Florida Nonprofit Articles of Incorporation

Filling out the Florida Nonprofit Articles of Incorporation

Forming a Florida Nonprofit Corporation requires filing Nonprofit Articles of Incorporation with the Florida Secretary of State's Division of Corporations.  Certain information must be included in a minimum of seven articles:

• Article 1:  The name of the corporation must be listed, along with one of the following suffixes: Corporation, Corp., Incorporated, or Inc.  "Company" or "Co." cannot be used by a nonprofit corporation.  The name that you choose is subject to Florida corporate name availability.
• Article 2:  The principle business address of the corporation, plus the mailing address, if different, is listed in Article 2.  A P.O. Box is allowed for the mailing address, but a physical street address is required for the main business address.
• Article 3:  The purpose of the corporation must be outlined here.  Unlike in for-profit Florida Articles of Incorporation, "Any and all lawful purpose" is not an accepted purpose statement for a Florida Nonprofit Corporation; the specific business purpose must be briefly outlined.  Furthermore, if you intend to apply for 501c3 status at the federal level after filing, the IRS will require you to have an additional purpose statement containing language specific to 501c3 corporations.  Click&Inc can help you prepare your business to become a 501c3 Nonprofit Corporation.
• Article 4:  You will need to indicate the manner in which the Directors of your Nonprofit Corporation will be appointed.
• Article 5:  Your initial Officers' and Directors' names and addresses are listed here.  This Article is not required by the state in order to file your Florida Nonprofit Corporation.  However, you may find that you are unable to open a bank account or obtain certain licenses until this information is on file with the state, so it may be a good idea to include this article with your initial filing.  If you choose to list your initial Directors, you are required to list a minimum of three.
• Article 6:  This is where you will list your Florida Registered Agent.  Your Registered Agent will be the person on file with the Secretary of State, who is available to accept service of process, correspondence, and so on.  This person must be either a resident of Florida, with a physical address in the state, or an incorporated entity (other than the entity for which you are filing the Articles of Incorporation) registered to do business in Florida.
• Article 7:  The person who drafted the Articles of Incorporation is known as the Incorporator.  This person's name and address must appear in this Article.

Once your Nonprofit Articles of Incorporation are on file with the Florida Secretary of State, your Nonprofit Corporation is formed under the laws of Florida and you can move on to obtaining your 501c3 or 501c7 status at the federal level.