Tennessee's attorney general is taking a foster care nonprofit to court over a $15,000 fine the organization never paid, accusing it of soliciting donations for years after its state registration had lapsed. The lawsuit against the Tennessee Foster Care Association was filed last Friday in Davidson County Chancery Court.
According to WKRN News 2, the state is suing to enforce the $15,000 fine owed for raising funds without registration. The nonprofit's registration expired at the end of 2022, and the lawsuit alleges that the organization kept asking for donations after that lapse. It also accuses the group of continuing to raise money despite multiple warnings from the state.
Tennessee law requires any charitable organization planning to solicit contributions in the state to file an annual registration statement with the Secretary of State's office before asking for a single dollar. That requirement comes from the state's Charitable Solicitations Act, which spells out that no organization may solicit without a current registration on file.
No Challenge, But No Payment Either
The nonprofit did not challenge the fine when it was issued, the lawsuit states, but it also never paid it. That combination — accepting the penalty on paper while leaving it unpaid — is what's now landed the Tennessee Foster Care Association in chancery court, per the station's report.
Under the same Charitable Solicitations Act, the Secretary of State can impose a civil penalty of up to $5,000 for each violation of the law. If that kind of penalty becomes final and still goes unpaid, state law allows the Secretary of State to ask a court for a judgment and then seek to collect on it — exactly the path Tennessee has now taken with this lawsuit.
What Tennessee Is Asking The Court To Do
The state is asking the court to enforce the $15,000 fine outright, and to award the Secretary of State further relief if necessary, the same report notes. The filing does not detail how many separate violations added up to the $15,000 figure.
Tennessee's charitable registration rules apply broadly, though the state does carve out some exemptions. The Secretary of State's office lists bona fide religious institutions and certain educational institutions and their supporting organizations among groups exempt from the registration requirement, while organizations raising $50,000 or less may also qualify for a separate exempt filing status rather than full registration.
Registrations under the law expire annually on each organization's own anniversary date, meaning charities have to track and renew their status every year rather than on a single statewide deadline. Willfully and knowingly violating the act carries criminal exposure too — a Class B misdemeanor for a first offense, stepping up to a Class E felony for any repeat violation — though the current lawsuit against the Tennessee Foster Care Association centers on civil enforcement of the unpaid fine rather than criminal charges.
