Nonprofit compliance in North Dakota

North Dakota has no general volunteer-screening law. Licensed child care programs must put any volunteer who cares for, supervises or guides children, or who may have unsupervised access to them, through a fingerprint-based state and FBI check at least every five years (N.D.C.C. §§ 50-11.1-02(28), 50-11.1-06.2). Child-placing agencies must check volunteers with direct contact (§ 50-12-03), and licensed developmental-disability providers must check volunteers who work with the people served (N.D. Admin. Code 75-04-01-06). Other nonprofits may order a $15 BCI state record check, or $5 if the Attorney General approves them as serving only minors or vulnerable elderly adults (§ 12-60-16.9). North Dakota has no state FCRA analog.

• Early Childhood Services Background Investigations (N.D.C.C. §§ 50-11.1-02(28), 50-11.1-06.2; N.D. Admin. Code 75-03-08-12.1, 75-03-09-12.1, 75-03-09-27, 75-03-10-14, 75-03-11.1-08.5) — A volunteer who helps care for, supervise or guide children, or who may have unsupervised access to them, is a staff member and must give fingerprints for a state and FBI criminal history check through HHS and the BCI. The check is valid for five years, the rules require a new fingerprint check at least every five years, and HHS may charge up to $30 to process it.
• BCI Criminal History Record Checks (N.D.C.C. §§ 12-60-16.6, 12-60-16.8, 12-60-16.9, 12-60-24) — Any requester may obtain a North Dakota criminal history record from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation for $15, or $5 for an Attorney General–approved nonprofit serving only minors or vulnerable elderly adults; the BCI notifies the subject unless a signed authorization is attached. FBI fingerprint results go only to the agencies and entities listed in § 12-60-24(2), which does not include private nonprofits.
• Child-Placing Agency Volunteer Checks (N.D.C.C. § 50-12-03; N.D. Admin. Code 75-03-36-13) — Since 2023 a licensed child-placing agency must run a criminal history record investigation on each employee, volunteer or field-placement student with direct contact with families or children, and nonemployees also need an annual child abuse and neglect index check.
• Who it reaches: Child care volunteers who help care for, supervise or guide children, or who may have unsupervised access to them, in licensed family, group, center, preschool and school-age programs (fingerprint-based state and FBI check, repeated at least every five years; N.D.C.C. §§ 50-11.1-02(28), 50-11.1-06.2; NDAC 75-03-09-12.1, 75-03-09-27(5)); Volunteers and field-placement students of licensed child-placing agencies who have direct contact with families or children (N.D.C.C. § 50-12-03; NDAC 75-03-36-13); Volunteers of licensed developmental-disability service providers who work with the people served (federal and state checks; NDAC 75-04-01-06(2)); Nonemployees of psychiatric residential treatment facilities for children who have contact with a child, volunteers placed with or present in qualified residential treatment programs who have direct contact with residents, and anyone providing care in a foster care facility (N.D.C.C. §§ 25-03.2-04.1(1), 50-11-06.8(1); NDAC 75-03-40-25); Optional, not required: children’s advocacy center volunteers who have contact with children, whom HHS may check (N.D.C.C. § 50-25.1-11.1(3)); Optional, not required: school volunteers, chaperones and volunteer coaches with unsupervised student contact; a school board may pay for a state and FBI check, but we found no statute requiring one (N.D.C.C. § 12-60-24(2)(y)); Optional, not required: youth sports, camp, faith-based and other nonprofit volunteers; we found no statute requiring checks, and a BCI state check costs $15, or $5 for an Attorney General–approved nonprofit serving only minors or vulnerable elderly adults (N.D.C.C. § 12-60-16.9).
• Check types in use: BCI name-based or fingerprint-supported state criminal history record check ($15; $5 for an Attorney General–approved nonprofit serving only minors or vulnerable elderly adults; § 12-60-16.9); FBI fingerprint check through HHS and the BCI for licensed child care, child-placing, residential and foster care settings (§§ 50-11.1-06.2, 12-60-24); State and out-of-state child abuse and neglect records searches for child care staff (HHS), and an annual child abuse and neglect index check for child-placing agency nonemployees (NDAC 75-03-36-13); National, in-state and out-of-state sex offender registry searches (HHS child care check); Attorney General Offenders Against Children list (crimes against children not on the sex offender registry).
• Administered by: North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), Office of Attorney General (state criminal history record checks); North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, including Early Childhood Services licensing (child care, foster care, child-placing and residential checks through the ND Gateway Portal since November 3, 2025).
• Typical processing: About 7–10 business days for a BCI state criminal history record check, per the Attorney General; HHS child care fingerprint checks are submitted and tracked through the ND Gateway Portal, and we found no published FBI turnaround.

North Dakota requires a charitable organization to have a registration statement on file with the Secretary of State before it solicits contributions from anyone in the state by any means, with a $25 fee and a financial statement for its most recent twelve months (N.D.C.C. § 50-22-02(1)–(2)); the Secretary of State also requires the organization to be registered as a nonprofit first. The registration does not expire, but it becomes ineffective immediately if the organization fails to file its annual report, due September 1 each year with a $10 fee and a financial statement; the Secretary of State may extend the deadline, but never past December 1 (§ 50-22-04(1)–(2), (5)). There is no small-charity revenue exemption. Outside the chapter are fundraising for a college or university, all-volunteer drives for a government, civic or community project, K–12 schools, funds for a named individual passed on without deduction, religious organizations exempt from filing Form 990, and candidates and political committees (§ 50-22-01(2)(b)). Professional fundraisers register separately for $100 a year and post a $20,000 bond (§ 50-22-02.1). Games of chance need either a city or county permit — a local permit covers only raffles, bingo and sports pools, and since August 1, 2025 its holder may award up to a $15,000 primary prize and $50,000 in total prizes a year — or an Attorney General license at $175 for each city or county that approves a site (§§ 53-06.1-03(1)(a)–(b), (2)(b)).

• North Dakota has no revenue threshold below which a charity skips registration: unless it fits a § 50-22-01(2)(b) exclusion, such as a religious organization exempt from Form 990 or an all-volunteer drive for a civic or community project, it registers with the Secretary of State before soliciting and files a $10 annual report by September 1 (N.D.C.C. §§ 50-22-02, 50-22-04).
• Soliciting residents of other states can trigger registration in those states regardless of where you are based — an online donate button reaches all fifty.
• Exemptions exist in most registering states (small organizations, religious organizations, membership appeals) but they are specific and usually must be claimed rather than assumed.
• Confirm current requirements with your state charity office before relying on this — thresholds and exemptions are amended frequently.

These apply regardless of which state you operate in, and they are the ones most commonly missed by small organizations that assume state registration is the whole picture.

• Annual Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-N. Three consecutive years of non-filing revokes exempt status automatically — this is the single most common way small nonprofits lose their status.
• If you run background checks on volunteers, the Fair Credit Reporting Act applies to you as a user of consumer reports: a standalone written disclosure, separate written authorization, and the pre-adverse and adverse action sequence before acting on a result.
• Public disclosure: your exemption application and recent 990s must be made available on request.
• Employment obligations attach to paid staff regardless of exempt status — payroll tax, worker classification, and wage and hour law all apply.