Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of Public Act 094-0749
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Public Act 094-0749


 

Public Act 0749 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY



 


 
Public Act 094-0749
 
HB4315 Enrolled LRB094 15819 RAS 51035 b

    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Solicitation for Charity Act is amended by
changing Sections 1, 5, and 6 as follows:
 
    (225 ILCS 460/1)  (from Ch. 23, par. 5101)
    Sec. 1. The following words and phrases as used in this Act
shall have the following meanings unless a different meaning is
required by the context.
    (a) "Charitable organization" means any ." Any benevolent,
philanthropic, patriotic, or eleemosynary person or one
purporting to be such which solicits and collects funds for
charitable purposes and includes each local, county, or area
division within this State of such charitable organization,
provided such local, county or area division has authority and
discretion to disburse funds or property otherwise than by
transfer to any parent organization.
    (b) "Contribution" means the ." The promise or grant of any
money or property of any kind or value, including the promise
to pay, except payments by union members of an organization.
Reference to the dollar amount of "contributions" in this Act
means in the case of promises to pay, or payments for
merchandise or rights of any other description, the value of
the total amount promised to be paid or paid for such
merchandise or rights and not merely that portion of the
purchase price to be applied to a charitable purpose.
Contribution shall not include the proceeds from the sale of
admission tickets by any not-for-profit music or dramatic arts
organization which establishes, by such proof as the Attorney
General may require, that it has received an exemption under
Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and which is
organized and operated for the presentation of live public
performances of musical or theatrical works on a regular basis.
For purposes of this subsection, union member dues and donated
services shall not be deemed contributions.
    (c) "Person" means any ." Any individual, organization,
group, association, partnership, corporation, trust or any
combination of them.
    (d) "Professional fund raiser" means any ." Any person who
for compensation or other consideration, conducts, manages, or
carries on any solicitation or fund raising drive or campaign
in this State or from this State or on behalf of a charitable
organization residing within this State for the purpose of
soliciting, receiving, or collecting contributions for or on
behalf of any charitable organization or any other person, or
who engages in the business of, or holds himself out to persons
in this State as independently engaged in the business of
soliciting, receiving, or collecting contributions for such
purposes. A bona fide director, officer, employee or unpaid
volunteer of a charitable organization shall not be deemed a
professional fund raiser unless the person is in a management
position and the majority of the individual's salary or other
compensation is computed on a percentage basis of funds to be
raised, or actually raised.
    (e) "Professional fund raising consultant" means any ." Any
person who is retained by a charitable organization or trustee
for a fixed fee or rate that is not computed on a percentage of
funds to be raised, or actually raised, under a written
agreement, to only plan, advise, consult, or prepare materials
for a solicitation of contributions in this State, but who does
not manage, conduct or carry on a fundraising campaign and who
does not solicit contributions or employ, procure, or engage
any compensated person to solicit contributions and who does
not at any time have custody or control of contributions. A
volunteer, employee or salaried officer of a charitable
organization or trustee maintaining a permanent establishment
or office in this State is not a professional fundraising
consultant. An attorney, investment counselor, or banker who
advises an individual, corporation or association to make a
charitable contribution is not a professional fundraising
consultant as a result of the advice.
    (f) "Charitable purpose" means any ." Any charitable,
benevolent, philanthropic, patriotic, or eleemosynary purpose.
    (g) "Charitable Trust" means any relationship whereby
property is held by a person for a charitable purpose.
    (h) "Education Program Service" means any activity which
provides information to the public of a nature that is not
commonly known or facts which are not universally regarded as
obvious or as established by common understanding and which
informs the public of what it can or should do about a
particular issue.
    (i) "Primary Program Service" means the program service
upon which an organization spends more than 50% of its program
service funds or the program activity which represents the
largest expenditure of funds in the fiscal period.
    (j) "Professional solicitor" means any natural person who
is employed or retained for compensation by a professional fund
raiser to solicit, receive, or collect contributions for
charitable purposes from persons in this State or from this
State or on behalf of a charitable organization residing within
this State.
    (k) "Program Service Activity" means the actual charitable
program activities of a charitable organization for which it
expends its resources.
    (l) "Program Service Expense" means the expenses of
charitable program activity and not management expenses or fund
raising expenses. In determining Program Service Expense,
management and fund raising expenses may not be included.
    (m) "Public Safety Personnel Organization" means any
person who uses any of the words "officer", "police",
"policeman", "policemen", "troopers", "sheriff", "law
enforcement", "fireman", "firemen", "paramedic", or similar
words in its name or in conjunction with solicitations, or in
the title or name of a magazine, newspaper, periodical,
advertisement book, or any other medium of electronic or print
publication, and is not a governmental entity. No organization
may be a Public Safety Personnel Organization unless 80% or
more of its voting members or trustees are active, retired, or
disabled police officers, peace officers, firemen, fire
fighters, emergency medical technicians - ambulance, emergency
medical technicians - intermediate, emergency medical
technicians - paramedic, ambulance drivers, or other medical
assistance or first aid personnel.
    (m-5) "Public Safety Personnel" includes police officers,
peace officers, firemen, fire fighters, emergency medical
technicians - ambulance, emergency medical technicians -
intermediate, emergency medical technicians - paramedic,
ambulance drivers, and other medical assistance or first aid
personnel.
    (n) "Trustee" means any person, individual, group of
individuals, association, corporation, not for profit
corporation, or other legal entity holding property for or
solicited for any charitable purpose; or any officer, director,
executive director or other controlling persons of a
corporation soliciting or holding property for a charitable
purpose.
(Source: P.A. 91-301, eff. 7-29-99.)
 
