California Assembly Bill 488 Impact Queries

To meet legal requirements, Blackbaud declines transactions from California donors if the organization is not in “good standing.” If your organization is not in “good standing,” follow these steps:

Consult your legal advisor for guidance.
Suppress California residents from charitable email solicitations.
Understand that donations from California residents through Blackbaud solutions are declined.

What does “good standing” mean?

For details about this status, see the Blackbaud topic, California Assembly Bill 488: Impact to Charitable Organizations.

How does Luminate Online determine which transactions to decline?

When Blackbaud declines transactions from California, Luminate Online evaluates them as follows:

A zip code is required on all transactions and is the primary check for a California address. California zip codes range from 90000 to 96199.
State is not used as a parameter.
If a country is not provided, the country defaults to the United States.

All U.S. charitable organizations that operate or solicit donations in California must maintain “good standing” in California, even if they are organized elsewhere. To check your status, see the Blackbaud topic, California Assembly Bill 488: Impact to Charitable Organizations.

Note: This law applies to any U.S.-registered charitable organization that operates or solicits donations in California. It does not apply to organizations registered outside the United States.

Suppress California residents in email solicitations

Until you reinstate your “good standing,” do not solicit donations from California residents. To avoid sending solicitation emails to constituents with a California primary mailing address, create a query and then a group to suppress during email sends.

Create a selection of constituents with a primary California or blank address

From Data Management, Query, select Create a new Query.
Name and describe the query, choose a Security Category, then select Save.
In Query Builder, set Field Type to Address and Field to 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.
Repeat steps 3–6 to add a clause where Home Address is blank.
Select Save Query.
Select Run Query.
Select Use Query.
Select Create a Group, then Go.
Complete the options to create the group.
While you are not in “good standing,” add this group to all active email campaigns to exclude these constituents:
1. In Email Campaigns, Manage an email campaign, select the Audience tab, then select Do Not Email List.
2. From Related Actions, select Add Groups, choose the California suppression group, then select Finish.
3. Repeat for all email campaigns to ensure the suppression group is added to every email message.

Identify impacted transactions

Blackbaud declines one-time and recurring credit card, debit card, and direct debit donations from California residents until your “good standing” is reinstated. These transactions show gateway decline code 812.

To identify failed transactions:

In the Blackbaud Merchant Services Web Portal, create a list of transactions that returned gateway decline code 812. See Transaction Lists.
In Luminate Online, run the Transaction Details Report with Error Code as a column. See Why did a transaction decline?

Identify recurring transactions at risk

Until you reinstate your “good standing,” Blackbaud declines recurring donations from California residents. To reduce risk, contact donors to explain the impact and consider rescheduling payments.

To identify upcoming recurring donations at risk:

From Data Management, Query, select Create a new Query.
Name and describe the query, choose a Security Category, then select Save.
Configure the query to include records where:
- Country equals United States.
- State / Province is blank or equals California.
- Recurring gift next transaction is next month.
Select Save.
Select Save Query.
Select Run Query.
Select Use Query.
Select Create a Group, then Go.

Next, use the group to identify sustaining donors and inform them of the impact. See also Querying on Recurring Gifts.