California Assembly Bill 488: Impact to Charitable Organizations— Check Your Status

Bruce Dales
Bruce Dales Blackbaud Employee
Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 1 Loyalty Badge Blackbaud Staff
in Community News
Any US registered charitable organization that operates or solicits donations in California is subject to this law.

As we care about your success, we want to bring an important issue to your attention. The State of California recently enacted legislation, California Assembly Bill 488 (CA AB488), which regulates online charitable fundraising in the state. Specifically, the law prohibits charitable fundraising platforms, like Blackbaud, from assisting organizations not in “good standing” in California with making charitable solicitations to and receiving funds from California residents.

Consistent with our legal obligation, beginning January 1, 2024, transactions made through Blackbaud solutions by California donors to organizations that are not in “good standing” will no longer be accepted.

We recommend your organization take the following actions to check your status and work to rectify your status if you find your organization is not in “good standing.”

  1. Determine why your organization is not in “good standing.” An organization which appears on one of three lists is considered not in “good standing” in California for purposes of this law:

  1. Work with the applicable agency to rectify your “good standing” status. You must work with the applicable government agency directly to solve this problem. We do not have additional details on your status.

  2. Consult our CA AB488 FAQ page for more information. We have compiled helpful information including frequently asked questions, links on how to rectify your status, and product instructions on how you can configure Blackbaud solutions to prevent continuing solicitations to California donors while you work to rectify your status.

Comments

  • Monica Curl
    Monica Curl
    Seventh Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant

    You gave examples of how to rectify if you are not in “good standing” but how do you determine if you are in “good standing” or not?

  • Ray Berthelette
    Ray Berthelette
    Seventh Anniversary Participant Facilitator 1

    Go to Tax Exempt Organization Search | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)

    Search for your nonprofit and look in the Publication 78 Data section. You should see something like this:

    On Publication 78 Data List: Yes
    Deductibility Code: PC

  • Adam Branston
    Adam Branston
    Fifth Anniversary Facilitator 1

    We are a small UK based charity, that has received a handful of donations from people living in California over the years. We don't go and solicit them, unless they have opted in to hear from us under GDPR. None of the donations came through Blackbaud so I'm not sure why we got this notification?

    We did receive some income from YourCause which Blackbaud mentions, however they paid us out through Charities Trust - so I've got no idea why we have been sent this

  • Paul Vetch
    Paul Vetch
    Fifth Anniversary Facilitator 1

    Hi Adam - I think this was a general broadcast from the community news channel, and not targeted in any way.

  • Debbi Converse
    Debbi Converse
    Fifth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant

    I just want to point out that it's incomplete for Blackbaud to say, “An organization which appears on one of three lists is considered not in “good standing” in California for purposes of this law” as written.

    For example, the California Attorney General's Registry of Charitable Trusts is comprised of all nonprofits with an indication of eligibility status such as Current, Expired, Merged Out, etc. So an organization will be on the list and eligible to take donations if their status is Current.

    In another example, the Internal Revenue Service link provides a list that an organization needs to be listed on: Organizations Eligible to Receive Tax-Deductible Charitable Contributions. In this case, NOT being on the list makes you ineligible.

  • Adam Branston
    Adam Branston
    Fifth Anniversary Facilitator 1

    Hi Paul, I actually received a specific email from Blackbaud about this and have raised a ticket regarding this

  • Jane Garoutte
    Jane Garoutte
    Sixth Anniversary Name Dropper Participant Facilitator 1

    We use only Financial Edge. We are a local government agency and a municipal corporation in the State of Indiana, not a charitable organization under IRS rules. Of course we are not a charitable organization in good standing in California. There is absolutely no reason we would be, nor do we care. There is also absolutely no reason we should have received such an email stating that we need to so something about this. Come on Blackbaud! Use AI or something to target the proper customers to receive such messages. You are wasting my time.

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