How to Start a Nonprofit in Kansas

Kansas has 14,814 active 501(c)(3) organizations, 831 of them approved in the last twelve months, up from 784 the year before. 76.6% report no revenue on file or under $50,000, close to the national share, and education groups are the largest category. Kansas is cheap to start in, at $20, but it works on two calendars with two agencies: a report to the Secretary of State every two years, and an annual charity registration with the Attorney General tied to your fiscal year.

The federal half of this is identical in every state and is set out on the state hub: incorporate, adopt bylaws, get an EIN, apply to the IRS on Form 1023 or 1023-EZ. This page covers what Kansas adds, what each step costs, and the two or three things that catch people out here specifically.

What it costs in Kansas

The state filings come to $20 in cash. The $80 information report is due every two years by 15 June. Registering with the Attorney General adds $25 a year once you are not exempt. On top of that sits the IRS user fee, which is set each year by revenue procedure and shown on Pay.gov when you file, so no figure for it is printed here. Every amount above was read from the issuing agency’s own fee schedule or form, and each one is linked in the sources at the foot of this page. Fees change: check before you budget.

The order to do it in

Sequence matters more than speed. The IRS application asks for documents the state has to create first, and the state charity regulator wants the organization to exist before it registers.

• Decide whether you need a corporation at all. Fiscal sponsorship gives a project the same tax treatment with no incorporation, no IRS application and no annual return. For a project under a few thousand dollars a year it is usually the better answer.
• File the formation document with the Kansas Secretary of State, with the IRS purpose and dissolution language in it. Our articles template carries both.
• Adopt bylaws and appoint the board before the IRS application, which asks about governance. The bylaws template and the board guide cover what that means in practice.
• Get an EIN. Free, online, immediate, and needed for the bank account. Do not pay anyone for it: the EIN guide explains why people do.
• Apply to the IRS on Form 1023-EZ if you qualify, which most new organizations do, or the long Form 1023 if you project gross receipts over $50,000 or hold assets over $250,000.
• Handle the state exemptions and registrations in the section below, once the determination letter arrives.

What catches people out in Kansas

The report is every two years, and missing it forfeits the corporation. Since 2024 Kansas has moved to a biennial information report: $80, due 15 June, in even or odd years to match the year you formed. Because it comes round only every other year, it is easy to forget. If the report and fee are not in within 90 days of the due date, K.S.A. 17-7510 says that works the forfeiture of the articles. Reviving costs $100 for a nonprofit, a $20 filing fee plus only the most recent missed report.

Charity registration is with the Attorney General, and the small exemption is small. Charitable registration moved from the Secretary of State to the Attorney General. It costs $25 and expires on the last day of the sixth month after your fiscal year ends, so it renews every year on a different date from the information report. The exemption for small groups covers organizations receiving $10,000 or less with only unpaid fundraisers, a lower ceiling than many states, and anyone who goes over must register within 30 days of the end of the tax period. Contributions above $500,000 require an audited financial statement.

Most charities pay sales tax. Kansas does not exempt nonprofits as a class. K.S.A. 79-3606 lists exemptions one by one, for nonprofit hospitals, educational institutions, youth development programs, museums and historical societies, zoos, religious organizations for religious purposes and others, some of them written for a single named charity. If your organization is not on the list, budget for sales tax on what you buy.

A Kansas nonprofit is a corporation that must have members. Kansas has no separate nonprofit act: charities form as nonstock corporations under the general corporation code, which says nonstock corporations “shall have members”. If the articles and bylaws do not define the members, the law treats the people entitled to elect the board as the members. Most charities want a self-perpetuating board, so say plainly in the bylaws who the members are, often the directors themselves.

What Kansas’s nonprofit sector looks like

From the IRS Business Master File, which lists every organization whose exemption has not been revoked.

The size column is the one worth sitting with before you file. 76.6% of Kansas’s charities have no revenue figure on file or report under $50,000, against 77.5% nationally. The typical outcome of starting a nonprofit here is a very small organization, which is not an argument against doing it, but it is an argument for choosing the cheap route first and for being honest in the projections on the IRS form. What the whole thing costs, federal and state together, is set out in what it costs to start a nonprofit.

A realistic timeline

Written as weeks rather than as a list, because the waiting is the part people plan badly. Nothing here assumes you pay anyone to do it for you.

1. Week one. Agree the purpose, the name, with a word such as Foundation, Association or Inc., the first board and who the members will be.
2. Week one. File the Articles of Incorporation online for $20, with the 501(c)(3) purpose and dissolution language attached and a Kansas street address for the registered office.
3. Same week. Apply for the EIN online. Free and immediate.
4. Month one. Adopt bylaws that define the members, hold the organizational meeting and open the bank account.
5. Month one or two. File Form 1023-EZ if you qualify, or the long Form 1023.
6. Before you solicit, if you are not exempt. Register with the Attorney General for $25.
7. Every two years. The $80 information report by 15 June.
8. Every year. Renew the Attorney General registration before the end of the sixth month after your fiscal year.

The long pole is the IRS, not Kansas. The state end of this is measured in days and costs $20. Everything after the determination letter is either free or a form with a copy of that letter stapled to it.

What kind of charities Kansas has

The Business Master File classifies each organization by activity. The six commonest categories in Kansas account for 7,237 organizations between them:

• Education: 1,641 organizations
• Religion related: 1,439 organizations
• Human services: 1,291 organizations
• Arts, culture and humanities: 1,023 organizations
• Philanthropy and grantmaking: 941 organizations
• Recreation and sports: 902 organizations

That mix is worth checking against what you are planning. The largest category in every state is religion related, which is a reporting artifact as much as a fact, since churches are exempt automatically and many register anyway. The categories underneath it are the real map of what gets funded locally, and an organization entering a crowded category needs a sharper answer to the question of why it should exist separately than one entering a thin one.

Approvals in Kansas are rising

The file carries a determination date for every organization, so the last two years can be compared directly. Kansas had 831 approvals in the last twelve months against 784 in the twelve before that, a change of +6.0%. Nationally the last twelve months produced 115,927.

Read that as competitive context rather than as a verdict. More approvals means more organizations chasing the same local funders, and it also means the process is working normally for people like you. What it does not tell you is how many of them are still operating in three years, which the file cannot say, because it keeps listing an organization until its exemption is actually revoked.

After approval

The annual obligations start immediately and they run on two calendars. Federally, a return is due every year from the first full tax year, and three consecutive misses means automatic revocation with no appeal: which return applies is covered in which Form 990 you file. In Kansas, the filings in the table above renew on their own cycle. If the organization eventually sells anything or lets space, selling products and renting out space cover the tax treatment, and if it does not work out, closing properly is its own process.

Method and sources

Every fee and form on this page was read from the issuing agency’s own page or form on 10 November 2026, listed in the sources below. Nothing here is copied from another guide. The IRS user fee is not stated because the form instructions point to a revenue procedure and to Pay.gov rather than printing an amount.

The counts are from the IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, filtered to subsection 03, with determinations through October 2026. Three limits carry over from that file: it includes organizations that are dormant but not yet auto revoked, the ruling date is when the IRS decided rather than when anyone applied, and revenue is blank for most small organizations, which is why the size row reads “no revenue on file or under $50,000” rather than giving a median. State is the organization’s own mailing address. This page is general information and not legal advice.

This is reference information, not legal or tax advice. Rules vary by state and change over time. For a decision that carries real consequences, check the current text at irs.gov or your state registry, and talk to a nonprofit attorney or CPA.