Georgia registers the canvasser, not just the agency.
Most states license the firm. Georgia licenses three separate things — the charity, the agency, and every single person who knocks — and nobody may speak to a donor in person until the Secretary of State says they are qualified. That is why our Atlanta launch dates look slower than other agencies' and why our campaigns start on the day we said they would.
- Three registrations, not oneThe charity registers. The paid solicitor registers and bonds. Then each solicitor agent registers by name.
- Qualified before the first doorA Georgia solicitor agent cannot solicit in person until the Secretary of State notifies them that they are qualified.
- Penalties went up 200x in 2024SB 412 raised the ceiling from $500 to $10,000 for a single violation and $100,000 for multiple.
The Georgia Charitable Solicitations Act, in the order it bites.
O.C.G.A. § 43-17-1 et seq. It is one of the strictest schemes in the country for face-to-face fundraising, and the part that catches agencies out is the third layer.
1. The charity registers
Every charitable organization soliciting in Georgia — directly, or through a paid solicitor — files a registration statement with the Secretary of State before soliciting, unless it qualifies for an exemption. The registration runs 24 months, and the renewal window opens 90 days out. O.C.G.A. § 43-17-5.
2. The agency registers and bonds
A paid solicitor must be registered with the Secretary of State before engaging in any solicitation, and where it will have possession or control of contributions it files a $10,000 bond payable to the State of Georgia. The state will not register or renew without it. Registration expires 31 December, every year. §§ 43-17-3, 43-17-4.
3. Every canvasser registers
This is the one agencies miss. Each solicitor agent registers individually with the Secretary of State, affiliated to a registered paid solicitor, and no solicitor agent may solicit in person until the Secretary of State has qualified them. Not when the application is sent. When the state replies. Registrations expire 31 December. § 43-17-3.1.
Administered by the Georgia Secretary of State, Charities Division, under rules 590-9-2 (paid solicitors), 590-9-3 (solicitor agents) and 590-9-4 (charities).
A $500 problem became a $100,000 problem.
Senate Bill 412 took effect on 6 May 2024 and rewrote the penalty section of the Act. The ceiling for a single violation went from $500 to $10,000, and up to $100,000 for multiple violations in a single proceeding or a series of related ones. It applies to charities, paid solicitors and solicitor agents alike.
The Secretary of State's office pushed it as a legislative priority aimed at scam charities. The practical effect for a legitimate program is that the cost of an unregistered agent in the field stopped being a line item and became a board conversation.
- We register the agents before they train, not afterThe qualification wait is the long pole in a Georgia launch. We file first and build the calendar around the reply, rather than promising a date and hoping.
- Nobody works a Georgia campaign unqualifiedNot for a day, not to cover a gap, not during a peak. A qualified roster is checked before every shift.
- City permits are separate againAtlanta's door-to-door sales permit is issued by the Atlanta Police Department's License and Permits Unit, which runs background investigations on applicants. Suburban rules differ sharply — Sandy Springs, for instance, requires a $75 permit for commercial door-to-door and exempts charitable, religious and political activity entirely.
Atlanta organizations we run programs for.
Named with permission, present tense. We don't publish their results on their behalf, and we don't use their logos.
The third-fastest-growing metro in the country, by raw numbers.
The Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell metro passed 6.48 million people in the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimates, and added nearly 62,000 in a single year — third in the nation for numeric growth. A face-to-face program works where there are people who have never been asked, and Atlanta keeps making more of them.
It is also a national nonprofit town. Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Habitat for Humanity International both run their headquarters here, which means a donor base that is used to being asked well and quick to notice when they aren't.
On the commercial side, metro Atlanta is the only deregulated residential natural gas market in Georgia — Atlanta Gas Light's territory opened to certificated marketers under the 1997 Natural Gas Competition and Deregulation Act, and nowhere else in the state did. That is why energy field channels exist in Atlanta and not in Savannah or Augusta.
We hire in Atlanta year round.
Hourly base plus bonus, W-2 with taxes withheld, paid from your first day of training. No experience needed — and in Georgia, we handle your solicitor agent registration, because you legally cannot work without it.
Run a campaign in Atlanta.
Tell us the goal and the budget. We'll come back with the registration calendar first, because in Georgia that is what sets the launch date.