What follows is based completely on experience with lots of clients and dozens of banks, not ChatGPT prompts. This process solves banking for you so that you don’t let this become a sticking point that holds you back from enjoying the freedom that stewardship affords.
Now, quick gut check.
I am about to describe the hardest part of this entire process of shifting from ownership to stewardship… opening your business bank accounts for the Unincorporated Nonprofit Association (UNA).
You are not officially onboarded until your bank accounts are open.
We will bug you about this until you get it done.
Affectionately, its time to step up.
You might feel some resistance to this. That’s okay, and normal.
Your number one job is to take a breath, relax, and be normal. There is no act or performance required. Just follow the instructions.
Rest assured, there is NOTHING off-base here, at all.
The reason I say that this is the hardest part is not just because I can’t do it for you, and you have to actually sit in front of a banker in real life… It's because there is a general lack of awareness among bankers about what a UNA is.
Just more evidence that what we’re doing here is unique and special.
Low level compliance and bankers don’t know what these are.
The ease of this process is up to the local banker and their personal experience with it and the branch manager (when the clueless, confused, or curious bankers ask for help).
So… since you’re dealing with humans, some polite interpersonal communication skills will serve you well.
You will always get your accounts open, but that’s not all we’re here to do. You want to build banking relationships.
The more fun, connective and conversational you are, the better your chances of building a strong banking relationship.
And banking with UNA’s is all about relationships.
There is nothing weird about what we’re doing in terms of the legalities. So don’t think you’re pulling some sleight of hand or getting away with something. You’re not.
This is important, yes, but it’s also just a bank account. So chill out.
Every major bank will open accounts for these. Every single one.
Which institution should you choose?
Since we make these organizations in California, local credit unions are hit and miss, and so are regional banks.
I personally have accounts at two local credit unions and a regional bank just to make sure I could, but sometimes they require that your UNA is registered in the state in which you live.
However, since these UNA’s are California-based, any financial institution that has a presence in CA will work seamlessly.
Chase is by far my favorite. You can’t outgrow them no matter what you are doing and they are more popular for private banking and crypto-related investing.
Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citibank, Truist, US Bank, KeyBank, PNC, they all work.
These DO NOT work well with online banks (CapOne, Ally, AMEX, etc) or any “apply online” type of banking.
The reason online banks are not amenable isn’t because they have issue with these accounts, its simple because there’s just not enough of these organizations to be worth it for a bank to spend the resources to automate an online application and approval process.
Thus, getting an account open nearly always requires sitting in front of a banker.
I say nearly because I’ve found one exception, and that is PNC.
I have a contact for a virtual banker there which we’ve developed a strong relationship with. If you want PNC and the virtual branch, let me know.
Back to you, your job is to pick a bank, and take a breath.
Every single client that has sat in front of a banker, has been successful opening an account. Every. Single. One.
You have all the documents in hand in order to open accounts pretty much anywhere.
It is worth mentioning that I am seeing branches from several major banks not open business accounts in one sitting. This is simply because of the branch manager and not because it is policy. Not all branch managers are created equal.
For example, one Chase branch in Buffalo, New York refused to open any business accounts without sending all the docs to legal, which takes a couple days.
That is NOT normal, but depending on the demographic of the area that surrounds the branch, that might happen.
If it does, just move on to the next branch.
How should I be thinking about this?
The only issue, if you can even call it an issue, is that the banker you happened to sit in front of doesn’t know what these are simply because it just hasn’t come across their desk before and they’re generally not taught what they are in any internal trainings.
So this process that I will outline is designed to smooth out the issues before they become an issue.
Firstly, let’s make it clear that your job isn’t to know it all.
Be respectful, curious and personable. You will likely need to “discover” this process right along-side the banker which can be a great connection for you.
Ask polite questions and make sure you’re clear on the fact that for banking purposes, you are simply the secretary (as per the banking minutes).
