State of Illinois
91st General Assembly
Legislation

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91_SB1540eng

 
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 1        AN ACT to amend the Solicitation for Charity Act.

 2        Be it  enacted  by  the  People  of  the  State  of  Illinois,
 3    represented in the General Assembly:

 4        Section 5.  The Solicitation for Charity Act  is  amended
 5    by changing Sections 15 and 23 as follows:

 6        (225 ILCS 460/15) (from Ch. 23, par. 5115)
 7        Sec.    15.    (a)   Trustees   of   charitable   trusts,
 8    organizations and corporations have a duty to supervise  fund
 9    raising   activities   to   ensure   that  contributions  are
10    adequately protected and devoted to the  proper  purpose  and
11    that  statements or representations made during solicitations
12    to the public are true and correct.
13        (b)  If any person, including a charitable  organization,
14    a  professional  fund  raiser, a trustee, a professional fund
15    raising  consultant,  or   a   professional   solicitor,   in
16    conducting   a   fund   raising  campaign  for  a  charitable
17    organization  or  for  charitable  or  ostensibly  charitable
18    purposes:
19             (1)  Represents that tickets for a show or goods  or
20        services   shall   be   made   available   to   children,
21        disadvantaged  persons  or for a like charitable purpose,
22        and  that  such  will  be  distributed  by  the   persons
23        soliciting or the organization, the tickets shall be held
24        in  trust  for the use as a charitable trust and adequate
25        records and accounting for same maintained.
26             (2)  Disseminates   an   educational   message    or
27        materials  to  the  public  with or in the course of fund
28        raising activities and allocates the costs  between  fund
29        raising  and  education  programs,  he  shall prepare and
30        maintain written worksheets of how the allocation is made
31        and the reasoning behind the allocation.
 
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 1             (3)  Sells or offers for sale advertising space in a
 2        publication or ad book or periodical, he  shall  maintain
 3        adequate  records  for  all ads sold and written document
 4        receipts shall  provide  the  name  of  the  organization
 5        involved,  the  publication's name, and its proposed date
 6        of publication, as well as the number of copies  proposed
 7        to be printed or a reasonable estimate.
 8             (4)  Engages   in  the  dissemination  of  education
 9        program services as a part of or in physical  conjunction
10        with  its  solicitation  of  charitable contributions, it
11        shall record and report all  expenses  incurred  as  fund
12        raising  unless  it  allocates  the expenses between fund
13        raising and  other  functions  pursuant  to  professional
14        accounting  standards  and  provisions as promulgated and
15        set forth by the American Institute of  Certified  Public
16        Accountants  or  the Financial Accounting Standards Board
17        from time to time in their  official  publications.   For
18        purposes  of making all such allocations, the factors and
19        considerations utilized must be reduced to writing.
20             (5)  Engages in any public solicitation and  therein
21        purports  to relate the purpose or purposes for which the
22        funds  are  solicited,  such  shall  then  be  fully  and
23        accurately identified to the  prospective  donor.   If  a
24        charitable   organization   whose  purposes  include  the
25        rendering of noneducational program services  intends  to
26        expend  or  budget  more  than 50% of its program service
27        expenditures for informing or educating  the  public  and
28        the  funds being solicited will be used for such purpose,
29        the donor at his or her  request  must  be  told  that  a
30        primary  use  of  the  program  funds  will be for public
31        education.
32             (6)  Collects and takes  control  or  possession  of
33        contributions  made  for  a  charitable  purpose  or to a
34        charitable organization, they owe a fiduciary duty to the
 
