Gift Solicitation Waivers
The Ethics Law prohibits public servants from soliciting and accepting gifts from a person or entity who could be considered a controlled donor. See Sections 6-26 and 6-27 of the Ethics Law and review the Ethics Law's restrictions on gifts here.
A controlled donor is any person or entity that:
- Does/seeks to do business (regardless of amount) with the employee's/official's agency or with another person who has a contract with/is negotiating a contract with the employee's/official's agency;
- Engages/seeks to engage in an activity regulated/controlled by the employee's/official's agency;
- Is or was, within the preceding 12 months, a lobbyist on matters within the employee's/official's jurisdiction;
- Has a financial interest that might be materially affected by the employee's/official's official duties (different from the effect on the public at large);
- Is officially affiliated with any person described above (i.e. owner, partner, officer, director, trustee, employee, or agent of such a person).
Under these provisions, City employees and officials should avoid broad gift solicitation efforts, such as fundraising, which could reach controlled donors. That said, a City agency may request a waiver from the Ethics Board to broadly solicit and accept gifts for the exclusive benefit of a governmental or charitable function. See R 06.26.1.
⬇ Download the Governmental/Charitable Solicitation Waiver Application Here
To request a waiver, the sponsoring agency—the City agency that will conduct the solicitations—should complete the Charitable/Governmental Gift Solicitation Waiver Application here and above. Once complete, the application must be endorsed by the Board of Estimates (BOE) before it is submitted to the Ethics Board. Upon BOE endorsement, the sponsoring agency should forward the endorsed application to the Ethics Board for approval.
A list of active and past charitable/governmental gift solicitation waivers, with applications and approval letters, can be found on the Solicitation Waivers webpage here.
Image transcript: The image contains three pictures. Below each picture, there is a block of text, for a total of three blocks of text. One arrow leads from the first block of text to the second block of text. The other arrow leads from the second block of text to the third block of text.
The first picture, to the top-left of the image, is of a form. The block of text below the picture says, "Complete the Waiver Application Form."
To the right of the picture of the form, there is a picture of a paper letter that is leaving an envelope. The word, "ENDORSED," is written accross the letter. Below the picture of the letter leaving the envelope, and to the right of an arrow extending from the first block of text, there is second block of text that says, "Submit the application to the Board of Estimates for Endorsement."
To the right of the picture of the letter leaving the envelope, there is another picture of an email message, addressed to "ethics@baltimorecity.gov" with the subject, "Gift Solicitation Waiver Application." To the bottom right of the email message, there is a form with the word "ENDORSED" on it and, in the form's top-left corner, there is a paper clip. The picture demonstrates a form being "attached" to an email message. Below the picture of the email message with the attached form, there is a third block of text. An arrow extends to the text from the second block of text to the left. The third block of text says, "Submit the endorsed application to the Ethics Board for approval."
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Reports
Once approved for a waiver, the sponsoring agency is required to file periodic reports on the program’s solicitation efforts, donations, and expenditures. The reports must be signed by the fiscal sponsor—the person responsible for the custody, accounting, and distribution of donations —as accurate.
⬇ Download the Waiver Activity Report Form Here
Summary of the Ethics Law
Official governmental or City-endorsed charitable solicitations (R 06.26.1) |
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General Standards |
The prohibition in Ethics Code § 6-26(a) against the solicitation of gifts from controlled donors does not apply to a solicitation if:
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Request for Approval |
The sponsoring agency must submit its written request for a charitable solicitation to the Ethics Board at least 45 days before any controlled donor is solicited. The request must include the following information:
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Report |
The sponsoring agency must periodically report solicitation activities to the Ethics Board, as follows:
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Public Record |
All requests, approvals or denials, and reports filed under this Regulation are public records, available for public inspection and copying during regular office hours. |
Workplace Campaigns (R 06.26.2) |
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The prohibition in Ethics Code § 6-26(a) and the required procedures in R 06.26.1 of these Regulations do not apply to a workplace charitable-giving campaign that:
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Key Terms
- Does/seeks to do business (regardless of amount) with the public servant’s agency or with another person who has a contract with/is negotiating a contract with the public servant’s agency;
- Engages/seeks to engage in an activity regulated/controlled by the public servant’s agency;
- Is or was, within the preceding 12 months, a lobbyist on matters within the public servant’s jurisdiction;
- Has a financial interest that might be materially affected by the public servant’s official duties (different from the effect on the public at large);
- Is officially affiliated with any person described above, i.e., is an owner, partner, officer, director, trustee, employee, or agent of such a person
- the City agency conducting a solicitation under this Regulation; or
- if more than one agency is involved, the City agency designated to coordinate the solicitation.