So this is what a proper mentality consists of…
“Hey, this is fun. First time for me too. I don’t know how this works either, they just gave me the job to be the secretary treasurer and get these accounts open. So what do we need to do here?”
How much time does it take?
Now, time-wise, usually this process takes an hour or more to open one business account, 90 minutes for two.
Credit Unions, when useful, are usually much faster. I was in and out in 30 minutes.
So most branches will want you to have an appointment.
What should I say first?
To make this as smooth as possible, I call ahead and say exactly this…
“Hey, I was just made treasurer of an unincorporated association and I’d like to open a business bank account at your branch. I know you may not come across these that often so who would be the best person to talk to for that?”
Then book an appointment with their recommended banker.
Usually, I prefer bankers who have been there for less than five years. They’re still curious, open and don’t think they know everything.
If the banker has been there for 15 or more years, run to a different branch :)
Make sure its clear you want a business checking account for an Unincorporated Association.
DO NOT use the word non-profit at this point or they will be confused and assume that you’re opening an account for a 501(c)(3), which is not what we’re doing.
Some banks are not opening accounts for incorporated nonprofits any more because of the rampant fraud and abuse there.
If you would rather just walk in to a branch and not wait for an appointment, that can work too. Just use the same words.
What should you bring with you to the appointment?
Now, quick gut check.
I am about to describe the hardest part of this entire process of shifting from ownership to stewardship… opening your business bank accounts for the Unincorporated Nonprofit Association (UNA).
You are not officially onboarded until your bank accounts are open.
We will bug you about this until you get it done.
Affectionately, its time to step up.
You might feel some resistance to this. That’s okay, and normal.
Your number one job is to take a breath, relax, and be normal. There is no act or performance required. Just follow the instructions.
Rest assured, there is NOTHING off-base here, at all.
The reason I say that this is the hardest part is not just because I can’t do it for you, and you have to actually sit in front of a banker in real life… It's because there is a general lack of awareness among bankers about what a UNA is.
Just more evidence that what we’re doing here is unique and special.
Low level compliance and bankers don’t know what these are.
The ease of this process is up to the local banker and their personal experience with it and the branch manager (when the clueless, confused, or curious bankers ask for help).
So… since you’re dealing with humans, some polite interpersonal communication skills will serve you well.
You will always get your accounts open, but that’s not all we’re here to do. You want to build banking relationships.
The more fun, connective and conversational you are, the better your chances of building a strong banking relationship.
And banking with UNA’s is all about relationships.
There is nothing weird about what we’re doing in terms of the legalities. So don’t think you’re pulling some sleight of hand or getting away with something. You’re not.
This is important, yes, but it’s also just a bank account. So chill out.
Every major bank will open accounts for these. Every single one.
Which institution should you choose?
Since we make these organizations in California, local credit unions are hit and miss, and so are regional banks.
I personally have accounts at two local credit unions and a regional bank just to make sure I could, but sometimes they require that your UNA is registered in the state in which you live.
However, since these UNA’s are California-based, any financial institution that has a presence in CA will work seamlessly.
Chase is by far my favorite. You can’t outgrow them no matter what you are doing and they are more popular for private banking and crypto-related investing.
Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citibank, Truist, US Bank, KeyBank, PNC, they all work.
These DO NOT work well with online banks (CapOne, Ally, AMEX, etc) or any “apply online” type of banking.
The reason online banks are not amenable isn’t because they have issue with these accounts, its simple because there’s just not enough of these organizations to be worth it for a bank to spend the resources to automate an online application and approval process.
Thus, getting an account open nearly always requires sitting in front of a banker.
I say nearly because I’ve found one exception, and that is PNC.
I have a contact for a virtual banker there which we’ve developed a strong relationship with. If you want PNC and the virtual branch, let me know.
Back to you, your job is to pick a bank, and take a breath.
Every single client that has sat in front of a banker, has been successful opening an account. Every. Single. One.
You have all the documents in hand in order to open accounts pretty much anywhere.
