|
The ATA Non-Profit & Charities Committee strives to clearly focus on the issues and concerns of both charities and service bureaus that are involved in the appeal for public support utilizing telecommunications.
Chair—Steve Brubaker, InfoCision Management Corporation |
Code of Ethics
General
Non-profit
Organizations and Charitable Organizations (collectively "Nonprofit
Organizations"), Telemarketing Service Bureaus, typically called
"professional fund raisers" by the statutes of most states, as well
as their individual "professional solicitor" employees and agents
(collectively "Telefunder(s)"), must be aware of the many different
federal, state and county laws applicable to raising funds for
nonprofit and charitable purposes over the telephone. Before making
or receiving calls, telefunders, nonprofit organization and charity
employees and volunteers must receive adequate training and
instruction in professional telemarketing skills and follow
recognized procedures and practices for maintaining compliance with
state fund raising laws and for proper etiquette and courtesy.
Nonprofit Organization employees and telefunders are required to
operate in accordance with all applicable federal, state and local
laws, and regulations.
Truth in
Solicitations
All calls made to solicit public support for
nonprofit and charitable purposes should be made clearly and honestly to
protect the integrity of the nonprofit organization and ensure that
consumers know how contributions made by them will be utilized by the
nonprofit or charitable entity. Any employee or telefunder who makes a
call requesting a donation shall not knowingly misrepresent the purpose of
the nonprofit organization, its affiliations with other entities, or the
intended use of the donated funds by the nonprofit organization. All
materials used in any solicitation and any communications between
nonprofit and charitable organizations and their employees or agents shall
be designed to ensure that representations made to the general public
about the use of donated funds are true and accurate.
Adherence to
Applicable Fund Raising Registration and Reporting Laws
Nonprofit
organizations and telefunders should comply with all applicable laws
relating to the regulation of fund raising activities. Most regulation is
handled at the state level, either through state attorneys general offices
or secretary of state offices. Most states require registration of all
purported "charitable" organizations and registration and bonding of
professional fund raisers and/or their employees prior to engaging in
charitable solicitation activity. Registrations are annual and regulated
entities should ensure that all filings and reports are made in a timely
fashion to avoid any lapses in their regulatory filings.In addition to basic
registration filings, nonprofit organizations and telefunders should
prepare fund raising agreements in connection with a national campaign so
that they are clear with respect to certain aspects of the relationship
between the parties such as the term of the agreement, the ability of the
nonprofit organization to terminate the agreement, and ownership of the
contributor list by the nonprofit organization.
"Do Not Call"
Compliance
While the National Do Not Call Registry does not apply
under most circumstances to the solicitation of contributions to nonprofit
organizations, several states have developed their own do not call laws
which do apply to restrict calls to solicit contributions made to persons
on those states' lists. Telefunders, and to a lesser extent nonprofit
organizations, should maintain compliance with applicable "do not call"
laws. In addition, federal law mandates that telefunders maintain their
own internal, company/client specific do not call lists to honor express
requests from consumers to not receive future solicitation calls. All
requests from consumers to not be called again by either a nonprofit
organization or telefunder should be expeditiously honored. Nonprofit
organizations and telefunders should have policies and procedures in place
to ensure that all requests to not receive future fund raising telephone
calls are honored. In addition, the contract between the nonprofit
organization and the telefunder should state that the telefunder will
provide the nonprofit organization with a list of all persons who have
specifically requested that the nonprofit organization not contact them
again on a periodic basis and at the end of the contract period.
Calling Hour
Restrictions
A handful of states have passed laws which limit the
times and, in some instances, the days during which calls may be placed to
solicit charitable contributions. The ATA has consistently maintained that
ethical telemarketers do not place calls to private residences during
hours that might be considered unreasonable. While the federal laws
spelling out calling time restrictions are not specifically applicable to
calls made by or on behalf of nonprofit organizations, those federal laws
provide a benchmark to be followed as to what time limitations are
reasonable for making calls to solicit charitable
contributions.
What the ATA and
this Code of Ethics are all about
The American Teleservices
Association (ATA), is a not-for-profit trade association founded in 1983
to represent and serve the teleservices channel. Since that time, it
has also grown to meet the needs of nonprofit organizations who solicit
financial support over the telephone and those commercial companies
providing fund raising services to nonprofit organizations by way of
telephone contacts. It is committed to meeting the needs of its members,
as well as protecting the rights of consumers and businesses who have
telephone contact with its members. Through professional
programs and activities, the ATA attempts to educate its members, the
public and public officials concerning the ethical behavior for both
inbound and outbound telemarketing. We have also developed this Code of
Ethics brochure to help any business, consumer or legal entity objectively
measure telemarketing program integrity and professional performance.
- The ATA supports
the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Telemarketing Sales Rule and the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Telephone Consumer Protection
Act.
The ATA strongly
encourages its members to review all federal, state and local laws for
compliance before initiating any fund raising program by telephone.
- The ATA advocates
the highest standards of professionalism and ethical behavior for all
telemarketing operations. These standards, when conscientiously adhered
to and practiced call-by-call, help assure the long-term satisfaction of
ATA members, their employees and customers while preserving the future
of the telephone fund raising and telemarketing professions.
This Code of Ethics is
an educational tool developed under the premise that professional,
reputable programs have specific goals, achieved through closely
supervised high-quality performance, with the public interest - business
and consumer - in mind. It is anticipated that this Code of Ethics will be
an evolving set of principles that should grow over time as changes in the
industry and changes in the various laws governing the industry come
about. For legal matters, consult your own counsel.
For more information about this committee, please contact Lisa Ford at 317.816.9336 or via e-mail at lisa@ataconnect.org. |