    (225 ILCS 460/5)  (from Ch. 23, par. 5105)
    Sec. 5. Any charitable organization, trustee, person,
professional fund raiser or professional solicitor, which or
who solicits, receives, or collects contributions in this
State, but does not maintain an office within the State or
cannot be located within the State shall be subject to service
of process, as follows:
    (a) By service thereof on its registered agent within the
State, or if there be no such registered agent, then upon the
person who has been designated in the registration statement as
having custody of books and records within this State; where
service is effected upon the person so designated in the
registration statement a copy of the process shall, in
addition, be mailed to the registrant's last known address;
    (b) When any corporate person has solicited, received, or
collected contributions in this State, but maintains no office
within the State, has no registered agent within the State, and
no designated person having custody of its books and records
within the State, or when a registered agent or person having
custody of its books and records within the State cannot be
found as shown by the return of the sheriff of the county in
which such registered agent or person having custody of books
and records has been represented by the charitable organization
or person as maintaining an office, service may be made by
delivering to and leaving with the Secretary of State, or with
any deputy or clerk in the corporation department of his
office, three copies thereof;
    (c) Following service upon the Secretary of State the
provisions of law relating to service of process on foreign
corporations shall thereafter govern;
    (d) Long arm service in accordance with law;
    (e) The solicitation, receipt, or collection of any
contribution within this State by any charitable organization
or any person shall be deemed to be their agreement that any
process against it or him which is so served in accordance with
the provisions of this Section shall be of the same legal force
and effect as if served personally within this State and that
the courts of this State shall have personal jurisdiction over
such organizations, persons and trustees;
    (f) Venue over persons required to be registered under this
Act shall be proper in any county where the Attorney General
accepts and maintains the list of registrations. In furtherance
of judicial economy, actions filed for violation of this Act
may name multiple trustees, trusts, and organizations in a
single or joint action where those joined have each engaged in
similar conduct in violation of this Act or where similar
relief is sought against those defendants for violation of this
Act.
(Source: P.A. 90-469, eff. 8-17-97.)
 
