I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 733

To amend title 39, United States Code, to require the disclosure of certain

information in connection with the solicitation of charitable contributions

by mail, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 2, 1993

Mr. OWENS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Post Office and Civil Service

A BILL

To amend title 39, United States Code, to require the disclosure of certain information in connection with the solicitation of charitable contributions by mail, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Charitable Solicitation

5 Disclosure Act of 1993’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT.

2 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Chapter 30 of title 39, United

3 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow4 ing:

5 ‘‘§ 3015. Soliciting charitable contributions by mail

6 ‘‘(a) Any charitable organization which solicits, in

7 any manner or through any means, the remittance of a

8 contribution by mail, shall include with such solicitation

9 the following information:

10 ‘‘(1) The legal name and the principal business

11 address of the charitable organization making the

12 solicitation.

13 ‘‘(2) Whether the organization is exempt from

14 taxation under section 501(a) of the Internal Reve15 nue Code of 1986, specifying whether or not the

16 contributions solicited will qualify as charitable con17 tributions under section 170(c) of such Code.

18 ‘‘(3) The purpose of the solicitation and the in19 tended use of the contribution being solicited, speci20 fying whether the program or activities for which the

21 contribution will be used are in existence or planned.

22 ‘‘(4) The obligation of the charitable organiza23 tion to furnish information in accordance with sub24 section (c).
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1 ‘‘(b) The information required under subsection (a)

2 to be included with any solicitation for contributions by

3 mail shall—

4 ‘‘(1) in the case of a solicitation made in writ5 ing—

6 ‘‘(A) be presented in language which is

7 readily understandable by persons receiving the

8 solicitation;

9 ‘‘(B) be located in a conspicuous place on

10 the solicitation; and

11 ‘‘(C) appear in conspicuous and legible

12 type in contrast by typography, layout, or color

13 with other printed matter on the solicitation;

14 ‘‘(2) in the case of a solicitation made through

15 audio communication, be clearly audible and in lan16 guage readily understandable by persons to whom

17 the solicitation is directed; and

18 ‘‘(3) in the case of a solicitation made through

19 visual communication—

20 ‘‘(A) appear in lettering of sufficient size

21 to be easily read by the viewer;

22 ‘‘(B) be shown against a background which

23 does not impair the legibility of the communica24 tion; and
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1 ‘‘(C) remain in view for a period sufficient

2 to enable the viewer to read the communication.

3 ‘‘(c) Any charitable organization which makes a solic4 itation of contributions which is subject to subsection (a)

5 shall, no later than 30 days after the receipt of a request

6 from any person receiving such solicitation, furnish to

7 such person a financial report for the most recent com8 plete fiscal year of the organization, prepared in accord9 ance with generally accepted accounting principles, which

10 includes—

11 ‘‘(1) a statement which clearly sets forth the

12 gross income and revenues received by the organiza13 tion, the total expenses for program services, fund

14 raising activities, management and general activities,

15 and any other disbursements made during the fiscal

16 year;

17 ‘‘(2) a statement of functional expenses during

18 the fiscal year which discloses the nature and

19 amount of these expenses for its program services,

20 fund raising activities, and management and general

21 activities;

22 ‘‘(3) a balance sheet which discloses the organi23 zation’s assets, liabilities, and net worth at the be24 ginning and at the close of the fiscal year;
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1 ‘‘(4) a statement which relates each of the ac2 tivities comprising the organization’s program serv3 ices in both qualitative and quantitative form and

4 sets forth the amounts expended for each such activ5 ity during the fiscal year; and

6 ‘‘(5) in the case of an organization which re7 ceived total revenue and support in excess of

8 $50,000 during the fiscal year, the opinion of an

9 independent certified or licensed public accountant,

10 based on an examination made in accordance with

11 generally accepted auditing standards, that the

12 statements in the financial report present fairly the

13 financial position of the organization and the results

14 of its operations during the fiscal year.

15 ‘‘(d) Any charitable organization which makes a solic16 itation of contributions which is subject to subsection (a)

17 shall, upon request by the Postal Service, furnish to the

18 Postal Service in accordance with its request such audit

19 reports, accounts, or other information as the Postal Serv20 ice may require to establish or verify such organization’s

21 compliance with this section.

22 ‘‘(e) Subsection (a) shall not apply to—

23 ‘‘(1) any bona fide membership organization

24 with respect to any solicitation for contributions
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1 made by such organization exclusively to the mem2 bers of such organization;

3 ‘‘(2) any school, college, or university with re4 spect to any solicitation for contributions made by

5 such organization exclusively to its students, alumni,

6 faculty, members of governing boards and appointed

7 committees, or a member of the family of any such

8 individuals;

9 ‘‘(3) any charitable organization which is au10 thorized by, and exclusively makes expenditures to

11 or for the benefit of, a school, college, or university

12 with respect to any solicitation for contributions

13 made by such organization exclusively to individuals

14 referred to in paragraph (2);

15 ‘‘(4) any solicitation of contributions made for

16 the relief, and with the written consent, of any indi17 vidual specified by name at the time of the solicita18 tion, if all of the contributions collected without any

19 deductions whatsoever are turned over to the indi20 vidual;

21 ‘‘(5) any solicitation of contributions made by a

22 charitable organization which received not more than

23 $10,000 in total revenue and support during the

24 previous fiscal year and all of whose fund raising
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1 functions are performed by persons who do not re2 ceive compensation for such performance; and

3 ‘‘(6) any solicitation which is made through the

4 use of audio or visual communication and which

5 does not exceed 60 seconds in duration.

6 ‘‘(f) For the purposes of this section—

7 ‘‘(1) the term ‘charitable organization’ means

8 any person (including any individual, organization,

9 partnership, association, trust, society, foundation,

10 group, or corporation, or any combination of them)

11 which is organized, or which claims to be organized,

12 for any charitable, benevolent, philanthropic, hu13 mane, patriotic, scientific, literary, medical, reli14 gious, or educational purpose, for the prevention of

15 cruelty to children or animals, or for any other elee16 mosynary purpose;

17 ‘‘(2) the term ‘contribution’ means the promise,

18 grant, gift, or pledge of any money or property of

19 any kind for any charitable, benevolent, philan20 thropic, humane, patriotic, scientific, literary, medi21 cal, religious, or educational purpose, or for the pre22 vention of cruelty to children or animals, or for any

23 other eleemosynary purpose;
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1 ‘‘(3) the term ‘program services’ includes any

2 activity carried on by a charitable organization in

3 the performance of its purposes;

4 ‘‘(4) the term ‘fund raising activities’ includes

5 any activity that constitutes or is an integral and in6 separable part of an appeal for contributions;

7 ‘‘(5) the term ‘management and general activi8 ties’ includes any activity which relates to the overall

9 direction of the organization, but not its program

10 services or fund raising activities; and

11 ‘‘(6) the term ‘membership’ does not include

12 any case in which an organization confers a mem13 bership on any person solely as a consideration for

14 making a contribution.’’.

15 (b) ISSUANCE OF ORDER BY POSTAL SERVICE.—Sec16 tion 3005(a) of title 39, United States Code, is amended

17 by inserting immediately after ‘‘means of false representa18 tions’’ the following: ‘‘or for a charitable purpose without

19 complying with section 3012’’.

20 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

21 The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 30

22 of title 39, United States Code, is amended by inserting

23 after the item relating to section 3014 the following:

‘‘3015. Soliciting charitable contributions by mail.’’.
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1 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

2 This Act shall take effect one year after the date of

3 the enactment of this Act.

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