Ohio Code 1716.05 – Fund-raising counsel requirements
(A) No person shall act as a fund-raising counsel unless the person first has complied with the requirements of this chapter and any rules adopted under this chapter.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 1716.05
- Bond: includes an undertaking. See Ohio Code 1.02
- Charitable organization: means either of the following:
(a) Any person that is determined by the internal revenue service to be a tax exempt organization pursuant to section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code;
(b) Any person that is or holds itself out to be established for any benevolent, philanthropic, patriotic, educational, humane, scientific, public health, environmental conservation, civic, or other eleemosynary purpose or for the benefit of law enforcement personnel, firefighters, or other persons who protect the public safety, or any person who in any manner employs a charitable appeal as the basis of any solicitation or an appeal that suggests that there is a charitable purpose to any solicitation. See Ohio Code 1716.01
- Contribution: means the promise, pledge, or grant of any money or property, financial assistance, or any other thing of value in response to a solicitation. See Ohio Code 1716.01
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Fund-raising counsel: means any person who, for compensation, plans, manages, advises, consults, or prepares material for or with respect to the solicitation in this state of contributions for any charitable organization or at any time has custody of contributions from a solicitation, but does not solicit contributions and does not employ, procure, or otherwise engage any compensated person to solicit contributions. See Ohio Code 1716.01
- in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, symbols, or figures; this provision does not affect any law relating to signatures. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Rule: includes regulation. See Ohio Code 1.59
- solicitation: includes but is not limited to the following methods of requesting or securing the promise, pledge, or grant of money, property, financial assistance, or any other thing of value:
(a) Any oral or written request;
(b) Making any announcement to the press, on radio or television, by telephone or telegraph, or by any other communication device concerning an appeal or campaign by or for any charitable organization or for any charitable purpose;
(c) Distributing, circulating, posting, or publishing any handbill, written advertisement, or other publication that directly or by implication seeks to obtain any contribution;
(d) Selling or offering or attempting to sell any advertisement, advertising space, book, card, tag, coupon, chance, device, magazine, membership, merchandise, subscription, sponsorship, flower, ticket, admission, candy, cookies, or other tangible item, or any right of any description in connection with which an appeal is made for any charitable organization or charitable purpose, or when the name of any charitable organization is used or referred to in any such appeal as an inducement or reason for making the sale, or when in connection with the sale or offer or attempt to sell, any statement is made that all or part of the proceeds from the sale will be used for any charitable purpose or will benefit any charitable organization. See Ohio Code 1716.01
- state: means the state of Ohio. See Ohio Code 1.59
(B) Any fund-raising counsel that at any time has custody of contributions from a solicitation shall do all of the following:
(1) Register with the attorney general. Applications for registration or renewal of registration shall be in writing, under oath, and in the form prescribed by the attorney general, and shall be accompanied by a fee in the amount of two hundred dollars. Any corporation, partnership, association, or other entity that intends to act as a fund-raising counsel may register for and pay a single fee of two hundred dollars on behalf of all its members, officers, employees, and agents. In that case, the names and addresses of all the officers, employees, and agents of the fund-raising counsel and all other persons with whom the fund-raising counsel has contracted to work under its direction shall be listed in the application. The application shall contain any other information that the attorney general may require. The registration or renewal of registration shall be for a period of one year or part of one year and shall expire on the thirty-first day of March of each year. All fees prescribed in this division shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of the charitable law fund established under section 109.32 of the Revised Code.
(2) At the time of making an application for registration or renewal of registration, file with and have approved by the attorney general a bond in which the fund-raising counsel shall be the principal obligor, in the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, with one or more sureties authorized to do business in this state. The fund-raising counsel shall maintain the bond in effect as long as the registration is in effect; however, the liability of the surety under the bond shall not exceed an all-time aggregate liability of twenty-five thousand dollars. The bond, which may be in the form of a rider to a larger blanket liability bond, shall run to the state and to any person who may have a cause of action against the principal obligor of the bond for any liability arising out of a violation by the obligor of any provision of this chapter or any rule adopted pursuant to this chapter.
(3) Not later than ninety days after a solicitation campaign has been completed and on the anniversary of the commencement of a solicitation campaign lasting more than one year, furnish an accounting of all contributions collected and expenses paid, to the charitable organization with which the fund-raising counsel has contracted. The accounting shall be in writing and shall be retained by the charitable organization for three years. The fund-raising counsel shall file a copy of the accounting with the attorney general not later than seven days after it is furnished to the charitable organization.
(4) Not later than two days after receipt of each contribution, deposit the entire amount of the contribution in an account at a bank or other federally insured financial institution which shall be in the name of the charitable organization with which the fund-raising counsel has contracted. Each contribution collected by the fund-raising counsel shall be solely in the name of that charitable organization. The charitable organization shall have sole control of all withdrawals from the account and the fund-raising counsel shall not be given the authority to withdraw any deposited funds from the account.
(5) During each solicitation campaign and for not less than three years after its completion, maintain the following records that shall be made available to the attorney general upon the attorney general’s request:
(a) A record of each contribution that at any time is in the custody of the fund-raising counsel, including the name and address of each contributor and the date and amount of the contribution, provided that the attorney general shall not disclose that information except to the extent necessary for investigative or law enforcement purposes;
(b) The location of each bank or financial institution in which the fund-raising counsel has deposited revenue from the solicitation campaign and the account number of each account in which the deposits were made.
(C) Unless otherwise provided in this section, any change in any information filed with the attorney general pursuant to this section shall be reported in writing to the attorney general within seven days after the change occurs.
(D) No person shall serve as a fund-raising counsel, or be a member, officer, employee, or agent of any fund-raising counsel, who has been convicted of a disqualifying offense as determined in accordance with section 9.79 of the Revised Code.
(E) The information provided under this section to the attorney general by a fund-raising counsel shall be included in the reports and files required to be compiled and maintained by the attorney general pursuant to divisions (E) and (F) of section 1716.08 of the Revised Code.
(F) If a fund-raising counsel fails to comply in a timely or complete manner with any of the requirements under this section, the fund-raising counsel is liable for and, in addition to any fee required in this section, shall pay two hundred dollars for each late filing. Each registration, renewal of registration, bond, or accounting shall be considered a separate filing for the purposes of this section. Any fees required by this section are in addition to, and not in place of, penalties prescribed in this chapter.
Last updated March 17, 2023 at 11:03 AM