501c3GO

New York is Different

New York Incorporation

The New York Department of State requires departmental consents for certain nonprofit corporations. If your nonprofit requires such a consent, you will obtain that on your own including any special wording required to be in your Certificate of Incorporation. In such a case, we will insert the wording you give us into your Certificate of Incorporation at no extra charge so filing will not be delayed in Albany. Here are examples of nonprofits that would require departmental consent:

(a) Every certificate of incorporation which includes among its purposes the formation of a trade or business association shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the consent of the attorney-general.

(b) Every certificate of incorporation which includes among its purposes the care of destitute, delinquent, abandoned, neglected or dependent children; the establishment or operation of a day care center for children; the establishment or operation of day care development programs which are funded pursuant to section three hundred ninety-a of the social services law; the establishment or operation of any aged care accommodation, or adult care facility, or the establishment or operation of a residential program for victims of domestic violence as defined in subdivision four of section four hundred fifty-nine-a of the social services law, or the placing-out or boarding-out of children or a home or shelter for unmarried mothers, excepting the establishment or maintenance of a hospital or facility providing health-related services as those terms are defined in article twenty-eight of the public health law and a facility for which an operating certificate is required by articles sixteen, nineteen, twenty-three and thirty-one of the mental hygiene law; or the solicitation of contributions for any such purpose or purposes, shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the approval of the commissioner of social services.

(c) Every certificate of incorporation which includes among the purposes of the corporation,the establishment, maintenance and operation of a hospital service or a health service or a medical expense indemnity plan or a dental expense indemnity plan as permitted in article forty-three of the insurance law, shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the approval of the superintendent of insurance and the commissioner of health.

(d) Every certificate of incorporation which includes a purpose for which a corporation might be chartered by the regents of the university of the State of New York shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the consent of the commissioner of education.

(e) Every certificate of incorporation of a cemetery corporation, except those within the exclusionary provisions of section 1503 (Cemetery corporations) shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the approval of the cemetery board.

(f) Every certificate of incorporation of a fire corporation shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the approval, signed and acknowledged, of the authorities of each city, village, town or fire district in which the corporation proposes to act. Such authorities shall be: in a city, the mayor; in a village, a majority of the trustees; in a town, a majority of the members of the town board; in a fire district, a majority of the fire commissioners. The members of the town board of a town, or the trustees of a village, shall not consent to the formation of a fire corporation as herein before provided, until such board shall have held a public hearing on the question of whether the fire company should be incorporated. The notice shall be published at least once in each week for two successive weeks in the official newspaper published in the county in which such fire corporation intends to locate, prior to the regular meeting of such board designated by the chairman of the board to consider the matter. Such notice shall contain the name of the proposed company, the names of the persons signing the certificate of incorporation, a brief description of the territory to be protected by the fire company and that all persons interested shall be heard. If no newspaper is published in the county the publication of the notice shall be in a newspaper in an adjoining county selected by the chairman of such board. All expenses in connection with such publication shall be borne by the parties making the application and paid before the hearing.

(g) Every certificate of incorporation of a corporation for prevention of cruelty to animals shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the approval of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or, if such approval be withheld thirty days after application therefor, a certified copy of an order of a justice of the supreme court of the judicial district in which the office of the corporation is to be located, dispensing with such approval, granted upon eight days’ notice to such society.

(h) Every certificate of incorporation of a Young Men’s Christian Association shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the approval of the chairman of the national board of Young Men’s Christian Associations.

(i) Every certificate of incorporation which indicates that the proposed corporation is to solicit funds for or otherwise benefit the armed forces of the United States or of any foreign country, or their auxiliaries, or of this or any other state or any territory, shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the approval of the chief of staff.

(j) Every certificate of incorporation which includes among its purposes the organization of wage-earners for their mutual betterment, protection and advancement; the regulation of hours of labor, working conditions, or wages; or the performance, rendition or sale of services as labor consultant, labor-management advisor, negotiator, arbitrator, or specialist; and every certificate of incorporation in which the name of the proposed corporation includes “union”, “labor”, “council” or “industrial organization,” or any abbreviation or derivative thereof in a context that indicates or implies that the corporation is formed for any of the above purposes, shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the approval of the industrial board of appeals. The board shall make such inquiry into the purposes of the proposed corporation as it shall deem advisable and shall order a hearing if necessary to determine whether or not such purposes are in all respects consistent with public policy and the labor law. Notice of the time and place of hearing shall be given to the applicants and such other persons as the board may determine.

(k) Every certificate of incorporation for a corporation which has as its exclusive purpose the promotion of the interests of savings bank life insurance or the promotion of the interests of member banks may, if the approval of the superintendent of banks is endorsed thereon or annexed thereto, use as a part of the corporate name any of the words or phrases, or any abbreviation or derivative thereof, set forth in subparagraph (5) of paragraph (a) of section 301 (Corporate name; general).

