**NRCS Ethics Office**

**2005 x 4**

**Letter to an Employee Organization Representative**

\[September 2005\]

SUBJECT: Solicitation for Adds for Employee Organization Conferences

Key Words: Fundraising, Solicitation, Conferences

This responds to your August 17, 2005 email. You asked about soliciting
and/or accepting adds (money) from Tyson foods, Coln Agre (did you mean
ConAgra?), Riceland Foods, Wal-Mart and other companies in the local
region for the 2005 \[Employee Organization\] training conference in
\[City, State\].  You asked whether \[Employee Organization\] may
solicit these companies.\
\
[Solicitation by \[Employee Organization\]]{.underline}

The Standards of Ethical Conduct at 5 CFR 2635 apply to employees.  They
do not, however, apply to \[Employee Organization\] itself because
\[Employee Organization\] is a non-Federal entity.  Therefore,
**\[Employee Organization\] is not prohibited from soliciting Tyson
foods, ConAgra, Riceland Foods or any other prohibited source.** In
doing so, however, \[Employee Organization\] must make it clear that it
is not an official organization of USDA or NRCS. Also, to avoid an
ethics violation, any such solicitation on behalf of \[Employee
Organization\] must be done by someone other than a current employee.

[Solicitation by Employees]{.underline}

**Current USDA employees are prohibited from soliciting anything of
value from Tyson foods, ConAgra, Riceland Foods or any other prohibited
source, directly or indirectly.** While ethics rules do not extend to
non-Federal organizations, the Standards of Ethical Conduct for
Employees of the Executive Branch (The Standards) do apply to current
federal employees who participate in these organizations.

Solicitation is defined as a request made by an individual that is
intended to encourage the voluntary offer or contribution by an
individual, group or organization. The regulations state that an
employee may not personally solicit funds or donations from official
subordinates or persons who are known to be prohibited sources to the
USDA. A prohibited source is any person or entity that:

\- is seeking official action from USDA,

\- does business or seeks to do business with USDA,

\- seeks to influence USDA's policies or regulations,

\- conducts activity regulated by USDA,

> \- has interests that may be substantially affected your official
> duties,

\- is an organization the majority of whose members are prohibited
sources.

There are other restrictions that also apply to fundraising by
employees. I strongly encourage you and all employees participating in
the fundraising effort to first complete the "Fundraising" USDA Ethics
Training Module on AgLearn at
[http://www.aglearn.usda.gov](http://www.aglearn.usda.gov/) It will take
20 minutes less to complete and give a solid foundation for
understanding these and other important restrictions.

If you have questions or require further information, please let me
know. <Caryl.butcher@usda.gov>

Attachment

Attachment

See 5 CFR 2635, the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the
Executive Branch, in particular:

[See 5 CFR 2635.202  General]{.underline}

>     (a) General prohibitions. Except as provided in this subpart, an
> employee shall not, directly or indirectly, solicit or accept a gift:\
>     (1) From a prohibited source; or\
>     (2) Given because of the employee\'s official position.

FYI, there is [no]{.underline} exception to the prohibition at 5 CFR
2635.202(a) that would allow such solicitation of a prohibited source by
a current employee.  That is, there is no exception that would allow a
current employee to solicit a contribution, add, etc. from a prohibited
source just because if was on behalf of \[Employee Organization\]. 

[Also, see 2635.203]{.underline}

> \(d\) Prohibited source means any person who:\
>     (1) Is seeking official action by the employee\'s agency;\
>     (2) Does business or seeks to do business with the employee\'s
> agency;\
>     (3) Conducts activities regulated by the employee\'s agency;\
>     (4) Has interests that may be substantially affected by
> performance or nonperformance of the employee\'s official duties; or\
>     (5) Is an organization a majority of whose members are described
> in paragraphs (d) (1) through (4) of this section.

[Also see 2635.808]{.underline}

> 2635.808 (c) includes a prohibition against an employee fundraising in
> a personal capacity if it involves solicitation of funds or other
> support from a subordinate, prohibited source, or person (company or
> organization) whose interests may be substantially affected by
> performance or nonperformance of the employee's official duties.
> Section (c) also prohibits use of one's official title, position, etc.
> to further personal fundraising efforts.

In addition to reviewing the above referenced regulations, I recommend
that you take the USDA Ethics Training Modules, "Fundraising" and
\"Gifts From Outside Sources\" on AgLearn at
[http://www.aglearn.usda.gov](http://www.aglearn.usda.gov/).