Rules on Giving Gifts to Public Officials
When you engage with public officials as part of your arts advocacy efforts, it’s important to show your appreciation while respecting the restrictions they have on accepting gifts. The rules outlined here are based on federal standards and laws. Please keep in mind that many officials also have internal standards of conduct and policies that may surpass federal guidelines. If you have any specific questions about whether a gift is appropriate, you can call the public official’s office or consult a legal professional.
What Qualifies as a Gift?
A gift is anything with monetary value. Gifts include:
- A ticket to a performance
- A meal at an event or meeting
- Transportation or lodging for an event
- A discount for a piece of artwork
- Services or training from your organization
- A physical token of appreciation
Can I Give a Small Gift?
A public official may accept a gift other than cash or cash equivalent having a value of less than $50 as long as the source of the gift is not a registered lobbyist, foreign agent or private entity that retains or employs such individuals.
The cumulative value of gifts that may be accepted from any one source in a calendar year must be less than $100. Gifts having a value of less than $10 do not count toward the annual limit.
Note that if you are giving a gift not to exceed $50, the actual dollar limit is $49.99, not $50.
Are there exceptions to the rules?
Home State Products
Products produced or grown in the public official’s home state may be given to public officials for use in welcoming visitors to their office reception area. This provision only applies to tangible items only that can be given away or displayed in the office. Thus, for example, tickets to a museum or a show in an official’s district may not be accepted under this provision.
Commemorative Items
Commemorative items are permissible regardless of their value if they are presented to a public official in a manner that is substantially commemorative in nature in person at an event. For example, if a public official played a significant role in a new art space, a commemorative plaque engraved with the presenting organization, the public official’s name and the date would be permissible. The item must not have significant utilitarian or artistic value.
Examples of commemorative items include plaques, framed photos or prints, figurines and clocks. It would be impossible to enumerate all of the features that would cause an item to be deemed commemorative, but an item that is inscribed or engraved with the official’s name, the name of the presenting organization, and the date of the presentation would likely be deemed commemorative in nature. A commemorative item that exceeds $335 in value would have to be disclosed on Schedule VI of the public official’s annual Financial Disclosure Statement.
Informational Materials
Books and other printed materials such as reports on the economic impact of the creative sector or the social impact of an arts program are permissible if they are informational in nature.
Gifts of Nominal Value
T-shirts, baseball caps, pins, stickers and paper bookmarks are examples of nominal value gifts. These types of gifts are always exempt.
Artwork on Loan
A public official may accept a loan of a painting or other work of art from his or her home state for the purpose of displaying the item in his or her office. It should be clearly established in correspondence between the official and the item’s owner that the official is holding the item on a loan basis only and that the item will be returned to the owner upon the item being removed from display, the official leaving office or the owner requesting its return (whichever happens soonest).
This page is intended to provide general information and does not necessarily address all aspects of this topic. Because the facts of each situation may vary, this information may need to be supplemented by consulting a legal advisor.