§ 102.6 - Transfers of funds; collecting agents.

§ 102.6 Transfers of funds; collecting agents.

Cross Reference

Link to an amendment published at 89 FR 215, Jan. 2, 2024.

(a) Transfers of funds; registration and reporting required —

(1) Who may make transfers under this section.

(i) Transfers of funds may be made without limit on amount between affiliated committees whether or not they are political committees under 11 CFR 100.5.

(ii) Subject to the restrictions set forth at 11 CFR 300.10(a), 300.31 and 300.34(a) and (b), transfers of funds may be made without limit on amount between or among a national party committee, a State party committee and/or any subordinate party committee whether or not they are political committees under 11 CFR 100.5 and whether or not such committees are affiliated.

(iii) Transfers of joint fundraising proceeds may be made without limit on amount between organizations or committees participating in the joint fundraising activity provided that no participating committee or organization governed by 11 CFR 102.17 received more than its allocated share of the funds raised.

(iv) Transfers under paragraphs (a)(1) (i) through (iii) shall be made only from funds which are permissible under the Act. See 11 CFR parts 110, 114 and 115.

(2) When registration and reporting required. Except as provided in 11 CFR 102.6(b), organizations or committees making transfers under 11 CFR 102.6(a)(1) shall count such transfers against the reporting thresholds of the Act for determining whether an organization or committee is a political committee under 11 CFR 100.5.

(b) Fundraising by collecting agents; No reporting required —

(1) Definition of collecting agent. A collecting agent is an organization or committee that collects and transmits contributions to one or more separate segregated funds to which the collecting agent is related. A collecting agent may be either:

(i) A committee, whether or not it is a political committee as defined in 11 CFR 100.5, affiliated with the separate segregated fund under 11 CFR 110.3; or

(ii) The connected organization of the separate segregated fund as defined in 11 CFR 100.6; or

(iii) A parent, subsidiary, branch, division, department, or local unit of the connected organization of the separate segregated fund; or

(iv) A local, national or international union collecting contributions on behalf of the separate segregated fund of any federation with which the local, national or international union is affiliated. See 11 CFR 114.1(e).

(2) Collecting agent not required to report. A collecting agent that is an unregistered organization and that follows the procedures of 11 CFR 102.6(c) is not required to register and report as a political committee under 11 CFR parts 102 and 104, provided that the organization does not engage in other activities such as making contributions or expenditures for the purpose of influencing federal elections.

(3) Who is not a collecting agent —

(i) Commercial fundraising firm. A separate segregated fund or a collecting agent may hire a commercial fundraising firm to assist in fundraising; however, the commercial fundraising firm shall not be considered as a collecting agent for the purpose of this section. Rather, the commercial fundraising firm shall be considered to be the agent of the separate segregated fund or collecting agent.

(ii) Individuals. An individual who collects contributions for a separate segregated fund shall not be considered a collecting agent for the purpose of this section. Individuals who collect contributions are subject to the requirements of 11 CFR 102.8 and the provisions of 11 CFR part 110.

(4) Separate segregated fund may collect contributions. Nothing in this section shall preclude a separate segregated fund from soliciting and collecting contributions on its own behalf.

(c) Procedures for collecting agents —

(1) Separate segregated fund responsible for acts of collecting agent. The separate segregated fund shall be responsible for ensuring that the recordkeeping, reporting and transmittal requirements of this section are met.

(2) Solicitation for contributions. A collecting agent may include a solicitation for voluntary contributions to a separate segregated fund in with a bill for membership dues or other payments such as conference registration fees or a solicitation for contributions to the collecting agent. The collecting agent may only solicit contributions from those persons permitted to be solicited under 11 CFR part 114. The solicitation for contributions must meet all of the requirements for proper solicitations under 11 CFR 114.5.

(i) The collecting agent may pay any or all of the costs incurred in soliciting and transmitting contributions to the separate segregated fund.

(ii) If the separate segregated fund pays any solicitation or other administrative expense from its own account, which expense could be paid for as an administrative expense by the collecting agent, the collecting agent may reimburse the separate segregated fund no later than 30 calendar days after the expense was paid by the separate segregated fund.

(3) Checks combining Combining contributions with other payments. A contributor may write a check or authorize a credit card or electronic payment that represents both a contribution and payment of dues or other fees. The check combined payment must be drawn on made from the contributor's personal checking account or on a non-repayable corporate drawing account of the individual contributor. Under a payroll deduction plan, an employer may write make a check payment on behalf of its employees to a union or its agent , which check that represents a combined payment of voluntary contributions to the union's separate segregated fund and union dues or other employee deductions.

(4) Transmittal of contributions. The full amount of each contribution collected by a collecting agent on behalf of a separate segregated fund shall be transmitted to that fund within 10 or 30 days as required by 11 CFR 102.8.

(i) Checks made payable to the separate segregated fund shall be transmitted by the collecting agent directly to the separate segregated fund in accordance with 11 CFR 102.8.

(ii) To transfer all other contributions, a collecting agent shall either:

(A) Establish a transmittal account to be used solely for the deposit and transmittal of funds collected on behalf of the separate segregated fund. Funds deposited into this account are subject to the prohibitions and limitations of the Act. If any expenditure is made from the account, other than a transfer of funds to an affiliated committee, the account shall be considered a depository of the recipient committee and all activity of that account shall be reported; or

(B) Deposit the contributions collected into the collecting agent's treasury account. The collecting agent shall keep separate records of all receipts and deposits that represent contributions to the separate segregated fund and, in the case of cash contributions, the collecting agent shall make separate deposits of such funds; or

(C) Deposit the contributions collected into an account otherwise established solely for State or local election activity. The collecting agent shall keep separate records of all receipts and deposits that represent contributions to the separate segregated fund; or

(D) In the case of cash contributions, transmit the contributions to the separate segregated fund in the form of money orders or cashier's checks.

(5) Contributor information. The collecting agent shall comply with the requirements of 11 CFR 102.8 regarding transmittal of contributions and contributor information to the separate segregated fund, except that if contributions of $50 or less are received at a mass collection, a record shall be kept of the date, the total amount collected, and the name of the function at which the collection was made.

(6) Retention of records. The collecting agent shall retain all records of contribution deposits and transmittals under this section for a period of three years and shall make these records available to the Commission on request. The separate segregated fund shall keep a record of all transmittals of contributions received from collecting agents under this section, and shall retain these records for a period of three years.

(7) Reporting of funds received through collecting agents. A separate segregated fund receiving contributions collected by a collecting agent shall report the full amount of each contribution received as a contribution from the original contributor to the extent required by 11 CFR 104.3(a).

[48 FR 26300, June 7, 1983, as amended at 68 FR 451, Jan. 3, 2003; 69 FR 63920, Nov. 3, 2004; 89 FR 215, Jan. 2, 2024]