How to Start a Nonprofit in Louisiana

Louisiana, ExemptMeNow’s home state, has so much to offer. From jazz and parades in New Orleans to the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is a great place to visit and call home.  Louisianians are passionate and proud, which is reflected in the growing number of nonprofits that are started here every year. To start a Louisiana nonprofit, just follow these three easy steps.

• Step 1: Choose Initial Directors
  • You must have three or more members on your board of directors. A physical address of each director is required when filing the necessary paperwork. Louisiana also requires social security numbers and phone numbers of each of your board members.
• Step 2: Appoint a registered agent
  • You must have a registered agent and he or she must be a resident of Louisiana. This person acts as the liaison between the state and your corporation. Because ExemptMeNow is based in New Orleans and our employees are residents of Louisiana, we may act as your registered agent if needed. This is a special offer by ExemptMeNow to all Louisiana nonprofit association clients. Therefore ExemptMeNow can be your Louisiana one-stop shop for nonprofit compliance.
• Step 3: Prepare and file your nonprofit’s Articles of Incorporation
  • An EIN number is required when filing your Articles of Incorporation. The form may either be printed and filled out to be mailed to the Louisiana Secretary of State Department or filed online. Both have a filing fee of $80. There are a few pieces of information that you will need when filling out your paperwork:
    • Name, type, mission and purpose statement of your organization
    • Name and physical address of your registered agent, incorporator, and directors
    • Corporation’s primary address that is also the physical address of your business
    • Any specific bylaws
    • Dissolution clause in the case that you terminate your nonprofit

A Faster, Easy Way to Start Your Nonprofit in Louisiana

Now you have your Louisiana nonprofit corporation, you can use your state information and federal EIN to open a bank account for your nonprofit. However, setting up your nonprofit in Louisiana is just part of the process of becoming a formal tax-exempt organization. The next step is to file for a federal tax exemption using either IRS form 1023 or 1023-EZ.The average nonprofit takes 100+ hours of time and often several thousand dollars in professional  fees to create. In the past, you were faced with locating, understanding, and filing the forms yourself or hiring an expensive attorney who likely doesn’t specialize in nonprofits.ExemptMeNow is the only secure, fully automated, online platform for creating your Louisiana Nonprofit Corporation.