(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), (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. 94-749, eff. 1-1-07.)