Merger of Corporation, Charities Bureaus Benefits Businesses, Taxpayers

HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As part of the Corbett administration's push to reduce government costs and increase efficiency, the merger of the bureaus of Corporations and Charitable Organizations within the Department of State is resulting in savings to taxpayers and more efficient corporate registrations for businesses.

The merger of the two former bureaus became effective July 1, 2012, with the creation of the Bureau of Corporations and Charitable Organizations. 

"These two bureaus performed many of the same functions, such as processing registrations, for both for profit and non-profit corporations, and charitable organizations," Secretary of the Commonwealth Carol Aichele said.

"By consolidating these operations under one bureau, we have reduced administrative costs and cross-trained employees from both areas, leading to faster processing of corporate and charitable organization registrations, saving time and money for businesses in Pennsylvania," Aichele added.

Combining the two former bureaus is saving taxpayers approximately $130,000 through lower administrative costs, Aichele said, and is part of Gov. Tom Corbett's directive to reduce the operating costs of state government. 

"The cross-training of employees to handle both corporate and charitable organization registrations also allows management to shift personnel to where they are most needed at any given time, making the registration process faster," Aichele said.

"We are consistently meeting our deadline of processing corporate registrations within two business days after receiving the registration.  For businesses, time is money, and quickly processing corporate registrations means companies can meet their own deadlines to get up and running, creating jobs for Pennsylvanians," Aichele said.

The merger also means charitable organizations registering with the state are being checked more thoroughly before being given the okay to solicit donations, better protecting Pennsylvanians from scams, Aichele said. State law requires a charitable organization application to be reviewed within 10 business days or be automatically approved. 

In the year prior to the merger, approximately 100 charitable organization applications were automatically approved because they were not reviewed within this time frame. In the most recent review period, all charitable organization applications were reviewed within the legal deadline, despite the number of applications increasing by six percent, to nearly 12,000.

"Gov. Corbett and I have the goal of delivering high quality government services at a reasonable cost.  I think the merger of these two bureaus, with the resulting taxpayer savings and increased efficiency for businesses and to protect consumers, achieves this goal," Aichele said.

To visit the new bureau, go to www.dos.state.pa.us, and click on either "Corporations" or "Charities". 

Media contact: Ron Ruman, 717-783-1621

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of State