12A, 80G, CSR-1, FCRA: which registrations does your NGO need?

Indian NGO fundraising sits on a stack of four registrations. Most first-time founders confuse them, apply for the wrong one first, or hold one and assume the others are automatic. This guide walks through each, when you actually need it, and the order to get them in.

12A — the base layer

12A is a registration under Section 12A of the Income Tax Act, 1961. It does one thing: it exempts the NGO's own income from income tax, provided that income is applied to the entity's charitable objects.

Every subsequent registration on this list assumes you already hold 12A. Without it, the Income Tax Department treats the NGO's income as ordinary taxable receipts, which almost immediately consumes any grant. Since 2020, new registrations are issued for three years provisionally, then re-granted for five, under the combined 12AB framework — the renewal application opens six months before expiry.

Apply first, and don't skip the renewal calendar.

80G — the donor's side

80G doesn't benefit the NGO directly. It lets a donor claim a deduction on their taxable income — 50% or 100% of the donation, depending on the NGO's category — for money they give you.

Most donors ask for 80G before they write a cheque, and CSR funders assume its presence. The Income Tax Department also requires every 80G-registered NGO to file Form 10BD each financial year, listing every donation received; from that filing the department generates Form 10BE, the donation certificate that lets each donor actually claim their deduction. An NGO that receives 80G donations but doesn't file 10BD accurately blocks its own donors' tax claims, and the trust cost is high.

Apply for 80G together with 12A or immediately after. The two share nearly identical documentation.

CSR-1 — the CSR gate

If the NGO plans to receive corporate CSR funding, CSR-1 is a hard requirement introduced by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs from 1 April 2021.

CSR-1 is a one-time filing with the MCA that assigns the NGO a unique CSR registration number. That number appears on every CSR grant sanction letter as the receiver identifier; a company's compliance team will not raise a CSR payment cheque without it.

Eligibility to file CSR-1: Section 8 companies, registered trusts, or societies that already hold 12A and 80G. If the underlying 12A/80G lapses, CSR-1 lapses with it.

FCRA — the foreign-money gate

FCRA, the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, is administered by the Ministry of Home Affairs and controls receipt of money from any foreign source — foundation, government, company, or individual of foreign nationality.

Any Indian entity receiving foreign contribution needs a live FCRA registration, or a specific prior-permission approval for that single grant. Post the 2020 amendments, FCRA funds must be received into an FCRA-designated account with State Bank of India, New Delhi branch; onward transfers to sub-grantees are prohibited; and administrative expenses are capped at 20% of the receipt.

FCRA is the most operationally invasive of the four. The registration process itself takes months and requires three years of activity plus at least ₹10 lakh of programme expenditure. Many NGOs go three or four years domestic-only before starting the FCRA process.

The order

For a newly-registered NGO planning to fundraise:

1. 12A and 80G first, filed together. Domestic donors can start giving the moment 80G is issued.
2. CSR-1 once the NGO has one or two years of audited accounts and is ready to receive CSR partners. CSR-1 itself is a one-time filing.
3. FCRA once the NGO has at least three years of activity, ₹10 lakh of programme spend, and a clear line of sight to a foreign-funder partnership that justifies the compliance overhead.

Working in that order means each registration unlocks the next kind of funding without leaving the NGO stuck holding a registration it can't yet use.