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 1        public  to  deal  with  the  said  contributions  in   an
 2        appropriate  fiduciary manner, to keep complete books and
 3        records for at least  3  years,  to  keep  records  in  a
 4        comprehensive  manner  to  permit  accurate reporting and
 5        auditing as required by law, and to not commingle   funds
 6        with  noncharitable  funds  and to be able to account for
 7        the funds, and will be subject to surcharge for any funds
 8        not  accounted  for  or  wasted,  in  addition  to  other
 9        remedies available at equity.  A presumption shall  exist
10        that  expenditures  not properly documented and disclosed
11        by records were not properly spent.
12             (7)  Uses written materials to  solicit  or  seek  a
13        contribution   from   the   public   for   a   charitable
14        organization  required  to  file  an  annual report under
15        Section 4 of this Act, those materials must state at  the
16        bottom  of  the  last page that "a copy of the charitable
17        organization's annual financial report is or will  be  on
18        file  at  the  Office of the Attorney General of Illinois
19        and available  for  public  inspection",  in  a  typeface
20        consistent  with  the body of the document in which it is
21        inserted.  However, this statement shall not be  required
22        if  fewer  than  500  pieces  of the material are used or
23        distributed   within   Illinois   by    the    charitable
24        organization in a calendar year.
25             (8)  Solicits  or  seeks  a  contribution  from  the
26        public  through  the  use of a telephone for a charitable
27        organization required to  file  an  annual  report  under
28        Section 4 of this Act, and said calls are made by callers
29        paid  to  be  making  said calls, the telephone call must
30        include a statement by the caller that  "a  copy  of  the
31        charitable  organization's  annual financial report is or
32        will be on file at the Office of the Attorney General  of
33        Illinois and available for public inspection".
34        (b-5)     A    charitable    organization,   professional
 
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 1    fundraiser, trustee, professional fund raising consultant, or
 2    professional solicitor when  making  telephone  solicitations
 3    for a contribution to a charitable organization may not place
 4    a  block  on  its  telephone  numbers  to  keep the telephone
 5    numbers from appearing on a recipient's caller ID.   For  the
 6    purposes of this subsection, "caller ID" means the display to
 7    the  recipient  of  a  call  the caller's telephone number or
 8    identity.
 9        (c)  Any person who violates this Section may be enjoined
10    from acting as or continuing to act on behalf  of  charitable
11    organizations   or  charitable  causes  within  Illinois  the
12    charity for a period of up to 5 years at the discretion of  a
13    court  of  chancery  based  upon  the  equities;  and  if the
14    violation  is  intentional  or  willful  they  shall  not  be
15    entitled to keep or receive fees,  salaries,  commissions  or
16    any  compensation  as  a  result  of  or  on  account  of the
17    solicitations or fund raising campaigns.  At the  request  of
18    the  Attorney  General  a  court  shall  order that the fees,
19    salaries, commissions, or compensation shall be forfeited and
20    used for a charitable use as the court determines.
21        (d)  In addition to any other penalty available  in  this
22    Act  or  at  law,  each  charitable organization on behalf of
23    which a professional fundraiser, trustee,  professional  fund
24    raising consultant, or professional solicitor, or employee of
25    the  charitable  organization places in use or causes the use
26    of materials bearing the statement required by  item  (7)  of
27    subsection  (b) or fails to include the statement required by
28    item (8) of subsection (b) in a  telephone  call  in  seeking
29    contributions   for   a   charitable  organization,  if  that
30    charitable organization  has  not  registered  or  maintained
31    registration  as  required by this Act during the period when
32    the materials carrying the statement are used  or  placed  in
33    use  or  when  the  telephone  call  failing  to  include the
34    statement is made,  is subject to a civil penalty of $5,000.
 
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 1        (e)  In imposing relief for violations of items  (7)  and
 2    (8)  of  subsection (b) of this Section, the court shall take
 3    into  consideration   the   violator's   knowledge   of   the
 4    provisions,  whether  the  violator  is  an unpaid volunteer,
 5    prior notice,  prior  warnings,  and  the  magnitude  of  the
 6    violation;  the court may fashion mandatory injunctive relief
 7    to  compel  compliance in substitute or in furtherance of the
 8    foregoing relief provided at law or by this Section,  as  the
 9    equities may require.
10    (Source: P.A. 87-755.)

11        (225 ILCS 460/23)
12        Sec.  23.   Charitable  Advisory  Council.   As a part of
13    charitable trust enforcement and public  disclosure,  a  task
14    force  composed of citizens chosen by the Attorney General to
15    be  known  as  the  Attorney  General's  Charitable  Advisory
16    Council shall be and is hereby formed and shall exist for  as
17    long as the Attorney General deems that it is necessary for a
18    3-year  period.   This Advisory Council shall study issues of
19    charitable giving,  volunteerism,  and  fundraising  in  this
20    State.   The  Advisory  Council  members  shall serve without
21    compensation, and the expenses of the Council may be paid for
22    out of the Illinois Charity Bureau Fund in an amount  not  to
23    exceed $10,000 per year and in the discretion of the Attorney
24    General.
25    (Source: P.A. 90-469, eff. 8-17-97; 91-444, eff. 8-6-99.)

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