It is worth mentioning that I am seeing branches from several major banks not open business accounts in one sitting. This is simply because of the branch manager and not because it is policy. Not all branch managers are created equal.
For example, one Chase branch in Buffalo, New York refused to open any business accounts without sending all the docs to legal, which takes a couple days.
That is NOT normal, but depending on the demographic of the area that surrounds the branch, that might happen.
If it does, just move on to the next branch.
How should I be thinking about this?
The only issue, if you can even call it an issue, is that the banker you happened to sit in front of doesn’t know what these are simply because it just hasn’t come across their desk before and they’re generally not taught what they are in any internal trainings.
So this process that I will outline is designed to smooth out the issues before they become an issue.
Firstly, let’s make it clear that your job isn’t to know it all.
Be respectful, curious and personable. You will likely need to “discover” this process right along-side the banker which can be a great connection for you.
Ask polite questions and make sure you’re clear on the fact that for banking purposes, you are simply the secretary (as per the banking minutes).
So this is what a proper mentality consists of…
“Hey, this is fun. First time for me too. I don’t know how this works either, they just gave me the job to be the secretary treasurer and get these accounts open. So what do we need to do here?”
How much time does it take?
Now, time-wise, usually this process takes an hour or more to open one business account, 90 minutes for two.
Credit Unions, when useful, are usually much faster. I was in and out in 30 minutes.
So most branches will want you to have an appointment.
What should I say first?
To make this as smooth as possible, I call ahead and say exactly this…
“Hey, I was just made treasurer of an unincorporated association and I’d like to open a business bank account at your branch. I know you may not come across these that often so who would be the best person to talk to for that?”
Then book an appointment with their recommended banker.
Usually, I prefer bankers who have been there for less than five years. They’re still curious, open and don’t think they know everything.
If the banker has been there for 15 or more years, run to a different branch :)
Make sure its clear you want a business checking account for an Unincorporated Association.
DO NOT use the word non-profit at this point or they will be confused and assume that you’re opening an account for a 501(c)(3), which is not what we’re doing.
Some banks are not opening accounts for incorporated nonprofits any more because of the rampant fraud and abuse there.
If you would rather just walk in to a branch and not wait for an appointment, that can work too. Just use the same words.
What should you bring with you to the appointment?
- Banking minutes. You have two kinds of banking minutes, bring both.
- EIN letter from IRS.
- California Registration.
- Banking instructions page (for your use, don’t give it to them).
- 2 forms of identification, primary and secondary. Here is a general list of acceptable forms of ID that is pretty much the same across all major banks.
- Extra smiles and a single dose of a chill pill.
Each bank is different though and will scan one or all of the docs and upload them to your account or profile.
DO NOT under any circumstances bring in the UNA Constitution, Survivorship (transfer on death) or the Duties and Resolutions Minutes.
Those documents are irrelevant to the bank and I guarantee you they will confuse the banker.
Confused bankers will always complicate the process and slow things down.
If they ask for a document you don’t have you can say, “this is all they gave me to use” or “I don’t have authorization to share the governing document can we work with what we have?”
Now, later (I recommend days later) after the accounts are open you can bring in the survivorship document and have them scan it in so they can attach it to your account. That document is important so that they know to whom control of the banking relationship transfers to.
What do I do with the documents?
They will ask you for your business verification documents that prove your entity is legitimate.
The first document that is always needed is the EIN letter. That gives the bank the legal name to use and an address.
Our EIN is literally just for banking purposes, but the bank doesn’t care about that. The bank literally has nothing to do with the IRS or taxation.
But rest assured, the EIN does not signify any sort of tax liability, obligation, classification or definition.
They will take that document and grab the name and business address off of it.
They call that a nexus or domicile.
That means they’ll see the entity is in California as it should be.
For my liking, I recommend using the California address as the business and mailing address.
I like to use a California business phone number as well so that I’m not using my personal information to associate it with the business checking account.
