State guide — Arizona

Incorporate a nonprofit in Arizona

State facts checked against Arizona official sources — October 2026

Arizona has two features no other state in this series combines: incorporation runs through the Corporation Commission rather than the Secretary of State, and after the Commission approves your articles you must publish them in a newspaper — a real requirement with a real, variable cost on top of the $40 state fee. Budget for both before anyone quotes you '$40 and done.'

The steps

1. Choose a name and confirm it is available in Arizona — and distinguishable from existing entities in the filing office's records.
2. Line up your agent: statutory agent — Arizona's term — plus a known place of business in Arizona.
3. Draft the articles with the 501(c)(3) clauses in them — see the language section below. This is the step that decides whether the IRS accepts your application months from now.
4. File with Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) and pay the state fee. File with the ACC (eCorp/Arizona Business Center, mail, or in person). Wait for the approval letter before publishing — the instructions warn against publishing early, and the letter carries the publishing information. The affidavit of publication itself carries no ACC fee; the newspaper's charge is the variable cost.
5. Get the EIN — free from the IRS once the corporation exists. The EIN guide covers the traps.
6. Run the eligibility checker and file Form 1023-EZ or Form 1023 on Pay.gov. Then handle Arizona charity registration (below) before you fundraise.

The 501(c)(3) language in Arizona

The ACC is candid that Form C011 meets only Arizona's basic requirements and contains no IRS wording. Add the purpose limitation and dissolution dedication on a separate page attached to the articles. A companion Certificate of Disclosure is also required with the filing — the instructions list it; don't let it be the reason for a rejection.

The federal requirement underneath all of this is the organizational test: your organizing document must limit the organization to exempt purposes and permanently dedicate its assets to exempt purposes on dissolution. The IRS publishes sample wording — a purpose clause and a dissolution clause — and the kit's generator builds both into your articles automatically.

Arizona traps and notes

• Publication is real in Arizona (A.R.S. §10-3203): articles must be published after approval, in the county of the known place of business. Newspaper pricing varies — get the quote before you promise a total budget.
• Wrong-office trap: the Corporation Commission, not the Secretary of State.
• Certificate of Disclosure rides along with the articles — a small form whose absence still bounces filings.

After incorporation: Arizona charitable solicitation registration

Status: Limited. Regulator: Secretary of State — Business Services Division (veterans' organizations only).

Arizona requires registration only of veterans' charitable organizations that solicit in their name. A general 501(c)(3) has no Arizona solicitation registration — one of only a handful of states where the answer is 'limited to a category you probably aren't.'

The national picture — which states require registration, which don't, and the exemptions that actually apply — is in our guide to charitable solicitation registration.