Maine Moves to Ease Rules for Business to Hold Charity Fundraisers

Maine lawmakers advanced a bill Tuesday that would allow businesses to host fundraisers for charitable purposes without first registering as nonprofits, writes the Portland Press Herald.

The legislature’s Labor, Commerce, Research, and Economic Development Committee unanimously endorsed the measure, which was prompted by an order last year that a restaurant in Augusta that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for local charities stop hosting such events.

The Red Barn received a letter from the Maine attorney general’s office in November directing it to “cease engaging in solicitation as a charitable organization until you become licensed as a charitable organization or show why you do not need to be licensed as such.”