[ Back ] [ Bottom ]
91_SB1540eng
SB1540 Engrossed 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 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.
SB1540 Engrossed -2- LRB9112929ACmg
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
SB1540 Engrossed -3- LRB9112929ACmg
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
SB1540 Engrossed -4- LRB9112929ACmg
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.
SB1540 Engrossed -5- LRB9112929ACmg
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.)
[ Top ]