Nonprofit compliance in South Carolina

South Carolina has no general volunteer-screening law. It requires checks in specific settings: licensed, registered and approved child care (S.C. Code § 63-13-40), where DSS regulations excuse only occasional, unpaid helpers who are supervised by staff at all times; child-placing agencies, group homes and treatment programs, for volunteers with direct, unsupervised contact with children (§ 63-7-2340, since 2024); and national service positions (§ 23-3-47). Public school districts must check school volunteers against the National Sex Offender Registry (§ 59-19-117). Anyone required to register as a sex offender who works or volunteers where a minor is present, in a role that includes instruction, supervision or care of minors, commits a felony unless a circuit court order approves it (§ 63-13-1110).

• South Carolina Code § 63-13-40 — Childcare Background Checks (S.C. Code Ann. § 63-13-40 (2019)) — Requires anyone employed by or providing caregiver services at a licensed, registered or approved child care facility to clear SLED and FBI fingerprint checks, the DSS Central Registry, and the national and state sex offender registries, plus criminal, sex offender and child abuse registry checks in every state lived in during the past five years. Fingerprints are repeated every five years. The statute has no volunteer exemption. DSS regulations excuse only an unpaid helper, 16 or older, who assists infrequently and is supervised by staff at all times during direct care (S.C. Code Regs. 114-501(A)(40)); family child care home volunteers must be fingerprinted (Regs. 114-531). Provisional work requires a favorable SLED name and date-of-birth check plus a SLED or FBI fingerprint check, a sworn statement and direct supervision.
• South Carolina Code § 23-3-47 — National and Community Service Background Checks (S.C. Code Ann. § 23-3-47 (2014)) — Requires anyone seeking a covered position under 45 C.F.R. part 2540, or who volunteers or serves in a position supported, sponsored or administered by the South Carolina Commission on National and Community Service, to undergo SLED and FBI fingerprint-based checks, unless the Commission finds the requirement met through another process. The Commission pays.
• South Carolina Code § 63-7-2340 — Child-Placing Agency, Group Home and Treatment Program Volunteers (S.C. Code Ann. §§ 63-7-2340, 63-7-2350 (as amended 2024)) — Since May 21, 2024, anyone seeking a volunteer role with direct, unsupervised contact with children at a child-placing agency, qualified residential treatment program, residential facility or contracted service provider must clear SLED and FBI fingerprint checks. A substantiated abuse history or a listed conviction bars the role. DSS group care rules add yearly SLED, Central Registry, sex offender registry and out-of-state checks, with FBI fingerprints every five years (S.C. Code Regs. 114-591(L)).
• Who it reaches: Anyone employed by or providing caregiver services at a licensed, registered or approved child care facility, including church and religious centers (§§ 63-13-40(D), 63-13-1010(G)); Anyone in a covered national service position, or volunteering in a position supported, sponsored or administered by the S.C. Commission on National and Community Service (§ 23-3-47); Volunteers with direct, unsupervised contact with children at child-placing agencies, group homes, qualified residential treatment programs and contracted service providers (§ 63-7-2340(A), since 2024); Child care volunteers who fall outside DSS’s narrow exemption (unpaid, infrequent, supervised by staff at all times), and every family child care home volunteer (S.C. Code Regs. 114-501(A)(40), 114-531); Public school volunteers who work in a school on an interim or regular basis as mentors, coaches or in any other capacity, and chaperones or others with direct student interaction — a National Sex Offender Registry check run by the district, not a criminal history check (§ 59-19-117(B)); Volunteers of DSS child-welfare contractors who have direct unsupervised contact with a child in DSS custody (§ 63-13-190(A)(2), as amended May 19, 2026).
• Check types in use: SLED fingerprint-based state criminal history check; FBI national fingerprint-based criminal history check; Central Registry check for child abuse and neglect; National Crime Information Center (NCIC) sex offender registry check; State sex offender registry check; SLED CATCH name-based check (available to charitable organizations at reduced fee for volunteer screening).
• Administered by: South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) — state fingerprint checks where a statute requires them, and the SLED CATCH name-based search (catch.sled.sc.gov): $25, or $8 for 501(c)(3)s, churches, charities registered or exempt with the Secretary of State, bona fide mentors and parks-and-recreation volunteer programs, plus the online service fee SLED notes from July 1, 2026. DSS runs Central Registry checks and reviews child care fingerprints..

South Carolina requires a charitable organization to register with the Secretary of State before soliciting, with a $50 fee (S.C. Code § 33-56-30(A)), and the Secretary of State requires registration every year. Since May 18, 2026, 2026 Act No. 170 measures the small-charity exemptions in gross revenue a fiscal year, counting revenue earned as well as donations: $10,000 for any charity (§ 33-56-50(B)(2)), or $25,000 for an IRS-recognized charity run by people paid no more than $500 a year, that pays nothing to an officer or member and uses no professional solicitor, fundraising counsel or commercial co-venturer (§ 33-56-50(A)(3)). A charity that goes over must register within 30 days. An exempt charity that solicits still files an exemption claim every year, with no fee (§ 33-56-50(C)), and a parent-teacher association affiliated with a school is outside the chapter (§ 33-56-55). Registering or filing an exemption also qualifies an organization for SLED’s $8 CATCH rate (§ 23-3-115(B)(3)).

• Since May 18, 2026, a South Carolina charity with no more than $10,000 in gross revenue a fiscal year, or $25,000 if it is IRS-recognized, run by people paid no more than $500 a year and uses no professional solicitor, need not register, but it still files the free annual exemption claim if it solicits (§ 33-56-50(A)(3), (B)(2), (C), as amended by 2026 Act No. 170, § 1). The online Code may still show the older $7,500 and $20,000 limits.
• 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.