A new iPhone and iPod Touch app will enable mobile donations. Each week, Pocket Philanthropist will feature a different charity to which donations will be funneled.

The thing is, being featured on the app is a charitable solicitation, which triggers state registration requirements wherever the solicitation is made. With the proliferation of iPhones, that’s potentially every state. This becomes really interesting.

iPhones are in every state, but where is this app soliciting?

If I download the app from my home in New York, each (rotating) featured charity would have to register here before it is featured. If I carry my phone on the MetroNorth train into Connecticut, is the charity now soliciting there? I’m not sure. If I carry a solicitation letter into Connecticut that I received in New York, that’s not a Connecticut solicitation. The letter was specifically addressed to me in New York. The iPhone app is made to be portable, so the charity knows (or reasonably should know) that its solicitation is going to be carried around from state to state.

It doesn’t matter whether I make a donation. Mostly what drives the registration requirements is where the solicitation goes out to, not where donations come in from.

The answer would start with a determination whether the state has jurisdiction over the charity, based on the charity’s activities within the state. It’s a legal question, based on analysis of the charity’s full relationship with each state (what the law calls “contacts.”)

Knowing that lots of states haven’t updated their statutes to accommodate even email and website solicitations, I don’t expect iPhone solicitations to garner enforcement attention. (Note that even though statutes are not up-to-date with email and web, many states do have policies that encompass these solicitation methods. In many states, including New York, Florida, Arizona, Illinois and Virginia, the moment your “Donate Now” button goes live on your website, for instance, you are soliciting and must register with state authorities.)

This iPhone app creates interesting academic questions. Any thoughts on my thoughts? How would you look at the problem?