How to Start a Nonprofit in Oregon

Oregon has 22,533 active 501(c)(3) organizations, 1,443 of them approved in the last twelve months, up from 1,414 the year before, a 2.1% rise. 71.5% report no revenue on file or under $50,000. Oregon is simple on tax, with no sales tax at all, but it supervises charities closely through the Department of Justice: every public benefit corporation registers, reports every year with a fee, and tells the DOJ before it dissolves.

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 Oregon adds, what each step costs, and the two or three things that catch people out here specifically.

What it costs in Oregon

The state filings come to $50 in cash. Registration with the Department of Justice is free. After that, a public benefit corporation pays $50 a year for the annual report and at least $20 a year with its DOJ financial report, rising with revenue and net assets. 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 Oregon 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 Oregon

Choose the corporation type carefully. Oregon’s articles ask whether the corporation is public benefit, mutual benefit or religious, and whether it will have members. A charity is normally a public benefit corporation. The Department of Justice advises that you should choose to be a nonmember corporation unless people other than directors will vote, and a public benefit corporation needs at least three directors.

The DOJ fee depends on your assets as well as revenue. The CT-12 fee starts at $20 for revenue under $25,000 and rises to $400 at $1 million, plus a net-asset fee of 0.01% of net assets, excluding fixed assets used for charitable work, capped at $2,000. Charities with at least $50,000 in revenue or more than $100,000 in assets may need to prepare a Form 990 for Oregon even if the IRS lets them file the 990-N. Late fees start at $20 and rise the later the report is.

Tell the DOJ before you dissolve. The Secretary of State says a public benefit or religious corporation must give the Attorney General written notice at or before the time it delivers articles of dissolution. The DOJ’s own instructions ask for notice 30 days before dissolution or distributing assets. Give the 30 days.

Raffles need a license above $10,000. The Department of Justice licenses charitable gaming. Raffles with a cumulative handle of no more than $10,000 a calendar year need no license, nor does bingo up to $5,000. Above that, a raffle license costs $40 or $100, and the organization must have held federal tax exemption for at least one year. Door prize drawings at a regular meeting with prizes up to $600 are not treated as raffles.

What Oregon’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. 71.5% of Oregon’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 and name, recruit at least three directors, and choose a registered agent with a street address in Oregon.
2. Week one. File the Articles of Incorporation online for $50 as a public benefit corporation, and say whether you will have members; most charities choose no members.
3. Same week. Apply for the EIN online. Free and immediate.
4. Straight after. Register with the Department of Justice on Form RF-C. No fee.
5. Month one. Adopt bylaws, hold the first board meeting and open the bank account.
6. Month one or two. File Form 1023-EZ if you qualify, or the long Form 1023. Oregon follows the IRS decision for state income tax.
7. By 1 April, if you own property. Apply to the county assessor for property tax exemption.
8. Every year. File the $50 annual report by the anniversary, and the CT-12 with the DOJ four months and 15 days after your year end.

The long pole is the IRS, not Oregon. The state end of this is measured in days and costs $50. Everything after the determination letter is either free or a form with a copy of that letter stapled to it.

What kind of charities Oregon has

The Business Master File classifies each organization by activity. The six commonest categories in Oregon account for 11,115 organizations between them:

• Education: 2,628 organizations
• Arts, culture and humanities: 2,151 organizations
• Religion related: 1,828 organizations
• Human services: 1,787 organizations
• Recreation and sports: 1,778 organizations
• Philanthropy and grantmaking: 943 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 Oregon are rising

The file carries a determination date for every organization, so the last two years can be compared directly. Oregon had 1,443 approvals in the last twelve months against 1,414 in the twelve before that, a change of +2.1%. 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 Oregon, 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 13 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.