N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 9 § 335.6

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 45, November 2, 2024

Section 335.6 - Qualifications and applications for participation in a sefa campaign

(a) Qualifications. Participants in the 2005 campaigns and participants that applied and became eligible to participate in the 2006 campaigns are eligible to participate in the 2006 campaigns unless eligibility is revoked in accordance with section 335.9 of this Part. To be eligible as a participant of a federated community campaign or a federation of charitable organizations, an organization must be a charitable organization as defined in section 335.2(e) of this Part, meet and maintain the following qualifying conditions and requirements, and furnish documents evidencing its eligibility under these regulations in the format required by the statewide SEFA council:

(1) It shall be and remain duly registered and current in its annual financial filings with the Department of Law, unless it has received, and provided, written confirmation from the Attorney General that it is exempt from such registration and filing.

(2) It shall comply with all requirements of State and Federal laws and regulations related to nondiscrimination as well as equal employment opportunities with respect to its officers, staff, employees, volunteers and all persons it seeks to serve. Nothing herein shall deny eligibility to any voluntary agency that is otherwise eligible under this Part, because it is organized by, on behalf of, or to serve persons of a particular race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, or with a particular disease or handicap.

(3) It shall provide or support a bona fide program or programs that serve health, welfare or recreational purposes.

(i) If the organization indicates on its form 990 that it spent $1,000 or more on program services within the campaign area, its program shall be presumed to be bona fide.

(ii) If the organization indicates on its form 990 that it spent $62,000 or more on program services, its program shall be presumed to be bona fide.

(iii) If the presumptions of this section are not met, the presence or absence of bona fide programs and services may also be evaluated and determined by a review of the amount and nature of the program services, management and general expenses, fundraising expenses, and total revenue.

(4) It must have available for inspection:

(i) the most current annual report describing its announced programs, goals and data demonstrating the extent of its achievements, including, where applicable, the extent of participation of its volunteers in the preceding year;

(ii) the most current annual financial report and annual financial statement filed with the New York State Department of Law or copies thereof. Organizations claiming to be exempt from the registration or reporting requirements of article 7-A of the Executive Law are to provide written confirmation from the Attorney General of such exemption and are to maintain an annual financial statement that meets the requirements of Executive Law, section 172-b.

(5) It shall agree to abide by all SEFA policies and procedures for the annual solicitation campaign.

(6) It shall make available IRS form 990 to any requestor pursuant to section 6104(d)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code and applicable Internal Revenue Service regulations.

(7) It shall establish in the manner described at paragraph (b)(2) of this section that its actual expenses for administration and fundraising are reasonable.

(b) Applications.

(1) An application for participation in an annual solicitation campaign shall be submitted between December 1st of the preceding year and January 15th of the first year in which participation in the SEFA annual solicitation campaign is sought (application period). All applications are to be sent to the statewide SEFA council. Applications to a single campaign area will be forwarded by the statewide SEFA council, with a required date for committee action, to the local SEFA committee for that campaign to determine approval or denial. On or before the required date for action, the local SEFA committee shall notify the statewide SEFA council of its decisions and, if applicable, the reason for the denial. Decisions to deny participation shall be reviewed by the statewide SEFA council. Decisions to approve participation shall not be denied by the statewide SEFA council. Between January 15th and the last day of February, the statewide SEFA council shall decide whether or not to admit an applicant. Each applicant must be notified by the statewide SEFA council of the denial or approval of its application by March 7th following the application period. If denied, such notification shall include a justification by referring to the eligibility requirements contained in this section. The notices provided for in this section may be made in writing, or by any electronic means authorized by the statewide SEFA council and State Technology Law. Any electronic notice or record may be communicated without a signature, electronic or otherwise.

(2) The statewide SEFA council shall develop an application form for use by charitable organizations not currently participating in a SEFA campaign. The statewide SEFA council may provide the option of an electronic application and may accept electronic applications authenticated in any manner it finds reasonable. As part of the application process, an applicant shall at a minimum:

(i) provide a completed signed copy of the organization's IRS form 990 with the application, regardless of whether or not the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires the organization to file this form. IRS forms 990EZ, 990PF, and comparable forms are not acceptable substitutes. However, smaller organizations that file form 990EZ may submit the 990EZ with pages 1 and 2 of the form 990 attached. The IRS form 990 and any annual financial statement filed with the Department of Law must cover the same fiscal period, and if revenue and expenses on the two documents differ, these amounts must be reconciled in an accompanying statement signed by the certified public accountant who completed the annual financial statement. The IRS form 990 may not be an initial return;

(ii) provide a computation of the percentage of total support and revenue spent on administration and fundraising. This percentage shall be computed from information on the IRS form 990 by adding the amount spent on "management and general" to "fundraising" and then dividing the sum by "total revenue";

(iii) provide a certification that its actual expenses for administration and fundraising are reasonable under all the circumstances presented, if an applicant's administrative and fundraising expenses exceed 25 percent of its total support and revenue, it must also explain why those expenses exceed 25 percent and provide a formal plan to reduce them to below 25 percent. The statewide SEFA council may, in its discretion determine that a charitable organization with administrative and fundraising expenses exceeding 25 percent of its total support and revenue meets the qualifications for SEFA participation;

(iv) provide a statement in 25 words or less describing the program activities of the charitable organization;

(v) provide a certification, by a named authorized officer, that the charitable organization is registered and current in its annual financial filings with the Attorney General's Charities Bureau pursuant to article 7A of the Executive Law and section 8-1.4 of the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law (or is exempt from such registration, if applicable);

(vi) the statewide SEFA council may require any additional information to be included in, or with, the application and may require any additional information to be included in, or with, the certification described at section 335.9 of this Part that it determines to be reasonably necessary to determine compliance with these regulations.

N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 9 § 335.6