Proposed Charitable Fundraising Legislation in Florida

An interesting opinion editorial in the Tampa Bay Times discusses proposed state legislation regulating charitable fundraising.  According to the editorial, an investigation conducted by the Tampa Bay Times/Center for Investigative Reporting found “that of the 50 worst offenders [among charities soliciting funds from the public] across the nation, 11 were based in Florida.” 

The proposed reforms are said to include the following: (1) enhancing “public disclosure of the inner workings of charities and solicitors;” (2) clarifying “when the state has the power to shut them down, including when they are banned in other states;” (3) requiring each employee who makes calls soliciting funds to submit to fingerprinting and a background check for a $100 registration fee; (4) requiring fundraisers “to provide copies of solicitation scripts, the locations and phone numbers from which calls are to be made, and details about what percentage of funds raised actually flow to the charity;” and (5) requiring charities that raise at least $1 million annually but devote less than 25 percent of proceeds to charitable purposes to “submit detailed reports on where the money went ” – the information from which would be made available “in a new online database, enabling Floridians to better investigate a charity before giving.”

JRB