Nonprofit compliance in South Dakota

South Dakota has no law requiring every nonprofit to screen volunteers; its mandates are sector-specific. Any adult, including a volunteer, who provides care and supervision to children in a licensed child welfare agency (day care centers, group family day care homes, before and after school programs, foster homes, group homes and residential treatment centers) must sign a DCI release and be fingerprinted for state and FBI checks within 14 days of starting (SDCL 26-6-14.4, 26-6-14.5). Child care checks repeat at least every five years (ARSD 67:42:17:13), group care centers and child placement agencies must clear volunteers against the child abuse and neglect central registry before they serve (ARSD 67:42:07:14, 67:42:09:09), and CASA programs and child advocacy centers must have volunteers screened against that registry (SDCL 26-8A-12.2). Accredited schools fingerprint the people they hire, but we found no statute requiring checks of unpaid school volunteers (SDCL 13-10-12), and we found no state FCRA analog.

• Criminal record checks in licensed child welfare agencies (SDCL 26-6-14.3 to 26-6-14.5, 26-6-14.10, 26-6-14.11) — Applicants, administrators, adult residents, any adult, including a volunteer, who provides care and supervision to children, and any adult working in a group home, residential treatment center or shelter care facility must sign the SDCL 23-5-12 waiver and be fingerprinted; the licensee sends the prints to the Division of Criminal Investigation and the FBI within 14 calendar days. Anyone convicted of child abuse or a sex offense, convicted of any other felony within five years, or listed on the sex offender or child abuse central registry may not work or provide care there; doing so, or knowingly allowing it, is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
• Child care background checks (ARSD 67:42:17:13 (effective July 3, 2023)) — All child care providers, program employees age 14 and older and family day care household members age 18 and older must meet federal background check requirements, repeated at least once every five years. DSS says employees and volunteers of licensed child and school-age programs and registered family day care must be screened, and DSS pays the in-state and out-of-state fees.
• Central registry screening of volunteers (SDCL 26-8A-12.2; ARSD 67:42:01:05.02, 67:42:07:14, 67:42:09:09) — DSS compares the names of current or potential employees or volunteers of CASA programs, nationally accredited child advocacy centers, Department of Corrections juvenile programs and state adolescent treatment programs, and guardian ad litem candidates, against the child abuse and neglect central registry; written consent is required and refusing screening disqualifies the applicant. Group care centers and child placement agencies must screen each volunteer before the volunteer serves children, and a volunteer may not have a substantiated report.
• School employee fingerprint checks (SDCL 13-10-12, 13-10-13 (amended by 2026 HB 1003)) — Since July 1, 2026, each person over 18 hired by any accredited school, not only a public school district, submits to DCI and FBI fingerprint checks, with the cards sent to DCI before the person enters service, with temporary employment allowed pending results; student teachers are checked, and people hired to officiate or referee school events are exempt. We found no provision requiring checks of unpaid volunteers.
• Who it reaches: Any adult, including a volunteer, who provides care and supervision to children in a licensed child welfare agency, such as a day care center, group family day care home, before and after school program, foster home, group home or residential treatment center (DCI and FBI fingerprint check within 14 days; SDCL 26-6-14.4(3), 26-6-14.5); Child care providers, program employees 14 and older and family day care household members 18 and older, including volunteers in licensed child and school-age programs and registered family day care (federal comprehensive check, repeated at least every five years; ARSD 67:42:17:13); Volunteers and volunteer applicants of group care centers and child placement agencies (central registry screening before serving children; ARSD 67:42:01:05.02, 67:42:07:14(7), 67:42:09:09(7)); residential treatment centers appear to have a parallel rule (ARSD 67:42:08:06, not retrieved); Current or potential volunteers of CASA programs and nationally accredited child advocacy centers, and guardian ad litem candidates in abuse and neglect cases (central registry screening with written consent; SDCL 26-8A-12.2); Persons over 18 hired by an accredited school, including paid coaches and student teachers (DCI and FBI fingerprint check; SDCL 13-10-12); Optional, not required: unpaid school volunteers, chaperones and volunteer coaches (we found no statute requiring checks; SDCL 13-10-12 reaches people hired by an accredited school); Optional, not required: volunteers in developmental disability, nursing facility and assisted living programs (we found no statute or rule requiring checks of volunteers; DHS requires provider policies on checks for employees who provide direct service, ARSD 46:11:04:15.02, and facilities may not knowingly employ anyone convicted of abusing another person, ARSD 44:70:04:03, 44:73:04:04); Optional, not required: summer and recreational camps, youth sports, churches, mentoring and other nonprofit volunteers (we found no statute requiring checks; camps designed primarily for character building or recreation are outside child welfare licensing, SDCL 26-6-27).
• Check types in use: South Dakota DCI fingerprint-based state criminal history check ($30; the FBI adds $20, paid together as $50, per Unified Judicial System instructions, Rev. 04/2026); FBI fingerprint-based national check submitted through DCI where a statute authorizes it (licensed child welfare agencies, DSS child care screening, accredited-school hires); we found no general channel for volunteer organizations; DSS Central Registry for Child Abuse and Neglect screening (DSS pays for child care screening; DSS says a screening on its Permission to Screen form, the route it describes for interstate child care agency requests, is free and averages 5–7 business days); South Dakota and national (NCIC) sex offender registry checks (part of DSS child care screening); Out-of-state criminal, sex offender and child abuse registry checks for each state lived in during the past five years (child care; 45 C.F.R. 98.43).
• Administered by: South Dakota Attorney General’s Division of Criminal Investigation, Identification Section (fingerprint-based state checks and FBI submissions); Department of Social Services, Office of Licensing and Accreditation (child care and child welfare agency screening) and Child Protection Services (central registry screening); accredited schools (employee checks under SDCL 13-10-12).
• Typical processing: DSS says child care screening results typically take 1–2 weeks after fingerprints are received, and a central registry screening on its Permission to Screen form averages 5–7 business days; DCI turnaround could not be confirmed.

South Dakota does not require charities to register before soliciting: its charitable and professional solicitation chapter (SDCL 37-27) was repealed in 1984, and we found no current charity or professional fundraiser registration statute. Since July 1, 2024, knowingly using fraud, false promises or misrepresentation, or hiding a material fact, in soliciting contributions for charitable purposes is a deceptive act or practice (SDCL 37-24-6(1), as amended by 2024 H.B. 1116). Every South Dakota nonprofit corporation files an annual report with the Secretary of State listing its principal office and directors, for a $10 fee (SDCL 59-11-24, 47-28-6(9)), and one that files more than 60 days late can be administratively dissolved (§ 47-24-13.1). Congressionally chartered veterans’ organizations, religious, charitable, educational and fraternal organizations, local civic, service and (since July 1, 2026) booster clubs, and volunteer fire departments, among others, may run bingo and lotteries without a state license if the proceeds do not directly benefit any individual, no outside organization or professional runs the game, bingo prizes stay at or under $2,000 a play, and the county or city gets 30 days’ written notice first and does not object by resolution; an organization selling lottery tickets statewide gives that notice only to the Secretary of State and the governing body where the drawing is held (SDCL 22-25-25).

• A South Dakota charity does not register with the state to solicit, but a South Dakota nonprofit corporation files a $10 annual report with the Secretary of State, and bingo or a raffle needs 30 days’ written notice to the county or city rather than a state license (SDCL 59-11-24, 47-28-6(9), 22-25-25(7)).
• 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.