If you want to be an overachiever, go get a business email account and a domain for the new entity and use that email address to open the bank account. Not required, but a strong foot forward nonetheless to keep things separated.
Some banks will look up the address on Google Maps street view to make sure it’s not a box.
The address we use is definitely a virtual address and under rare situations that can be an issue.
If it is, you can use your own home address as the business address and the address on the EIN letter as the public mailing address.
Generally, the California address flies through just fine for both business and mailing address.
The mailing address can be anywhere. Some people like to have the mailing address be somewhere local to them, even a PO Box, for convenience.
If you want a different mailing address so you don’t have to use mail forwarding, let them know.
I like to keep everything in California.
How will they verify the entity?
Believe it or not, a lot of times they won’t even ask for any registration because it’s actually not required for a UNA to be registered, especially in the state of California.
But registration makes banking and finances so much smoother without any downside which is why we do it.
Chase says right on their website that registration is not required for California UNAs.
Wells Fargo and Bank of America do like to check on the good standing. That’s fine.
The difference here is that they normally look for entities in the Secretary of State’s public database. With these UNAs, they will not find it in any online directory or registration like they normally would for LLCs.
They will need to CALL the California Secretary of State office directly at (916) 657-5448 and ask for “Special Filings”or select option 3 and then 1… then they have to wait for an answer. All they will get is a yes or no that entity exists and is in good standing. No information is shared.
Pretty amazing that California is the only state that has this special treatment for UNAs.
What do I do when they start asking me a bunch of questions about the business?
It’s the bank's job to find out the nature of the business. They have a bunch of compliance boxes to check. But the checkboxes vary quite a bit from bank to bank.
Compliance is a very real thing and each bank needs to do their job.
That said, the bank is also good at selling. They are asking these questions to know what other services to offer you.
They’ll ask you about revenue, employees, business activities, cash handling, etc. and make sure you’re not doing any high risk or highly regulated activities.
Make sure you mention you’re not intending to need merchant services, credit or employees, etc.
They will try and get you to apply for a credit card on behalf of the UNA (don’t do that, it doesn’t work and is a waste of time).
These answers are not critical. Don’t stress.
I want you to realize one very important thing…
These UNAs have the spiritual ideal of STEWARDSHIP written into their foundation.
While you and I know what that means, the bank has no idea.
But they do have a different term for it.
Stewardship is administration.
That’s what the UNA does. It administers and manages.
So we just need to use a term the bank understands.
Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
Conveniently, there’s even a code for that which the bank loves to use to put our UNA in a classification it can understand.
So, when they get deep into the questions I’ll always ask…
“Oh, do you need the NAICS code? I have that for you. I was told you’ll need it.”
The NAICS code is a six digit number and is usually all they really need.
Make sure to refer to your documents for the proper NAICS code for you (usually 541611 or similar but make sure you get the code from your documents and not these instructions).
It’s very important to get the NAICS code right or compliance will kick the account back to the branch and that’s annoying.
Give them that number and it’ll stop a lot of the questioning.
Some banks will ask you if this is a religious organization.
You can respond to that question however you want. I like to say yes to that, this is a faith-based organization, but that’s up to you if you want the bank to know that.
When you say yes they’ll ask you about the nature of the religious intent.
Just say that we represent the principles of spiritual stewardship and all assets and interests are managed from that Biblical perspective.
They will also ask you if it is a nonprofit.
This is where you reveal that yes, it is.
Up until now we’ve been under the Unincorporated Association category of business accounts, and we still are, but we’ve not been talking about nonprofit up until now.
They may ask you the purpose of the non profit.
You can say “spiritual stewardship of ecclesiastical assets” if you want.
Basically the same thing as administrative management services.
The process from here is never the same from bank to bank.
They need to verify the biz and set up it’s profile.
This is also where you need to re-verify that they’re opening the account in the right type of business category, which is for Unincorporated Associations that happen to be nonprofit.
The only three major requirements of the business account.
