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Grantee Compliance Checklist

Required Due Diligence Procedures

The following procedures must be followed prior to submitting a grant request form to the City Clerk’s Office for review. These procedures ensure that the City is legally contracting with the proper entity and that the person signing is authorized to enter into agreements on behalf of the organization.

GRANTEE VERIFICATION PROCESS

1. California Secretary of State:

The legal name of a California Corporation (which includes 501 (c) (3) nonprofits) or a Limited Liability Company/Limited Partnership must match the name provided in the California Secretary of State website. Click below to do a search on your organization:

bizfile Online

The status of the corporation must be ’Active’.

2. City of San Jose

If the Grantee does business within the City of San Jose, it must have a current City Business Tax Certificate (Business License). Nonprofits are exempt but need to have submitted a tax exemption registration form and be listed in the registry as EXEMPT. The City of San Jose Business License number can be found through the intranet:

City of San Jose Business Tax Lookup

3. Internal Revenue Service

The Grantee must be listed in good standing with the IRS. This can be verified on the IRS website:

Tax Exempt Organization Search

4. Office of Attorney General

If the Grantee is a non-­‐profit, the agency must be listed in the Office of Attorney General’s Charity Research Tool:

Registry of Charitable Trusts

5. State of California Franchise Tax Board

The status of the exempt organization must be ’Active’.

Entity Status Letter

6. Santa Clara County

If the Grantee operates under a different name, there must be a Fictitious Name Statement filed in the county in which the Grantee is located. The Santa Clara County Fictitious Name Statement can be found at:

Santa Clara County Clerk-Recorder: Fictitious Business Names

7. Signature Authority:

Submit an originally-­signed Agreement by an authorized officer of the organization (i.e., Executive Director, Managing Director, Board Chairperson or President).