One of the oldest responsibilities of the Attorney General dates back to the Middle Ages – providing oversight of the charitable sector. The Charitable Law Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office fulfills this role in many different ways, including taking enforcement action against the handful of charities that fail to live up to their legal obligations in protecting charitable assets and using them for the intended purposes that donors expected.
The vast majority of charities in Ohio never encounter the Charitable Law Section’s investigative staff, but instead interact annually with the office through the annual filing requirements. All Ohio charities, as well as any charitable organization that solicits Ohioans for support, must make annual filings with the Ohio Attorney General’s online charitable registration system. (Churches are exempt from this obligation.) The information provided in these filings is available to the public and can be useful in making wise giving decisions. The information can be accessed online. Additional information can also be found for charities interested in learning more about their filing obligations.
Donors can research information about charities using the Research Charities function on our web page and learn basic information about charitable organizations, including whether a particular organization is in compliance with the law and making required filings. Links are also included to various watchdog organizations that often provide evaluations on charities. Donors should never contribute to unfamiliar organizations without engaging in research to determine if it is a real organization and what it accomplishes with its funding.
Information provided during charitable filings in 2018 shows that:
- There is information from 58,747 charities in the database, plus 4,939 dissolved organizations. Of that total, 9,131 filings involved out of state organizations.
- During 2018, 5,553 groups made their first filing.
- Among Ohio organizations, 54 percent of the organizations reported having five or fewer board members.
- Most Ohio charities are small: 53 percent reported revenues under $100,000; 27 percent reported revenues between $100,000 to $500,000; 7 percent reported revenues between $500,000 - $1 million; 6 percent have revenues from $1 million - $3 million; and 7 percent report revenues exceeding $3 million.
- The same situation applies to assets: 49 percent of the organizations have assets under $25,000; 25 percent have assets between $25,000 and $100,000; 15 percent hold assets between $100,000 and $500,000; 6 percent report assets between $500,000 and $1 million; 6 percent hold assets of $1 million to $3 million; and 8 percent hold assets of more than $3 million.
- The average value of assets held by Ohio charities was $4,730,479.50. The median was $27,114.50.
- The average revenue reported by Ohio charities was $4,493,030.12 while the median was $87,751.50.
- More than 50 percent of the reporting organizations held five or more board meetings during the year and the average number of board members for those groups was 7.
- Only 52 percent of the organizations with assets over $1 million reported having an independent audit.
The Charitable Law Section handles the registration and report for professional solicitors which are hired to conduct fundraising on behalf of a charitable organization. Often solicitors conduct mail and telephone campaigns for charities. During 2018, 113 professional solicitors registered with the Section and conducted 1,062 campaigns for 712 charities.
The number of bingo licenses granted to Ohio charitable organizations increased in 2018 to 1,711 organizations, compared to 1678 in 2017. This was the first increase in the number of bingo licenses since 2008. These licenses covered authorized bingo activities, both traditional bingo games as well as the sale of instant tickets, at 3,489 locations, the highest number of locations ever approved. Gross receipts reported from the bingo license year that ended Oct. 31 were $779,489,802.58 and the net profit for organizations, after prize payouts and expenses, was $102,139,500.69. Annual bingo financial reports can be obtained online.