(l) Every certificate of incorporation for a corporation which has as its exclusive purpose the creation of an association of licensed insurance agents, licensed insurance brokers, or licensed insurance underwriters and every application for authority of a foreign corporation which is an independent laboratory engaged in testing for public safety, or which has as its purpose the advancement of corporate, governmental, and institutional risk and insurance management, or which has as its exclusive purpose the creation of an association of insurers, each of which is duly licensed in this state or, if it does no business or is not licensed in this state, is duly licensed in another state or foreign jurisdiction may, if the approval of the superintendent of insurance is endorsed thereon or annexed thereto, use as a part of the corporate name any of the words or phrases, or any abbreviation or derivative thereof, set forth in subparagraph (5) of paragraph (a) of section 301 (Corporate name; general).

(m) Every certificate of incorporation in which the name of the proposed corporation includes the name of a political party shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the consent of the chairman of the county committee of such political party of the county in which the office of the corporation is to be located, except in cases where the supreme court finds that the withholding of such consent of the county chairman is unreasonable.

(n) Every certificate of incorporation in which the name of the proposed corporation includes the words “American Legion,” shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the approval of the Department of New York, the American Legion, duly acknowledged by its commander or adjutant.

(o) Every certificate of incorporation which includes among its corporate purposes or powers the establishment or maintenance of any hospital, as defined in article twenty-eight of the public health law, or the solicitation of contributions for any such purpose, or purposes, shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the approval of the public health council.

(p) Every certificate of incorporation of a medical corporation as defined in article forty-four of the public health law and organized pursuant thereto and pursuant to this chapter, shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the consent of the commissioner of health and the approval of the public health council.

(q) Every certificate of incorporation which includes among its corporate purposes or powers the establishment, or operation of a facility for which an operating certificate from the commissioner of mental health or mental retardation and developmental disabilities is required by article thirty-one or sixteen of the mental hygiene law, or the solicitation of contributions for any such purpose, shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the approval of the commissioner of mental health or mental retardation and developmental disabilities.

(r) Every certificate of incorporation of a health maintenance organization as defined in article forty-four of the public health law and organized pursuant thereto and pursuant to this chapter, shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the consent of the commissioner of health.

(s) Every certificate of incorporation which includes among its purposes and powers the establishment or maintenance of a hospital or facility providing health related services, as those terms are defined in article twenty-eight of the public health law, or the solicitation of contributions for any such purpose or two or more of such purposes, shall have endorsed thereon the approval of the public health council.

(t) Every certificate of incorporation which includes among the purposes of the corporation,the establishment or operation of a substance abuse, substance dependence, alcohol abuse, alcoholism, or chemical abuse or dependence program, or the solicitation of contributions for any such purpose, shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the consent of the commissioner of the office of alcoholism and substance abuse services to its filing by the department of state.

(u) Every certificate of incorporation which includes among the purposes of the corporation,the establishment, maintenance and operation of a nonprofit property/casualty insurance company, pursuant to article sixty-seven of the insurance law, shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the approval of the superintendent of insurance.

* (v) Every certificate of incorporation in which the name of the proposed corporation includes the terms: “school,” “education,” “elementary,” “secondary,” “kindergarten,” “prekindergarten,” “preschool,” “nursery school,” “museum,” “history,” “historical,” “historical society,” “arboretum,” “library,” “college,” “university” or other term restricted by section two hundred twenty-four of the education law; “conservatory,” “academy,” or “institute,” or any abbreviation or derivative of such terms, shall have endorsed thereon or annexed thereto the consent of the commissioner of education.

In drafting the specific purpose clause for your Corporation Questionnaire, you may wish to contact the New York Department of State and let them know exactly what the organization plans to do, so the Department of State can tell what departmental consent might be required.

This information should not be considered complete or all-inclusive.

 

New York Churches

Filing for a church in New York is done at the county level with the County Clerk rather than at the state level through the Department of State in Albany.
If your denomination is NOT listed below, we can incorporate your church, provide your corporate documents, your incorporation documents and your 501(c)(3) documents.

For the churches below, we must ask you to file your Certificate of Incorporation with your county and have your Bylaws prepared before you come to us to prepare your 501(c)(3) documents.

Protestant Episcopal Parishes or Churches
Apostolic Episcopal Parishes or Churches
Parishes or Churches of the Holy Orthodox Church in America
Parishes or Churches of the American Patriarchal Orthodox Church
Presbyterian Churches
Roman Catholic Churches
Christian Orthodox Catholic Churches of the Eastern Confession
Ruthenian Greek Catholic Churches
Churches of the Orthodox Church in America
Reformed Dutch, Reformed Presbyterian and Lutheran Churches
Churches of the United Church of Christ, Congregational Christian and Independent Churches
Churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Churches of America
Churches of the Holy Ukrainian Autocephalic Orthodox Church in Exile
Free Churches
Churches of Christ, Scientist
Union Churches
Free Methodist Churches
Spiritualist Churches
Churches of the Nazarene
Spiritualist Churches connected with the National Spiritualist Association
Methodist Churches
Churches of the Byelorussian Autocephalic Orthodox Church in America
Unitarian and Universalist Societies
Assemblies of God Churches
Coptic Orthodox Churches