[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 733 Introduced in House (IH)]

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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Charitable Solicitation Disclosure 
Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT.

    (a) Requirement.--Chapter 30 of title 39, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 3015. Soliciting charitable contributions by mail
    ``(a) Any charitable organization which solicits, in any manner or 
through any means, the remittance of a contribution by mail, shall 
include with such solicitation the following information:
            ``(1) The legal name and the principal business address of 
        the charitable organization making the solicitation.
            ``(2) Whether the organization is exempt from taxation 
        under section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 
        specifying whether or not the contributions solicited will 
        qualify as charitable contributions under section 170(c) of 
        such Code.
            ``(3) The purpose of the solicitation and the intended use 
        of the contribution being solicited, specifying whether the 
        program or activities for which the contribution will be used 
        are in existence or planned.
            ``(4) The obligation of the charitable organization to 
        furnish information in accordance with subsection (c).
    ``(b) The information required under subsection (a) to be included 
with any solicitation for contributions by mail shall--
            ``(1) in the case of a solicitation made in writing--
                    ``(A) be presented in language which is readily 
                understandable by persons receiving the solicitation;
                    ``(B) be located in a conspicuous place on the 
                solicitation; and
                    ``(C) appear in conspicuous and legible type in 
                contrast by typography, layout, or color with other 
                printed matter on the solicitation;
            ``(2) in the case of a solicitation made through audio 
        communication, be clearly audible and in language readily 
        understandable by persons to whom the solicitation is directed; 
        and
            ``(3) in the case of a solicitation made through visual 
        communication--
                    ``(A) appear in lettering of sufficient size to be 
                easily read by the viewer;
                    ``(B) be shown against a background which does not 
                impair the legibility of the communication; and
                    ``(C) remain in view for a period sufficient to 
                enable the viewer to read the communication.
    ``(c) Any charitable organization which makes a solicitation of 
contributions which is subject to subsection (a) shall, no later than 
30 days after the receipt of a request from any person receiving such 
solicitation, furnish to such person a financial report for the most 
recent complete fiscal year of the organization, prepared in accordance 
with generally accepted accounting principles, which includes--
            ``(1) a statement which clearly sets forth the gross income 
        and revenues received by the organization, the total expenses 
        for program services, fund raising activities, management and 
        general activities, and any other disbursements made during the 
        fiscal year;
            ``(2) a statement of functional expenses during the fiscal 
        year which discloses the nature and amount of these expenses 
        for its program services, fund raising activities, and 
        management and general activities;
            ``(3) a balance sheet which discloses the organization's 
        assets, liabilities, and net worth at the beginning and at the 
        close of the fiscal year;
            ``(4) a statement which relates each of the activities 
        comprising the organization's program services in both 
        qualitative and quantitative form and sets forth the amounts 
        expended for each such activity during the fiscal year; and
            ``(5) in the case of an organization which received total 
        revenue and support in excess of $50,000 during the fiscal 
        year, the opinion of an independent certified or licensed 
        public accountant, based on an examination made in accordance 
        with generally accepted auditing standards, that the statements 
        in the financial report present fairly the financial position 
        of the organization and the results of its operations during 
        the fiscal year.
    ``(d) Any charitable organization which makes a solicitation of 
contributions which is subject to subsection (a) shall, upon request by 
the Postal Service, furnish to the Postal Service in accordance with 
its request such audit reports, accounts, or other information as the 
Postal Service may require to establish or verify such organization's 
compliance with this section.
    ``(e) Subsection (a) shall not apply to--
            ``(1) any bona fide membership organization with respect to 
        any solicitation for contributions made by such organization 
        exclusively to the members of such organization;
            ``(2) any school, college, or university with respect to 
        any solicitation for contributions made by such organization 
        exclusively to its students, alumni, faculty, members of 
        governing boards and appointed committees, or a member of the 
        family of any such individuals;
            ``(3) any charitable organization which is authorized by, 
        and exclusively makes expenditures to or for the benefit of, a 
        school, college, or university with respect to any solicitation 
        for contributions made by such organization exclusively to 
        individuals referred to in paragraph (2);
            ``(4) any solicitation of contributions made for the 
        relief, and with the written consent, of any individual 
        specified by name at the time of the solicitation, if all of 
        the contributions collected without any deductions whatsoever 
        are turned over to the individual;
            ``(5) any solicitation of contributions made by a 
        charitable organization which received not more than $10,000 in 
        total revenue and support during the previous fiscal year and 
        all of whose fund raising functions are performed by persons 
        who do not receive compensation for such performance; and
            ``(6) any solicitation which is made through the use of 
        audio or visual communication and which does not exceed 60 
        seconds in duration.
    ``(f) For the purposes of this section--
            ``(1) the term `charitable organization' means any person 
        (including any individual, organization, partnership, 
        association, trust, society, foundation, group, or corporation, 
        or any combination of them) which is organized, or which claims 
        to be organized, for any charitable, benevolent, philanthropic, 
        humane, patriotic, scientific, literary, medical, religious, or 
        educational purpose, for the prevention of cruelty to children 
        or animals, or for any other eleemosynary purpose;
            ``(2) the term `contribution' means the promise, grant, 
        gift, or pledge of any money or property of any kind for any 
        charitable, benevolent, philanthropic, humane, patriotic, 
        scientific, literary, medical, religious, or educational 
        purpose, or for the prevention of cruelty to children or 
        animals, or for any other eleemosynary purpose;
            ``(3) the term `program services' includes any activity 
        carried on by a charitable organization in the performance of 
        its purposes;
            ``(4) the term `fund raising activities' includes any 
        activity that constitutes or is an integral and inseparable 
        part of an appeal for contributions;
            ``(5) the term `management and general activities' includes 
        any activity which relates to the overall direction of the 
        organization, but not its program services or fund raising 
        activities; and
            ``(6) the term `membership' does not include any case in 
        which an organization confers a membership on any person solely 
        as a consideration for making a contribution.''.
    (b) Issuance of Order by Postal Service.--Section 3005(a) of title 
39, United States Code, is amended by inserting immediately after 
``means of false representations'' the following: ``or for a charitable 
purpose without complying with section 3012''.

SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

    The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 30 of title 39, 
United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 
section 3014 the following:

``3015. Soliciting charitable contributions by mail.''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act shall take effect one year after the date of the enactment 
of this Act.

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