Maine Booster Club Filing Requirements

Forming a Nonprofit Corporation in Maine

A booster club incorporates under the Maine Nonprofit Corporation Act (Title 13-B) by filing Articles of Incorporation with the Secretary of State’s Division of Corporations. The statutory filing fee is $40. The articles name a Maine registered agent and should include the IRS-required purpose and dissolution clauses.

Every Maine nonprofit corporationNonprofit corporationA legal entity created by filing articles of incorporation with the state, separate from the parents who run it. It can open a bank account, sign contracts, and apply for 501(c)(3) status.All terms files an annual report, and the fee is $35. The Secretary of State sets the due date as June 1 each year for entities on file as of December 31 of the prior year; the 2026 reports were due June 1, 2026. A report filed late adds a $25 penalty that the Secretary of State says may not be waived. A corporation that stops filing is administratively dissolved, and reinstatement costs $25 per missed report, up to $150, plus the reports themselves.

State Tax Exemption

An organization exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) is exempt from Maine income tax without a separate state application. A club with unrelated business income reports it to Maine Revenue Services.

Sales Tax

Purchases. Maine does not exempt nonprofits as a class. 36 M.R.S. §1760 lists purchase exemptions by organization type, such as incorporated hospitals, child care facilities, animal shelters, and nonprofit youth organizations whose primary purpose is athletic instruction. A school booster club is not on that list, so it pays sales tax on its purchases, including items it donates to the school.

Fundraiser sales. §1760(64) exempts “sales of tangible personal property and taxable services by elementary and secondary schools and by student organizations sponsored by those schools, including booster clubs and student or parent-teacher organizations, as long as the profits from the sales are used to benefit those schools or student organizations or are used for a charitable purpose.” Concessions, spirit wear, and product sales by a school booster club are exempt when the profits go to the school’s program. A booster club whose profits go elsewhere loses the exemption for those sales.

Meals served to a school’s students or teachers by schools and certain school organizations are separately exempt under §1760(6). A club making taxable sales outside these exemptions registers as a retailer under 36 M.R.S. §1754-B unless it is only a casual seller.

Charitable Solicitation Registration

Maine requires a charitable organization to obtain a license from the Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation at least 30 days before soliciting or accepting contributions in Maine, unless it is exempt (9 M.R.S. §5004).

The exemption most booster clubs rely on (9 M.R.S. §5006(1)(D)) covers organizations that do not receive more than $35,000 in public contributions in a calendar year and do not receive contributions from more than 35 persons, if they do not use a professional solicitor and no assets go to officers or members. A club must become licensed within 30 days after contributions reach $35,000 or the number of contributors reaches 35. An active booster club easily passes 35 donors, so many small clubs need a license.

Two other exemptions can apply: organizations that solicit primarily within their own membership without a professional solicitor, and organizations operated by the student bodies of approved schools. A parent-run booster club soliciting the community generally fits neither. OPOR lists a $20 license fee and a $20 annual renewal fee. Licenses expire November 30 each year, and a renewal filed after that date adds a $50 late fee.

Raffles and Gaming

Raffles are legal in Maine under the games of chance law (17 M.R.S. chapter 62), administered by the Gambling Control Unit of the Department of Public Safety. An “eligible organization” includes a bona fide nonprofit charitable, educational, or civic organization organized in Maine for at least two consecutive years.

1. Prizes up to $2,500. Any person or organization may hold a raffle with total prizes of $2,500 or less without registering.
2. Prizes up to $10,000, eligible organization. An eligible organization may hold a raffle with total prizes of $10,000 or less without registering.
3. Newer clubs, $2,500 to $10,000. An organization that is not yet eligible may register a raffle with noncash prizes over $2,500 up to $10,000 if it states a verifiable charitable purpose. Cash prizes are not allowed.
4. Larger raffles. An eligible organization registers to award noncash prizes up to $150,000 (adjusted every two years for inflation) or cash prizes of no more than $10,000 per winning ticket.
5. Ticket sellers. Sellers must be 18 or older, except for raffles under $2,500 or the newer-club category that benefit children’s activities at events mostly attended by people under 18.
6. Internet raffles. An eligible organization may run one online raffle at a time after registering, through a licensed Internet raffle operator, and may not sell to anyone under 18.

A 50/50 drawing pays cash, so a pot above $10,000 requires registration and stays subject to the $10,000 cash limit per winner. Registered organizations keep separate records of raffle transactions. Beano (bingo) requires a separate license.

Annual Compliance Calendar for Maine