Читать книгу The Law of Fundraising - Bruce R. Hopkins - Страница 92

In addition to the panoply of state charitable solicitation acts, charitable organizations soliciting gift support from the public may have to face other state statutory or other regulatory requirements. These include:

 A state's nonprofit corporation act, which has registration and annual reporting requirements for foreign (out-of-state) corporations that are doing business within the state. It is not clear whether, as a matter of general law, the solicitation of charitable contributions in a foreign state constitutes doing business in the state.⁷⁸ Some states provide, by statute, that fundraising is the conduct of business activities in their jurisdictions. If the solicitation of charitable contributions were declared, as a matter of general law, a business transaction in the states, the compliance consequences would be enormous, considering the fact that nearly every state has a nonprofit corporation act. This type of a requirement would cause a charitable organization that is soliciting contributions in every state to register and report more than 90 times each year, not taking into account federal and local law requirements!

 A state insurance law, which may embody a requirement that a charitable organization writing charitable gift annuity contracts obtain a permit to do so and subsequently file annual statements.

 A state's blue sky statute regulating securities offerings, which may be applicable to offers to sell and to sales of interests in, and the operation of, pooled income funds. These laws may also apply with respect to charitable remainder annuity trusts and unitrusts.⁷⁹

 A state's law prohibiting fraudulent advertising or other fraudulent or deceptive practices.⁸⁰

 A state's version of the Uniform Supervision of Trustees for Charitable Purposes Act, which requires a charitable trust to file with the state attorney general a copy of its governing instrument, an inventory of the charitable assets, and an annual report. Of similar scope and effect are the state laws that invest the state attorney general with plenary investigative power over charitable organizations.

 State law concerning charitable contribution deductions and eligibility for tax-exempt status as a charitable entity.⁸¹

As this chapter indicates, the states' charitable solicitation acts—despite some overall common features—are rather disparate. The breadth and depth of these laws testify to the failure of efforts during many years to make them more uniform, for the purpose of easing compliance with and administrating them. State law regulation of charitable soliciting continues to expand, and indications are rather clear that the states will continue to go their separate ways in this arena, rebuffing the attempts of those who would integrate and streamline this regulatory scheme.