Title 5
Businesses and Professions

Chapter 53.1
Solicitation by Charitable Organizations

R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-53.1-13

§ 5-53.1-13. Unauthorized use of names when soliciting or collecting contributions.

(a) No person shall, for the purpose of soliciting contributions from persons in this state, use the name of any other person, as one who has sponsored or endorsed the charitable organization or its activities without the written consent of that other person.

(b) A person shall be deemed to have used the name of another person for the purpose of soliciting contributions if: (1) The latter person’s name is listed or referred to on any stationery, advertisement, brochure, or correspondence in or by which a contribution is solicited by or on behalf of a charitable organization in connection with a request for a contribution; and (2) The latter person’s name is listed or referred to as one who has financially contributed to, or has expressly sponsored or endorsed the charitable organization or its activities. This section does not apply to the bona fide listing of the organization’s staff, committees, or board of directors.

(c) Nothing contained in this section shall prevent the publication of names of contributors without their written consent, in an annual or other periodic report issued by a charitable organization for the purpose of reporting on its operations and affairs to its membership or for the purpose of reporting contributions to contributors.

History of Section.
P.L. 1999, ch. 152, § 2.