A charity brand needs an arm's-length accreditation

The requirementstatement

A brand running the charity use case must be accredited by at least one independent non-profit accreditation body.

Severityseverity: BlockingBLOCKINGBreaking this rule gets the submission rejected. There is no partial credit.
When it bitesphase: Gates approvalapprovalGet this wrong and the brand or campaign is refused at registration.
What is checkedobject: accreditation listing URL
Where it liveslayer: BrandBRAND
How Ekas settles itdetectability: External recordEXTERNAL_DATA; The fact that settles it lives in a register we cannot query, such as the IRS file, a postal database, or another provider’s tenant. Reported as a warning with the evidence to check, not as a pass.
What the fix involvesfailureClass: Wait on someone elseTERMINAL_EXTERNAL; Needs an external system or a waiting period, such as IRS propagation, a vetting result, or a carrier queue.
Who requires itauthorities: T-MobileCTIA
When it appliesapplicabilityText: Applies when the use case is CHARITY.

Why this rule existsrationale

The charity use case carries relief that ordinary marketing does not get, and tax-exempt status alone is a low bar — it says the IRS accepted a form, not that the organisation is what it says. An accreditation from a body that examines finances and governance is the evidence carriers actually want, and a charity that has never sought one finds this out at the point of registration rather than at the point of applying.

How to fix itremediation

Obtain a current BBB Wise Giving Alliance report or a current three- or four-star Charity Navigator rating, and keep the listing URL with the registration. Where neither is held, register the messaging under a use case that does not claim charitable standing until accreditation is in place.

Check this yourselfattestation

No tool can settle this one for you. Here is the check, and what wrong looks like.

Do you hold a current BBB Wise Giving Alliance report, or a current three- or four-star Charity Navigator rating, with its listing URL to hand?

1Look the organisation up on both and note the listing URL for whichever it holds.
2Check the rating is current rather than historical — Charity Navigator ratings are computed from filed returns and lapse.
3Neither in place: this is a lead-time item. A BBB report takes weeks, so register under a use case that does not claim charitable standing until it lands.

What wrong looks like: Tax-exempt status is treated as sufficient. It says the IRS accepted a form, not that an independent body examined the finances — which is the evidence carriers actually want.

Notesnotes

We cannot check an accreditation listing. The user has to hold one before registering: the BBB report takes weeks to obtain and Charity Navigator ratings are computed from filed returns, so neither is available on demand — this is a lead-time item, not a form field.

Rules you will hit next

Other brand rules at the same severity. A registration is judged as a whole, not rule by rule.

BRD-001A legal company name is required for every entity but a sole proprietorBlockingBLOCKING BRD-002Legal name must match the IRS record for the EINBlockingBLOCKING BRD-003Legal name must carry its exact entity suffix as filedBlockingBLOCKING BRD-008Legal name must not carry an appended personal name or roleBlockingBLOCKING BRD-009The legal name field takes the legal name, not the trading nameBlockingBLOCKING BRD-011A legal business name may back only one brand across the whole registryBlockingBLOCKING

All brand rules

BRD-057 is one of 196 brand rules in the 915-rule 10DLC registry. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0.