What do I do with the documents?
They will ask you for your business verification documents that prove your entity is legitimate.
The first document that is always needed is the EIN letter. That gives the bank the legal name to use and an address.
Our EIN is literally just for banking purposes, but the bank doesn’t care about that. The bank literally has nothing to do with the IRS or taxation.
But rest assured, the EIN does not signify any sort of tax liability, obligation, classification or definition.
They will take that document and grab the name and business address off of it.
They call that a nexus or domicile.
That means they’ll see the entity is in California as it should be.
For my liking, I recommend using the California address as the business and mailing address.
I like to use a California business phone number as well so that I’m not using my personal information to associate it with the business checking account.
If you want to be an overachiever, go get a business email account and a domain for the new entity and use that email address to open the bank account. Not required, but a strong foot forward nonetheless to keep things separated.
Some banks will look up the address on Google Maps street view to make sure it’s not a box.
The address we use is definitely a virtual address and under rare situations that can be an issue.
If it is, you can use your own home address as the business address and the address on the EIN letter as the public mailing address.
Generally, the California address flies through just fine for both business and mailing address.
The mailing address can be anywhere. Some people like to have the mailing address be somewhere local to them, even a PO Box, for convenience.
If you want a different mailing address so you don’t have to use mail forwarding, let them know.
I like to keep everything in California.
How will they verify the entity?
Believe it or not, a lot of times they won’t even ask for any registration because it’s actually not required for a UNA to be registered, especially in the state of California.
But registration makes banking and finances so much smoother without any downside which is why we do it.
Chase says right on their website that registration is not required for California UNAs.
Wells Fargo and Bank of America do like to check on the good standing. That’s fine.
The difference here is that they normally look for entities in the Secretary of State’s public database. With these UNAs, they will not find it in any online directory or registration like they normally would for LLCs.
They will need to CALL the California Secretary of State office directly at (916) 657-5448 and ask for “Special Filings”or select option 3 and then 1… then they have to wait for an answer. All they will get is a yes or no that entity exists and is in good standing. No information is shared.
Pretty amazing that California is the only state that has this special treatment for UNAs.
What do I do when they start asking me a bunch of questions about the business?
It’s the bank's job to find out the nature of the business. They have a bunch of compliance boxes to check. But the checkboxes vary quite a bit from bank to bank.
Compliance is a very real thing and each bank needs to do their job.
That said, the bank is also good at selling. They are asking these questions to know what other services to offer you.
They’ll ask you about revenue, employees, business activities, cash handling, etc. and make sure you’re not doing any high risk or highly regulated activities.
Make sure you mention you’re not intending to need merchant services, credit or employees, etc.
They will try and get you to apply for a credit card on behalf of the UNA (don’t do that, it doesn’t work and is a waste of time).
These answers are not critical. Don’t stress.
I want you to realize one very important thing…
These UNAs have the spiritual ideal of STEWARDSHIP written into their foundation.
While you and I know what that means, the bank has no idea.
But they do have a different term for it.
Stewardship is administration.
That’s what the UNA does. It administers and manages.
So we just need to use a term the bank understands.
Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
Conveniently, there’s even a code for that which the bank loves to use to put our UNA in a classification it can understand.
So, when they get deep into the questions I’ll always ask…
“Oh, do you need the NAICS code? I have that for you. I was told you’ll need it.”
The NAICS code is a six digit number and is usually all they really need.
Make sure to refer to your documents for the proper NAICS code for you (usually 541611 or similar but make sure you get the code from your documents and not these instructions).
It’s very important to get the NAICS code right or compliance will kick the account back to the branch and that’s annoying.
Give them that number and it’ll stop a lot of the questioning.
Some banks will ask you if this is a religious organization.
You can respond to that question however you want. I like to say yes to that, this is a faith-based organization, but that’s up to you if you want the bank to know that.
When you say yes they’ll ask you about the nature of the religious intent.
