About registering a nonprofit organisation

If your organisation is not for profit and is not part of government, you can apply for registration. You can submit your nonprofit organisation (NPO) application at your nearest Provincial Social Development office.

Register your organisation to make it credible in the eyes of potential funders.

NPOs include trusts, companies or other associations of persons established for a public purpose.

Registering your NPO is beneficial because its certificate:

• improves your credibility and funding opportunities
• allows your organisation to open a bank account
• helps your organisation with tax incentives.
  

To register, you must be one of the following:

• non-governmental organisations (NGO)
• community-Based organisations (CBO)
• faith-based organisations (FBO).

What you should do

• Complete the NPO application form and submit it at your nearest Provincial Social Development office.
• Submit the completed NPO application form together with two copies of the organisation’s founding documents.
• Trust – Deeds of trust and letter of authorisation from the courts
• Section 21 – Certificate of incorporation and memorandum and articles of association
• Voluntary Association – Constitution
• The founding documents of the NPO must have the provisions of Section 12 (A-O) of the Nonprofit Organisations Act, 1997. If you fail to do that, your application will be rejected.
• If you are dissatisfied with the rejection or cancellation of your organisation’s certificate, you may launch an appeal to the panel arbitrators.
• Once it is registered, your organisation is expected to submit its annual report nine months after its financial year end. The annual report should consist of a narrative report and a financial report.
• You can submit your application at your nearest Provincial Social Development office or send it by mail to:
  

The Directorate
Non-profit organisations
Department of Social Development
Private Bag X901
Pretoria
0001

or hand post:

Department of Social Development
134 Pretorius Street
HSRC Building
Pretoria

Note:

• It is a criminal offence for an organisation to operate under the pretence of a registered NPO.
• Various Government departments offer funding for various services.

Timeframe

• It may take approximately two months to process the entire registration.
• Once your application has been received, the department will send an acknowledgement letter to the organisation, thereafter, a registration certificate will be issued if your application meets the requirements of the Nonprofit Organisations Act, 1997.

How much does it cost

The service is free.

Forms to complete

(Forms are provided in PDF format. To open PDF documents, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader 4 or higher installed on your computer.)

• Application for registration by a Non-profit organisation

Who to contact