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§ 24.10 CONTRACTUAL REQUIREMENTSIn one state, it is a prohibited act to represent that a charitable organizationwill receive a fixed or estimated percentage of the gross revenue from a solicitationin an amount greater than that identified to the donor. In another state, it isa prohibited act for an individual to solicit charitable contributions if the individualhas been convicted of a crime involving the obtaining of money or propertyby false pretenses, unless the public is informed of the conviction inadvance of the solicitation.In still another state, the following are prohibited acts for a charitable organization(or, in some instances, a person acting on its behalf):• Misrepresenting the purpose of a solicitation• Misrepresenting the purpose or nature of a charitable organization• Engaging in a financial transaction that is not related to accomplishmentof the charitable organization’s exempt purpose• Jeopardizing or interfering with the ability of a charitable organization toaccomplish its charitable purpose• Expending an “unreasonable amount of money” for fundraising or formanagementSome states make violation of a separate law concerning “unfair or deceptiveacts and practices” a violation of the charitable solicitation act as well.§ 24.10 CONTRACTUAL REQUIREMENTSMany of the state charitable solicitation acts require that the relationshipbetween a charitable organization and a professional fundraiser, and/orbetween a charitable organization and a professional solicitor, be evidenced in awritten agreement. This agreement is required to be filed with the state soonafter the contract is executed. These types of requirements are clearly lawful andare not particularly unusual.A few states, however, have enacted requirements—some of them ratherpatronizing—that dictate to the charitable organization the contents of the contract.For example, under one state’s law, a contract between a charitable organizationand a fundraising counsel must contain sufficient information “as will enablethe department to identify the services the fundraising counsel is to provide andthe manner of his compensation.” Another provision of the same law mandatesthat the agreement “clearly state the respective obligations of the parties.”The law in another state requires a contract between a charitable organizationand a fundraising counsel to contain provisions addressing the services tobe provided, the number of persons to be involved in providing the services, thetime period over which the services are to be provided, and the method and formulafor compensation for the services.Under another state’s law, whenever a charitable organization contractswith a professional fundraiser or other type of fundraising consultant, the charitableorganization has the right to cancel the contract, without cost or penalty,for a period of 15 days. Again, this type of law seems predicated on the assumptionthat charitable organizations are somehow not quite capable of developing 635