The CA Secretary of State recently revamped their business website. Your organization interacts with the CA Secretary of State to file your Statement of Information every other year, and update board member changes (often required by banks to change account signers).
In order to protect business and user information, organizations now have individual profiles that require a username and password.
An email was sent out in early April from the Secretary of State to email addresses previously used on behalf of an organization. The email included a PIN number required to activate the online profile for the organization. Search your inbox for an email from “bizfile@sos.ca.gov”.
If you received this email, please make sure to follow the instructions to activate your account via PIN Number. The PIN number is valid for 75 days of the email and may only be used once.
To register your organization on the new CA Secretary of State online platform, please do the following:
1. Head to the bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov. Click on the “Login” button in the upper right hand corner.
2. Click on the “Sign Up” blue text at the bottom left of the screen.
3. Enter in required registration information. PLEASE USE GENERIC ORGANIZATION INFO. Do not use your personal email / password information! If your organization does not yet have a general email/board position email account (ex: leotreasurer@gmail.com), please stop and create one before continuing. Click “Register” when your information has been entered.
4. Once you are logged in and registered, this is what your home screen should look like. You can see your username in the upper right-hand corner of the site.
5. To verify that the profile account is linked to the organization, go to the lefthand column, and click the search icon with the magnifying glass. Enter your organization’s name or California Corporate Number in the below circled search box.
6. Your search results should look something like this. Click on the Blue organization name to file/manage the organization’s profile.
7. From this screen, you can manage/request user access, file your Statement of Information, or request a Certificate of Good Standing.
As a nonprofit whose board members change frequently, your PIN number may have gone to an individual who is no longer associated with the organization.
If you did not receive an email from the Secretary of State’s office, you may request a PIN to be mailed to the organization’s business address on file.
To request a PIN, head to the bizfileOnline.sos.ca.gov website, log in to your created profile (via the steps above), and pull up your entity’s info page via the steps above.
At the bottom of the righthand side, there should be an icon that says “Request Access”. Either enter your pin (if you have it) or click the blue “Request Pin” button. The CA Secretary of State will mail the PIN to the address on file. If the mailing address for your organization is shared or not checked frequently, please be aware and communicate with all affected parties to make sure that the PIN is received. For example, booster clubs and PTAs who use their school’s mailing address should communicate with the school’s front office staff to ensure that the mail is received.
Please do not hesitate to call if you have any questions, and keep in mind that the CA Secretary of State’s office is still working out the kinks with this new system. We are all learning alongside you with this new process.