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91_SB1540
LRB9112929ACmg
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
15 consultant, or a professional solicitor, in conducting a fund
16 raising campaign for a charitable organization or for
17 charitable or ostensibly charitable purposes:
18 (1) Represents that tickets for a show or goods or
19 services shall be made available to children,
20 disadvantaged persons or for a like charitable purpose,
21 and that such will be distributed by the persons
22 soliciting or the organization, the tickets shall be held
23 in trust for the use as a charitable trust and adequate
24 records and accounting for same maintained.
25 (2) Disseminates an educational message or
26 materials to the public with or in the course of fund
27 raising activities and allocates the costs between fund
28 raising and education programs, he shall prepare and
29 maintain written worksheets of how the allocation is made
30 and the reasoning behind the allocation.
31 (3) Sells or offers for sale advertising space in a
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1 publication or ad book or periodical, he shall maintain
2 adequate records for all ads sold and written document
3 receipts shall provide the name of the organization
4 involved, the publication's name, and its proposed date
5 of publication, as well as the number of copies proposed
6 to be printed or a reasonable estimate.
7 (4) Engages in the dissemination of education
8 program services as a part of or in physical conjunction
9 with its solicitation of charitable contributions, it
10 shall record and report all expenses incurred as fund
11 raising unless it allocates the expenses between fund
12 raising and other functions pursuant to professional
13 accounting standards and provisions as promulgated and
14 set forth by the American Institute of Certified Public
15 Accountants or the Financial Accounting Standards Board
16 from time to time in their official publications. For
17 purposes of making all such allocations, the factors and
18 considerations utilized must be reduced to writing.
19 (5) Engages in any public solicitation and therein
20 purports to relate the purpose or purposes for which the
21 funds are solicited, such shall then be fully and
22 accurately identified to the prospective donor. If a
23 charitable organization whose purposes include the
24 rendering of noneducational program services intends to
25 expend or budget more than 50% of its program service
26 expenditures for informing or educating the public and
27 the funds being solicited will be used for such purpose,
28 the donor at his or her request must be told that a
29 primary use of the program funds will be for public
30 education.
31 (6) Collects and takes control or possession of
32 contributions made for a charitable purpose or to a
33 charitable organization, they owe a fiduciary duty to the
34 public to deal with the said contributions in an
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1 appropriate fiduciary manner, to keep complete books and
2 records for at least 3 years, to keep records in a
3 comprehensive manner to permit accurate reporting and
4 auditing as required by law, and to not commingle funds
5 with noncharitable funds and to be able to account for
6 the funds, and will be subject to surcharge for any funds
7 not accounted for or wasted, in addition to other
8 remedies available at equity. A presumption shall exist
9 that expenditures not properly documented and disclosed
10 by records were not properly spent.
11 (7) Uses written materials to solicit or seek a
12 contribution from the public, those materials must state
13 at the bottom of the last page that "a copy of the
14 charitable organization's annual financial report is or
15 will be on file at the Office of the Attorney General and
16 available for public inspection", in a typeface
17 consistent with the body of the document in which it is
18 inserted. However, this statement shall not be required
19 if fewer than 500 pieces of the material are used.
20 (c) Any person who violates this Section may be enjoined
21 from acting as or continuing to act on behalf of charitable
22 organizations or charitable causes within Illinois the
23 charity for a period of up to 5 years and if the violation is
24 intentional or willful they shall not be entitled to keep or
25 receive fees, salaries, commissions or any compensation as a
26 result of or on account of the solicitations or fund raising
27 campaigns. At the request of the Attorney General a court
28 shall order that the fees, salaries, commissions, or
29 compensation shall be forfeited and used for a charitable use
30 as the court determines.
31 (d) In addition to any other penalty available in this
32 Act or at law, each charitable organization on behalf of
33 which a professional fundraiser, trustee, professional
34 consultant, or professional solicitor, or employee of the
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1 charitable organization places in use or causes the use of
2 materials bearing the statement required by item (7) of
3 subsection (b) in seeking contributions for a charitable
4 organization, if that charitable organization has not
5 registered or maintained registration as required by this Act
6 during the period when the materials carrying the statement
7 are used or placed in use, is subject to a civil penalty of
8 $5,000.
9 (Source: P.A. 87-755.)
10 (225 ILCS 460/23)
11 Sec. 23. Charitable Advisory Council. As a part of
12 charitable trust enforcement and public disclosure, a task
13 force composed of citizens chosen by the Attorney General to
14 be known as the Attorney General's Charitable Advisory
15 Council shall be and is hereby formed and shall exist for as
16 long as the Attorney General deems that it is necessary for a
17 3-year period. This Advisory Council shall study issues of
18 charitable giving, volunteerism, and fundraising in this
19 State. The Advisory Council members shall serve without
20 compensation, and the expenses of the Council may be paid for
21 out of the Illinois Charity Bureau Fund in an amount not to
22 exceed $10,000 per year and in the discretion of the Attorney
23 General.
24 (Source: P.A. 90-469, eff. 8-17-97; 91-444, eff. 8-6-99.)
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