Exactly what to do
- A state joins one calendar year at a time, by its governor (or whoever state law designates) electing with the IRS. For 2027 that means an advance election on Form 15714 by January 1, 2027, completed by sending the state’s SGO list by February 15, 2027; a state that misses the list deadline has no qualifying SGOs that year. From 2028 on, advance elections run January 2 to September 30 of the prior year and lists are due October 1 to January 1 (a state past its first year may also elect by sending its list in that window) (temporary regulations, the calendar). Check yours on the live opt-in tracker (the IRS's official roster trails announcements; here's why the counts differ). We watch every state daily and email account holders the day yours moves. Your state’s current listing posture, and what you can do about it today:
Pick your home state in step 1.1 and this box fills with your state’s exact links and rules.
- Under Treasury’s temporary regulations (binding rules that apply from September 1, 2026), your state certifies to the IRS, for each SGO it lists, that the SGO is located in the state, keeps the segregated §25F account, and meets the operational requirements. For a new organization with no annual certification or audit yet, the state may rely on your governing documents, written policies, and other documentation, but only after finding that they expressly require the operational requirements (beyond a promise to follow the law) and show your ability and intent to meet them. Your binder is the stage 1-3 paper: stamped articles, EIN letter, bylaws with Article VIII, your written award policy, determination letter (or proof your 1023 is pending), signed minutes, the conflict-of-interest policy, and your solicitation registration.
The same rules protect you. A participating state must list every organization located there that qualifies and asks; it may not make SGOs operate more restrictively than §25F (for example by limiting the types of schools or expenses scholarships can fund), and the application, documentation, and financial-reporting requirements it must impose have to be tailored to the federal tests and fraud prevention (one national standard); and it may remove a listed SGO only through a procedure that gives due process. Separately, register in the IRS SGO portal as soon as it opens, preferably before you appear on any list (step 3): it gives you the donor-number format and is where you authorize your name on the IRS SGO list donors rely on. (As of October 1, 2026 the portal isn’t open yet.) Kentucky began accepting SGO declarations July 22, 2026, including from out-of-state nonprofits, which under the federal rule must be authorized to do business in Kentucky; file the moment your state’s window opens, because a state can add organizations only until its list deadline, and later additions wait for the next year.No published process yet in your state? Get on the administering agency’s radar now, in writing:
EMAIL/LETTER: to your state's listing agencySubject: Scholarship Granting Organization listing under IRC Section 25F Dear [Agency / Office], [ORGANIZATION NAME] is a 501(c)(3) public charity [formed in / registered in] [STATE], preparing to operate as a Scholarship Granting Organization under the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit (IRC Section 25F), which takes effect January 1, 2027. We understand [STATE] has elected to participate. We are writing to (1) ask how organizations will be included on the state's SGO list submitted to the IRS, (2) request notice when an application or declaration process is published, and (3) offer any information you need from us in the meantime. Our governing documents and written award policy expressly require each Section 25F operational requirement, and our formation and exemption records are ready for review. [IF PENDING: Our application for recognition of exemption is pending with the IRS; please let us know how the state will handle pending applicants, which Treasury's temporary regulations allow a state to list.] Contact: [NAME], [TITLE], [EMAIL], [PHONE] EIN: [EIN] · [ADDRESS] Thank you for your time. [NAME]
- Run as a normal scholarship charity under ordinary 501(c)(3) law, seek listing in a participating state where you’re located (authorized to do business and compliant with its charity laws), knowing that state’s §25F scholarships can fund only students who live there, and never promise donors the credit until a state has listed you. Then be part of why your state joins: operating SGOs with families served are the strongest argument a governor hears (what staying out costs a state). Make the case in writing:EMAIL/LETTER: to your governor's office
Subject: Electing into the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit (IRC Section 25F) Dear Governor [NAME], I lead [ORGANIZATION NAME], a 501(c)(3) public charity in [CITY, STATE] preparing to grant K-12 scholarships as a Scholarship Granting Organization under the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit (IRC Section 25F). Starting January 1, 2027, taxpayers can claim a federal tax credit of up to $1,700 per person (up to $3,400 for a married couple when each spouse gives, under Treasury's proposed regulations) for gifts to scholarship organizations on a participating state's list, at no cost to the state budget. Only students who live in a participating state can receive these scholarships. The election is made one calendar year at a time, by your office or another official designated under state law. If [STATE] does not elect, our donors' federal credits, and the scholarships they fund, flow to families in participating states instead. We ask that [STATE] make the election for 2027, which must be filed with the IRS on Form 15714 by January 1, 2027, and we are glad to provide any information that would help your office evaluate it. [OPTIONAL: one sentence on the families/communities you serve.] Respectfully, [NAME], [TITLE], [ORGANIZATION NAME] [EMAIL] · [PHONE]
