§ 172-A — Certain persons exempted

§ 172-a. Certain persons exempted. 1. This article shall not apply to\ncorporations organized under the religious corporations law, and other\nreligious agencies and organizations, and charities, agencies, and\norganizations operated, supervised, or controlled by or in connection\nwith a religious organization.\n 2. The following persons shall not be required to register with the\nattorney general:\n (a) An educational institution confining its solicitation of\ncontributions to its student body, alumni, faculty and trustees, and\ntheir families.\n (b) Fraternal, patriotic, social, alumni, law enforcement support\norganizations and historical societies chartered by the New York state\nboard of regents when solicitation of contributions is confined to their\nmembership.\n (c) Persons requesting any contributions for the relief of any\nindividual, specified by name at the time of the solicitation, if all of\nthe contributions collected, without any deductions whatsoever, are paid\nto or for the benefit of the named beneficiary. Prior to the\ncommencement of any such solicitation, the principal person requesting\ncontributions may file with the attorney general a form, provided by the\nattorney general, which shall read as follows:\n CHARITABLE SOLICITATION FOR THE RELIEF OF AN INDIVIDUAL\n ______________________________________________________________________\n NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE PRINCIPAL PERSON REQUESTING CONTRIBUTIONS\n ______________________________________________________________________\n PURPOSE OF THE SOLICITATION\n ______________________________________________________________________\n NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE PRIMARY INDIVIDUAL BENEFICIARY\n ______________________________________________________________________\n NAME AND ADDRESS OF SECONDARY BENEFICIARY (IF ANY)\n LIST NO MORE THAN THREE SECONDARY BENEFICIARIES\nThe principal person requesting contributions may, on such form\ndesignate up to three secondary individuals or charitable organizations\nas charitable beneficiaries who shall be entitled to such contributions\nin the event circumstances change rendering it impossible or\nimpracticable to use any or all of the money collected for the primary\nbeneficiary. The designation of one or more secondary beneficiaries\nshall be ineffective unless such form has been filed with the attorney\ngeneral and all persons requesting contributions shall have informed any\nperson solicited at the time of any solicitation of such filing. In the\nevent that it is or may be impossible or impracticable to use any or all\nof the money collected for the benefit of the primary beneficiary, and\n(i) no secondary beneficiary has been properly designated pursuant to\nthis paragraph, or (ii) no secondary beneficiary exists, then the\nattorney general, the primary beneficiary, or any person who requested\ncontributions may petition the supreme court, on notice to the attorney\ngeneral, the primary beneficiary if living, any secondary beneficiaries,\nand the principal person who requested the contributions for an order\ndirecting that any moneys remaining shall be transferred to a charitable\norganization with purposes similar to those for which such contributions\nwere collected. In the event that money collected for the relief of any\nindividual, without any deductions whatsoever, is paid to or for the\nbenefit of the primary beneficiary within sixty days of its receipt,\nthen all requirements of this paragraph shall be deemed to have been\ncomplied with. For the purposes of this section, the term "principal\nperson requesting the contributions" shall mean any person who is\nprimarily responsible for soliciting funds for the relief of an\nindividual, but shall not include any person who solicits funds when all\nsuch funds are subsequently transferred over to a principal person\nrequesting contributions.\n (d) Any charitable organization which solicits or receives gross\ncontributions of less than twenty-five thousand dollars during a fiscal\nyear of such organization, provided none of its fund raising is carried\non by professional fund raisers or fund raising counsel. However, if the\ngross contributions received by such charitable organization during any\nfiscal year of such organization shall be in excess of twenty-five\nthousand dollars, it shall within thirty days after the date it shall\nhave received gross contributions in excess of twenty-five thousand\ndollars register with the attorney general as required by section one\nhundred seventy-two of this article.\n (e) Any charitable organization receiving an allocation from a\nfederated fund, incorporated community appeal or a united way, provided\nsuch fund, appeal or united way is complying with the provisions of this\narticle relating to registration and filing of financial reports with\nthe attorney general, and provided such organization does not receive,\nin addition to such allocation, gross contributions in excess of\ntwenty-five thousand dollars during the fiscal year, and provided\nfurther that all the fund-raising functions of such organizations are\ncarried on by persons who are unpaid for such services. However, if the\ngross contributions other than such allocation received by such\ncharitable organization during any fiscal year of such organization\nshall be in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars, it shall within\nthirty days after the date it shall have received such contributions in\nexcess of twenty-five thousand dollars register with the attorney\ngeneral as required by section one hundred seventy-two of this article.\n (f) A local post, camp, chapter or similarly designated element, or a\ncounty unit of such elements, of a bona fide veterans' organization\nwhich issues charters to such local elements throughout this state, a\nbona fide organization of volunteer firefighters, an organization\nproviding volunteer ambulance service (as defined in section three\nthousand one of the public health law) or a bona fide auxiliary or\naffiliate of such organizations, provided all its fund-raising\nactivities are carried on by members of such an organization or an\naffiliate thereof and such members receive no compensation, directly or\nindirectly, therefor.\n (g) An educational institution which files annual financial reports\nwith the regents of the university of the state of New York as required\nby the education law or with an agency having similar jurisdiction in\nanother state or a library which files annual financial reports as\nrequired by the state education department.\n (h) A charitable organization which receives all or substantially all\nof its funds from a single governmental agency and reports annually to\nthat agency provided such reports contain financial information\nsubstantially similar in content to that required by subdivision one of\nsection one hundred seventy-two-b of this article; provided, however,\nthat such organization may receive no more than twenty-five thousand\ndollars from sources other than the government agency to which it\nreports.\n (i) Any police department, sheriff's department or other governmental\nlaw enforcement agency.\n (j) The state parent teachers association and any parent teachers\nassociation affiliated with an educational institution that is subject\nto the jurisdiction of the state education department.\n