174-b. Solicitation. 1. Any solicitation, by any means, including but not limited to oral solicitation, by or on behalf of a registered charitable organization which is required to file financial reports pursuant to this article and has filed all such reports, shall include therein a statement that upon request, a person may obtain from the organization or from the attorney general, a copy of the last financial report filed by the organization with the attorney general. Such statement shall specify the address of the organization and the address of the attorney general, to which such request should be addressed and in the case of a written solicitation, must be placed conspicuously in the material with print no smaller than ten point bold face type or, alternatively, no smaller than the size print used for the most number of words in the statements. Provided, however, such statement need not be made where the space for a printed advertisement or promotional time in any media has been donated or made available to the charitable organization at no cost and such space or time does not reasonably permit inclusion of such statement.
2. Any solicitation used by or on behalf of any charitable organization shall provide a clear description of the programs and activities for which it has requested and has expended or will expend contributions or shall include therein a statement that, upon request, a person may obtain from the organization such a description. If the solicitation is by an institution subject to article five-A of the not-for-profit corporation law, and is for an endowment fund, the solicitation must include a statement that, unless otherwise restricted by the gift instrument pursuant to paragraph (b) of section five hundred fifty-three of the not-for-profit corporation law, the institution may expend so much of an endowment fund as it deems prudent after considering the factors set forth in paragraph (a) of section five hundred fifty-three of the not-for-profit corporation law.
3. In addition to any other disclosure required by law, any solicitation by any means by a professional fund raiser or professional solicitor on behalf of a charitable organization required to be registered pursuant to this article shall clearly and unambiguously disclose:
(a) the name of the professional fund raiser as on file with the attorney general and that the solicitation is being conducted by a professional fund raiser;
(b) the name of the individual professional solicitor as on file with the attorney general and that the individual is receiving compensation for conducting the solicitation.
4. If any charitable organization makes contributions to another organization which is not its affiliate as defined by paragraph (b) of subdivision four of section one hundred seventy-two-b of this article, such solicitation shall include a statement that such contributions have been made and that a list of all organizations which have received contributions during the past twelve months from the soliciting organization may be obtained from that organization provided, however, a united way, federated fund or incorporated community appeal, by or through which a donation is merely transferred to a charity selected by the donor, need not include such donor selected organizations in the list.
5. A charitable organization shall comply with all requests made pursuant to subdivisions two and four of this section within fifteen days of their receipt. In the event that a charitable organization required to register pursuant to this article has not previously been required to file an annual report with the attorney general, the solicitation shall state the date when such report will be filed. Provided, however, that no additional solicitation shall be permitted by charitable organizations until an annual report is filed, if the report is delayed beyond one year.
Last modified: February 3, 2019