Trust – Deeds of trust and letter of authorisation from the courts
NPO Online application
- Visit the official NPO registration website at http://www.npo.gov.za/PublicNpo/WebApplicationCase/Register.
- Fill in the information as required, which includes your organisation’s contact details, postal address, the details of a contact person, including their telephone number and address.
- Crosscheck the information you have filled into the NPO registration form and click “Next”.
- Click “Add and Office Bearer” when prompted and fill in the complete details of all the office bearers you will include. Input the telephone numbers of at least three office bearers and click “Next” when you are done.
- Upload the founding documents of your NPO and any other documents of importance and submit them as doc, pdf, or Docx and click “Next”.
- Click “I Agree” to validate the declaration of authorisation to apply and correct the information on the NPO registration form.
- Guard your reference number safely. The contact person of your organisation will receive the reference number through an SMS or an email. It will come in handy if you have questions regarding your application.
- It will come in handy if you have questions.
NPO Hard-copy|Offline registration
- Fill your NPO registration form properly.
- Submit it with 2 copies of the appropriate founding documents of the NPO at the provincial social development office that is closest to you. You can deliver it in person at 0001 or deliver it by hand to the Department of Social Development, 134 Pretorius Street, HSRC Building, Pretoria. Or you may post it to The Directorate, Nonprofit organisations, Department of Social Development, Private Bag X901, Pretoria,
- The department will send you an acknowledgement letter once it receives your application.
- If your application meets all the requirements, you will receive an NPO registration certificate.
Note
Your NPO registration may take about 8 weeks, and the service is free of charge.
Registering your NPO improves your credibility and puts you in a good place for funding. It also fetches tax inducements for your NPO and lets you open a bank account to receive those funds.
