Door-to-Door Fundraising in Washington: The Rules

Before a shift starts, check that the charity is registered with the Washington Secretary of State. RCW 19.09.065 is plain: all charitable organizations and commercial fund-raisers must register with the secretary prior to conducting any solicitations. If a paid canvassing firm runs the doors, the firm needs its own registration as well as the charity's. Keep both confirmations with the shift lead so the answer is at hand when a resident asks who you are.

RCW 19.09.100 requires clear and conspicuous disclosures at the point of solicitation, made during the spoken ask itself, not afterward on a receipt. Build them into the opening line:

• Your own name.
• The charity's name and the city where it has its principal place of business.
• If the resident asks, the Secretary of State's published phone number and website, where they can look up the charity's financial information.

A script that works: Hi, I'm [your name], volunteering with [the charity], based in [its city]. We're raising money for [the program]. Print the Secretary of State's number and website on the leave-behind so every canvasser can hand it over.

When the people at the door are paid by a commercial fund-raiser, RCW 19.09.100 adds a disclosure: the canvasser must also name the entity they are an agent or employee of, along with the charity's name and city. The firm has paperwork of its own too. Under RCW 19.09.079, a commercial fund-raiser files a notice of change within thirty days when its registered details change, such as a new address or a new person responsible for its Washington work, so tell the firm when your program's contacts change.

Registration is a filing, not a stamp of approval. RCW 19.09.065 says registration must not be considered or be represented as an endorsement by the secretary or the state of Washington. Train canvassers to say we're registered with the Secretary of State, and never that the state approved or certified the charity. If a resident wants to judge the charity, point them to the Secretary of State's number and website instead.

Run through this before each shift:

• The charity's Secretary of State registration is current, and the shift lead has the confirmation.
• If a paid firm is canvassing, the firm's own registration is current too.
• Every canvasser can say their name, the charity's name and its city in the first sentence.
• The leave-behind carries the Secretary of State's published number and website.
• Paid canvassers know to name their employer at the door.
• Nobody says the state approved or certified the charity.

For how other states handle the same job, see the national guide and the California rules.