§ 14-401.12. Soliciting charitable contributions by telephone.
§ 14‑401.12. Solicitingcharitable contributions by telephone.
(a) Any professionalsolicitor who solicits by telephone contributions for charitable purposes or inany way compensates another person to solicit by telephone contributions forcharitable purposes shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. Any personcompensated by a professional solicitor to solicit by telephone contributionsfor charitable purposes shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
(b) Definitions. Unlessa different meaning is required by the context, the following terms as used inthis section have the meanings hereinafter respectively ascribed to them:
(1) "Charitablepurpose" shall mean any charitable, benevolent, religious, philanthropic,environmental, public or social advocacy or eleemosynary purpose for religion,health, education, social welfare, art and humanities, civic and publicinterest.
(2) "Contribution"shall mean any promise, gift, bequest, devise or other grant for considerationor otherwise, of any money or property of any kind or value, including thepromise to pay, which contribution is wholly or partly induced by asolicitation. The term "contribution" shall not include payments bymembers of an organization for membership fees, dues, fines or assessments, orfor services rendered to individual members, if membership in such organizationconfers a bona fide right, privilege, professional standing, honor or otherdirect benefit, other than the right to vote, elect officers, or hold offices;nor any money, credit, financial assistance or property received from anygovernmental authority; nor any donation of blood or any anatomical gift madepursuant to the Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. Reference to dollaramounts of "contributions" or "solicitations" in this sectionmeans, in the case of payments or promises to pay for merchandise or rights ofany description, the value of the total amount paid or promised to be paid forsuch merchandise or rights, and not merely that portion of the purchase priceto be applied to a charitable purpose.
(3) "Professionalfund‑raising counsel" shall mean any person who for a flat fixed feeunder a written agreement plans, conducts, manages, carries on, or acts as aconsultant, whether directly or indirectly, in connection with solicitingcontributions for, or on behalf of any charitable organization but who actuallysolicits no contributions as a part of such services.
(4) "Professionalsolicitor" shall mean any person who, for a financial or otherconsideration, solicits contributions for or on behalf of a charitableorganization, whether such solicitation is performed personally or through itsagents, servants or employees specially employed by or for a charitableorganization, who are engaged in the solicitation of contributions under thedirection of such person; or a person who plans, conducts, manages, carries on,advises or acts as a consultant, whether directly or indirectly, to acharitable organization in connection with the solicitation of contributionsbut does not qualify as "professional fund‑raising counsel" asdefined in this section. A bona fide salaried officer or employee of acharitable organization maintaining a permanent establishment within the Stateor the bona fide salaried officer or employee of a parent organizationcertified as tax exempt shall not be deemed to be a professional solicitor.
(5) The words"solicit" and "solicitation" shall mean the request orappeal, directly or indirectly, for any contribution on the plea orrepresentation that such contribution will be used for a charitable purpose.Solicitation as defined herein shall be deemed to occur when the request ismade, at the place the request is received, whether or not the person makingthe same actually receives any contribution.
(c) A solicitation bytelephone is presumed to be for a charitable purpose if the person making thesolicitation states or implies that some other named person or organization,other than the professional solicitor or his employees, is a sponsor orendorser of the solicitation who will share in the proceeds that result fromthe telephone solicitation. (1981, c. 805, s. 1; 1993, c. 539, s. 281; 1994, Ex.Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c); 2007‑538, s. 8.)