Why do I have a late fee?

Any organization that has not renewed its registration on or before the due date will be subject to late fees.

This applies to organizations and individuals who do any of the following:

• Solicit contributions.
• Provide professional fundraising services in Colorado.
• Conduct a solicitation campaign.

In addition, any paid solicitor that has not filed a solicitation campaign financial report by the due date is also subject to a late fee.

See the fee schedule for current fees.

We couldn't file on time. Can the fines be waived?

A charitable organization, professional fundraising consultant, or paid solicitor can request that fines be waived. [1]

We may consider excusing or waiving a fine only if

• There was a bona fide personal emergency,
• Timely filing was not possible due to website errors, or
• The organization was not required to register during the applicable period, and the organization requests to withdraw its registration.

How do we request a waiver?

All requests must be in writing. We must receive your request no later than 30 days after the date that we mailed the penalty notification to you.

Fill out and print the Charities Late Fee Waiver Request (PDF) form.

Mail the form to:

Colorado Secretary of State
Charities Program
1700 Broadway, Ste. 550
Denver, CO 80290

You can also email the form to charitable@coloradosos.gov.

The mailing address, fax number and email address can also be found at the top of the form.

You can send a letter in place of the form, but it must contain the same information. Any request that does not contain all of the information from the form will be rejected.

I've sent in a waiver request. What happens now?

After we receive a request to waive late fees, we will conduct an investigation and determine whether a waiver is appropriate. Once that determination has been made, we will send a letter notifying you of our decision. You can generally expect a decision within 15 days of the date we receive the request. If the facts or circumstances are unusual, we may need more time to make a determination.

What is a "bona fide personal emergency"?

A bona fide personal emergency includes:

• A medical emergency affecting a registrant or a member of the registrant’s immediate family, including but not limited to incapacitation for medical reasons, hospitalization, accident involvement, or death.
• A practical emergency including extraordinary obstacles out of the control of the registrant that preclude timely disclosure. For example:
  • The loss or unavailability of records or a computer due to fire, flood, or theft;
  • Other compelling reasons beyond the registrant’s control.

The following are generally not considered to be bona fide personal emergencies:

• Failure to file registration documents on time due to failure to plan,
• Accounting delays,
• Misunderstanding of applicable disclosure requirements and deadlines,
• Mistakes in electronic filing submission, including incomplete filings that result in rejection of the document,
• Lack of access to internet or personal computer, and
• Lack of corporate credit card or other means for making online payments.

[1] See 8 CCR 1505-9, Rule 6.4