    (225 ILCS 460/6)  (from Ch. 23, par. 5106)
    Sec. 6. Professional fund raiser registration.
    (a) No person shall act as a professional fund raiser or
allow a professional fund raiser entity he owns, manages or
controls to act for a charitable organization required to
register pursuant to Section 2 of this Act, or for any
organization as described in Section 3 of this Act before he
has registered himself or the entity with the Attorney General
or after the expiration or cancellation of such registration or
any renewal thereof. Applications for registration and
re-registration shall be in writing, under oath, in the form
prescribed by the Attorney General. A registration fee of $100
shall be paid with each registration and upon each
re-registration. Registration and re-registration can proceed
only if all financial reports have been filed in proper form
and all fees have been paid in full. If the applicant intends
to or does take control or possession of charitable funds, the
applicant shall at the time of making application, file with,
and have approved by, the Attorney General a bond in which the
applicant shall be the principal obligor, in the sum of
$10,000, with one or more corporate sureties licensed to do
business in this State whose liability in the aggregate will at
least equal such sum. The bond shall run to the Attorney
General for the use of the State and to any person who may have
a cause of action against the obligor of the bond for any
malfeasance or misfeasance in the conduct of such solicitation;
provided, that the aggregate limit of liability of the surety
to the State and to all such persons shall, in no event, exceed
the sum of such bond. Registration or re-registration when
effected shall be for a period of one year, or a part thereof,
expiring on the 30th day of June, and may be renewed upon
written application, under oath, in the form prescribed by the
Attorney General and the filing of the bond for additional one
year periods. Every professional fund raiser required to
register pursuant to this Act shall file an annual written
report with the Attorney General containing such information as
he may require by rule. Certification shall be required for
only information within the professional fund raiser's
knowledge.
    (b) Upon filing a complete registration statement, a
professional fund raiser shall be given a registration number
and shall be considered registered. If the materials submitted
are determined to be inaccurate or incomplete, the Attorney
General shall notify the professional fund raiser of his
findings and the defect and that within 30 days his
registration will be cancelled unless the defect is cured
within said time.
    (c) Every professional fund raiser registered under this
Act who takes possession or control of charitable funds
directly, indirectly, or through an escrow shall submit a full
written accounting to the charitable organization of all funds
it or its agents collected on behalf of the charitable
organization during the 6 month period ended June 30 of each
year, and file a copy of the accounting with the Attorney
General. The accounting shall be in writing under oath and be
signed and made on forms as prescribed by the Attorney General
and shall be filed by the following September 30 of each year;
however, within the time prescribed, and for good cause, the
Attorney General may grant a 60 day extension of the due date.
    (d) Every professional fund raiser registered pursuant to
this Act shall also file calendar year written financial
reports with the Attorney General containing such information
as he may require, on forms prescribed by him, as well as
separate financial reports for each separate fund raising
campaign conducted. The written report, including all required
schedules, shall be filed under oath on or before April 30 of
the following calendar year and be signed and verified under
penalty of perjury within the time prescribed. An annual report
fee of $25 shall be paid to the Attorney General with the
filing of that report. If the report is not timely filed, a
late filing fee shall result and must be paid prior to
re-registration. The late filing fee shall be calculated at
$200 for each and every separate fundraising campaign conducted
during the report year. For good cause, the Attorney General
may grant a 30 day extension of the due date, in which case a
late filing fee shall not be imposed until the expiration of
the extension period. A copy of the report shall also be given
to the charitable organization by the due date of filing. A
professional fund raiser shall only be required to verify
information actually available to the professional fund
raiser, but in any event an annual report must be timely filed.
    (d-5) The calendar year written financial report of every
professional fund raiser who conducts, manages, or carries on a
fund raising campaign involving the collection or resale of any
automobiles, motorcycles, other motor vehicles, boats, yachts,
or other water craft collected in Illinois during the report
year, and the distribution of funds from the collection or
resale of such motor vehicles and water crafts to the
charitable organization, must include a schedule detailing the
following information for each motor vehicle and water craft
collected or resold:
        (1) The vehicle or hull identification number.
        (2) The gross resale amount of the vehicle.
        (3) The total amount distributed to the charitable
    organization from the collection or resale of the motor
    vehicle or water craft.
        (4) Any and all fees, compensation, or other
    consideration paid to or retained by the professional fund
    raiser from the collection or resale of the motor vehicle
    or water craft.
        (5) The identity of any other professional fund raiser
    that participated in the collection or resale of the
    vehicle and any fees, compensation, or other consideration
    paid to or retained by that other professional fund raiser
    from the collection or resale of the motor vehicle or water
    craft.
    The calendar year written financial report of every
professional fund raiser who conducts, manages, or carries on a
fund raising campaign involving the collection or resale of any
automobile, motorcycle, other motor vehicle, boat, yacht, or
other water craft collected in Illinois during the report year,
but who does not distribute funds from such collection or
resale to the charitable organization, must include a schedule
detailing the following information for each motor vehicle and
water craft collected or resold:
        (1) The vehicle or hull identification number.
        (2) Any and all fees, compensation, or other
    consideration paid to or retained by the professional fund
    raiser from the collection or resale of the motor vehicle
    or water craft.
        (3) The identity of the person or entity involved in
    the fund raising campaign who does distribute funds from
    the collection or resale of the vehicle to the charitable
    organization.
    (e) No person convicted of a felony may register as a
professional fund raiser, and no person convicted of a
misdemeanor involving fiscal wrongdoing, breach of fiduciary
duty or a violation of this Act may register as a professional
fund raiser for a period of 5 years from the date of the
conviction or the date of termination of the sentence or
probation, if any, whichever is later. This subsection shall
not apply to charitable organizations that have as their
primary purpose the rehabilitation of criminal offenders, the
reintegration of criminal offenders into society, the
improvement of the criminal justice system or the improvement
of conditions within penal institutions.
    (f) A professional fund raiser may not cause or allow
independent contractors to act on its behalf in soliciting
charitable contributions other than registered professional
solicitors. A professional fund raiser must maintain the names,
addresses and social security numbers of all of its
professional solicitors for a period of at least 2 years.
    (g) Any person who knowingly violates the provisions of
subsections (a), (e), and (f) of this Section is guilty of a
Class 4 felony. Any person who fails after being given notice
of delinquency to file written financial reports required by
subsections (c), and (d), and (d-5) of this Section which is
more than 2 months past its due date is guilty of a Class A
misdemeanor.
    (h) Any person who violates any of the provisions of this
Section shall be subject to civil penalties of $5,000 for each
violation and shall not be entitled to keep or receive fees,
salaries, commissions or any compensation as a result or on
account of the solicitations or fund raising campaigns, and at
the request of the Attorney General or the charitable
organization, a court may order that such be forfeited and paid
toward and used for a charitable purpose as the court in its
discretion determines is appropriate or placed in the Illinois
Charity Bureau Fund.
(Source: P.A. 90-469, eff. 8-17-97; 91-444, eff. 8-6-99.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2007