Endorsement and solicitation rules

This page flags the questions to ask rather than answering them, because the answers come from DoD and service regulation, from the installation, and from your own counsel — and they differ by service and by post.

No implied endorsement

The consistent principle. Nothing may suggest that the Department of Defense, a service, an installation or a unit endorses your organization, your event or your sponsor.

• Do not use service seals, emblems or logos to imply approval
• Do not describe the organization as "official" in any relation to a service
• A service member appearing in uniform in fundraising material raises an endorsement question — check before, not after
• A sponsor's logo beside a service mark implies something neither of you intends
• Be careful with photographs supplied by supporters, which frequently contain insignia nobody thought about

Names, marks and insignia

Service names, unit designations, emblems and certain phrases carry protections. Merchandise, printed material and auction items using them need checking before production, and a licence may be required for commercial use.

This catches organizations out on exactly the items they most want to sell — branded gear, a unit-crest piece, a commissioned artwork. Ask first; authorisation after production is not always available.

Soliciting service members

There are constraints on soliciting personnel, particularly by rank and particularly where a superior is involved. A commander's endorsement of a fundraiser directed at their own subordinates is a specific problem, however willingly given.

Route fundraising at people in a chain of command through whatever channel the installation designates, rather than through the chain itself.

Charitable fundraising on installations

Installations run their own authorised charitable fundraising arrangements, and unsolicited campaigns are generally not permitted to operate freely on post. Everything on base goes through the installation: base and installation events.

Ethics rules bind service members too

Personnel are subject to rules on gifts, outside activities and fundraising participation. A well-meaning service member volunteering to run your auction, solicit donations from contractors, or accept something on your behalf may be creating a problem for themselves.

That is worth raising with them rather than leaving them to find out — most will not have considered it.

State charitable registration

Ordinary but easy to overlook. Organizations soliciting across state lines frequently need to register, and an online auction promoted nationally is a solicitation in more places than an event is.

Get it looked at once

Installation public affairs or the staff judge advocate can answer most of the base questions, and your own counsel the rest. One conversation covers a year of campaigns.

General information, not legal advice for your organization. Rules on fundraising at installations, soliciting service members, and the use of unit names, insignia and service marks come from DoD and service regulation and from the installation itself — ask the installation and your own counsel before acting.