California Assembly Bill 488
The State of California recently enacted legislation, California Assembly Bill 488 (CA AB 488), which regulates online charitable fundraising in the state. As of January 1, 2024, Blackbaud is prohibited from assisting organizations not in “good standing” in California with making charitable solicitations to and receiving funds from California residents. As a result, Blackbaud has made the following changes:
As of November 2023, Blackbaud notifies charitable organizations that we believe may not be in “good standing” in California based on government data. To help you navigate the regulations and check your status, see California Assembly Bill 488: Impact to Charitable Organizations.
As of January 1, 2024, donations made through Blackbaud solutions by California residents to organizations that are not in “good standing” are not accepted.
Note: Any U.S. registered charitable organization that operates or solicits donations in California is subject to this law. It does not impact organizations registered outside of the United States.
Best practices while impacted by California Assembly Bill 488
All U.S. charitable organizations that operate or solicit donations in California must maintain "good standing" in California, even if they’re organized elsewhere.
If your organization is not in “good standing:”
Consult your legal advisor for guidance.
Suppress California residents from your charitable email solicitations.
Some transactions, like donations, made through Blackbaud solutions from California residents will no longer be accepted.
All U.S. charitable organizations that operate or solicit donations in California must maintain "good standing" in California, even if they’re organized elsewhere. For more information or to check your status,, see California Assembly Bill 488: Impact to Charitable Organizations.
Suppress California residents from email solicitations
While you work to reinstate your “good standing,” you’re prohibited from soliciting donations from California residents.
To avoid sending solicitation emails to constituents with a California primary mailing address, build a Query then create a Group that you can suppress during your email send.
Create a selection of constituents with a primary California or blank address:
From Data Management, Query, select Create a new Query.
Name, describe and choose a Security Category, then select Save.
In Query Builder, select a Field Type of Address and a Field of State / Province.
Select Add Field Clause.
In field of, select Home Address, then equals, then CA.
Note: Suppressing historical or secondary addresses is optional.
Select Save.
In Query Builder, set Field Type of Address and Field of State / Province again, then select Add Field Clause.
In field of, verify the value is Home Address, then is blank.
Select Save.
Select Save Query.
Select Run Query.
Select Use Query.
Select Create a Group and select Go.
(While you are considered not in "good standing" by California only) Add this group to all active email campaigns to exclude the constituents:
In Email Campaigns, Manage an email campaign, select the Audience tab, then select Do Not Email List.
Select Add Groups from Related Actions and select the California suppression group, and select Finish.
Repeat this action for all email campaigns. This ensures this suppression group is added to the do not email list of every email message from this campaign.
Identify impacted transactions
Consistent with our legal obligation, Blackbaud fails one-time and recurring credit card, debit card, and direct debit donations to your organization from California residents until your “good standing” is reinstated. These transactions will have a gateway decline code of 812.
To identify Blackbaud Merchant Services transactions that failed due to California Assembly Bill 488, follow these steps:
From the Blackbaud Merchant Services Web Portal, create a list to identify failed Blackbaud Merchant Services transactions that returned gateway decline code 812 due to California AB 488. See Transaction Lists in Blackbaud Merchant Services Help.
To identify transactions that fail in Luminate Online, run the Transaction Details Report with Error Code selected as a report column. See the Knowledgebase article, Why did a transaction decline?
The failed transactions display with the error code, "Declined due to non-compliance with California law."
Example:
