Charitable Organization Internet Fundraising and State Registration Requirements-Part II

Abstract

Personal Jurisdiction over Out-of-State Charitable Organizations The Charleston Principles advise that "state charity officials should require registration of those over whom their state courts could constitutionally assert personal jurisdiction to enforce a registration requirement" and warn that requiring organizations that are outside of a regulator's jurisdiction to register may undermine efforts to regulate charitable solicitation.78 However, the targeting provisions and quantitative measures of "ongoing and repeated, or substantial" under the Charleston Principles, and Tennessee and Colorado statutes, may not be proof that the organization purposefully availed itself of the benefits and protections of the state as required for a court to constitutionally assert personal jurisdiction over the organization.79 Also, state statutes that require registration as a result of passive nontargeted internet fundraising likely exceed jurisdictional limitations.80 The research completed for this article was unable to find case law addressing a state's authority to require out-of-state charitable organizations to register as a result of internet fundraising.81 However, courts have considered internet-based personal jurisdiction,82 and in these cases, courts have adapted traditional due process principles and the modern personal jurisdiction framework "to determine a [sjtate's authority to exercise personal jurisdiction over out-of-state persons to the Internet context. The Fourth Circuit has adapted the framework to emphasize a defendant's purposeful targeting of a particular forum, and not just the level of a website's interactivity.88 Some courts have not adopted the Zippo framework and use other approaches.89 Other courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, have held that the Zippo...