King County business licenses: Charitable solicitation
For a King County charitable solicitation business license, please note:
- All charitable organizations soliciting for contributions in unincorporated King County are required to apply for a King County business license (Title 6* of the King County Code).
- All charitable organizations soliciting for contributions in unincorporated King County also must register with the Secretary of State's Charities Division (call 1-800-332-GIVE).
- Exceptions to licensing requirements in unincorporated King County are:
- Religious organizations are not required to license unless solicitations are for a charitable purpose.
- Charitable organizations collecting $2,500 or less are not required to license.
- An application for a King County Charitable Solicitation business license must be submitted at least 30 days prior to the commencement of solicitation.
- Licensing documentation requirements include:
- Financial statement for preceding fiscal year on a King County Charitable Solicitation Fiscal Year Financial Statement form, available in PDF* (72KB) or MS Word* (48KB) format.
- Itemization of the estimated cost of the solicitation.
- Statement of the amount of any wages, fees, commission, salaries and expenses to be paid to any person in connection with solicitation.
- If solicitation is by means of coin or currency boxes and/or receptacles, locations for each box and/or receptacle.
- Verification of 501(c) tax exemption status and registration with the Secretary of State's Charities Division.
Financial records are open to the public for review. - King County Charitable Solicitation License fees are:
- $40 per year for a charitable organization.
- $1,000 per year for a promoter (where professional fund-raising organizations or promoters are used).
To apply for a Charitable Solicitation license, do one of the following:
*Note: To view PDFs, free software from Adobe is required. Fill-in Word documents require Microsoft software. For assistance and fill-in instructions, see helpful hints.
To request this information in alternate formats for people with disabilities, call 206-296-6600 or TTY Relay: 711.