Just say that we represent the principles of spiritual stewardship and all assets and interests are managed from that Biblical perspective.
They will also ask you if it is a nonprofit.
This is where you reveal that yes, it is.
Up until now we’ve been under the Unincorporated Association category of business accounts, and we still are, but we’ve not been talking about nonprofit up until now.
They may ask you the purpose of the non profit.
You can say “spiritual stewardship of ecclesiastical assets” if you want.
Basically the same thing as administrative management services.
The process from here is never the same from bank to bank.
They need to verify the biz and set up it’s profile.
This is also where you need to re-verify that they’re opening the account in the right type of business category, which is for Unincorporated Associations that happen to be nonprofit.
The only three major requirements of the business account.
- A non-interest bearing business checking account. No matter what bank you use, there’s usually a $15 monthly fee if you don’t hit minimum balances. Credit Unions usually don’t have fees.
- An account specifically for unincorporated associations that are not for profit.
- No beneficial ownership. There is no beneficial ownership with this UNA, at all.
- You are listed as Treasurer or Secretary and NOT the owner. This is VITAL to verify and triple check.
How many accounts should you open? Up to you. I opened four in one sitting.
Savings accounts are not super useful for what we do here. They always charge interest, even if its just 0.001%.
The reason they do that is so they can have claim to your savings.
We can get into banking and what is actually happening when you deposit money into an account.
With these UNAs and the fact that these accounts are non-interest bearing it gives us some added benefits of pulling the funds in the account completely over to the private so that they’re untouchable by everyone, including the banks and regulators. Meaning, the bank leaves your money in your account, they can’t hypothecate, lend, etc.
That’s for another time.
What do I do when they start asking questions about me?
Every single bank will need to verify that you are a real human and not a terrorist. This is normal and has nothing to do with the account itself. They just don’t want to give access to these accounts to unverifiable humans. So they check you out.
This is known as “Know Your Customer” or KYC for short.
You will need to give them your ID and your Social Security Number. I can’t find any harm in this, and I do not mind this at all. Some people are sensitive to it but since we are not the owners of the accounts, its harmless.
And it makes sense that they need to verify YOU as the controlling party of the bank account.
They’ll confirm your address as well.
Before heading to the bank, make sure to check the different types of identification that your bank requires. Usually a primary (passport or driver’s license) and a secondary (credit card, bank statement or utility bill).
Now, I want to be super clear that you hold the position of “Secretary Treasurer.”
You are just a secretary, you don’t own the association.
Finishing Up
Once you have been verified and accounts they’ll have you sign the Signature Card.
Just sign it using your name, but make sure you have your office of Secretary listed on that document, and triple verify that they did not list you as beneficial owner.
Now, you’re golden.
You just need to fund the account which you may or may not have to do on the spot. With Chase you have 30 days to fund the account and can use any number of sources.
I wouldn’t stress at all about where that money comes from.
Minimum deposit is usually around $100 or so. US Bank is $50 etc. Minimums vary by bank.
Worth noting… I like to be on the banker’s good side so I ask them if there’s some way they get paid extra for opening these accounts for me. Sometimes there are commissions on the line for the banker and it strengthens your relationship with them just to ask about it.
Typically bankers make an extra commission if you hit a certain threshold in the first 30 days. I think it’s $1,000 for Chase. So, get them paid for helping you out.
Leave things amicably and keep the line of communication open. Send a thank you card. Be that person that makes a mark on them they don’t forget.
From here, I recommend ordering debit cards for every checking account AND checks for the accounts that you’ll use for transacting. I write a lot of checks. I prefer checks for many reasons.
Make sure to ask for a copy of ALL of the docs they’re willing to give you, including the signature card. If they are reluctant to do that then just tell them that you’ve been asked to document it and to make sure the accounts have been opened properly as per the requirements of the Executive Board.
Grab a sucker on your way out.
And that is way more than you need to know to get this done. So go get it done and let us know if you have any issues at all.
