Section 2650.40  Code of Campaign Conduct

Qualified Charitable Organizations which wish to seek contributions from State employees at their work place shall comply with this Code of Conduct.

a)         Approval and distribution of campaign materials

1)         All materials to be distributed or used at the work place shall be reviewed and approved by the Department or Advisory Board.  If material is not submitted by deadlines established by the Department or Advisory Board or is not approved by the same, that material shall be excluded and not distributed.

2)         All materials  shall be distributed to employees at the work place during the campaign period.  New employees shall be provided with the current SECA materials upon hire.

3)         During the 30 days immediately prior to the start of the campaign period, materials may be stored at the work site and made available to the agency SECA coordinator in preparation for the campaign.

b)         Use of employee and annuitant information

1)         A Qualified Charitable Organization may not use the name or address of an employee or annuitant obtained through SECA for fundraising purposes when that employee or annuitant has expressly stated in writing that his/her name may not be so used or sold by that Qualified Charitable Organization.  Any employee or annuitant who does not provide such a written statement to a Qualified Charitable Organization shall be considered to have "released" his/her name and address to that Qualified Organization.

2)         If an employee or annuitant releases his/her name to a Qualified Charitable Organization, the Qualified Charitable Organization may use the employee's or annuitant's name for the purpose of acknowledging the employee's or annuitant's contribution and/or educating the employee or annuitant further regarding the Qualified Charitable Organization; however, no employee's or annuitant's name that a Qualified Charitable Organization has been able to obtain only by virtue of such organization's participation in SECA may be used by such Qualified Charitable Organization for fund raising purposes other than in the SECA campaign, and may not be sold or given to another organization or entity.

3)         An employee or annuitant who at one time indicates that his or her name may not be released and at a later date decide to allow release must do so in writing to the Qualified Charitable Organizations to which the release applies.

4)         An employee or annuitant who at one time "releases" his or her name may later rescind that authorization by submitting a letter to the Qualified Charitable Organization.  The letter may be submitted to the Advisory Board, which will then forward the letter to the Qualified Charitable Organization.

c)         Giving to be voluntary

1)         All solicitation activities shall be designed and conducted to elicit voluntary giving.  Actions that coerce an employee or annuitant into giving, or create the appearance that employees or annuitants must give, are not permitted.

2)         The following actions are prohibited for the Qualified Charitable Organizations:

A)        requesting or encouraging that employees be solicited by their supervisor or by any individual in their supervisory chain of command.  (This does not prohibit requesting the head of a department or agency to demonstrate support of SECA in employee or annuitant newsletters or other general communications.)

B)        asking supervisors about whether an employee chose to participate or not to participate or the amount of an employee's contribution.

C)        setting, requesting or encouraging that a department or agency set 100% participation goals or other goals that would imply compulsory participation.

D)        encouraging contributions to particular organizations.

d)         Qualified Charitable Organization Participation

1)         Each Qualified Charitable Organization shall participate in a minimum of three SECA Advisory Board meetings per year.

2)         Each Qualified Charitable Organization shall attend two SECA events during each campaigning period.

e)         Any charity that wishes to participate in SECA, either directly or indirectly through a united or umbrella organizational arrangement, shall comply with this Code of Campaign Conduct.  If the participating charity is part of a united or umbrella organization, that umbrella or united organization shall be responsible for informing each of its participating charities of the Code of Campaign Conduct.

(Source:  Amended at 29 Ill. Reg. 2244, effective February 1, 2005)