A recent joint initiative between the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) and charity officials in every state
demonstrates the extent of inter-governmental agency cooperation
with respect to charity regulation.
The recently announced "Operation Donate with Honor"
is an inter-agency enforcement action involving the FTC, NASCO, and
law enforcement officials and charity regulators from every state,
focused on fraudulent charities that induce donors by falsely
promising that their donations will support veterans and active
duty servicemembers. As a result of the action, the FTC and various
states have entered into settlements with several purported
charities and their leadership that, among other requirements, ban
the individual defendants from soliciting charitable contributions
and prohibit them from participating in charity management and
oversight of charitable assets. The FTC and NASCO collaborated on a
similar national charity fraud action in 2015.
