Charities that are raising funds are generally required to register in 36 states and DC. States are asserting jurisdiction over fundraising over the Internet, just as they do with respect to mail and telephone solicitations, because their jurisdiction is predicated on the location of the recipient. Some argue that I-net fundraising is different, because the charity does not purposefully direct the solicitation into a state-instead the recipient calls up and locates the website (which may be hosted on a computer in another state). In the long run, regulators may win this fight, because the charity can certainly foresee that a recipient will be physically located in another state.
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