Bloomington, IL Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

Chapter 33, Article I of the Bloomington City Code governs door-to-door soliciting at residences. Section 33-102 requires every person who wants to solicit, defined broadly under Section 33-101 to include selling goods, taking orders, seeking insurance customers, obtaining magazine or newspaper subscriptions, or collecting charitable donations, to file a written application with the City Clerk for a Certificate of Registration before going door to door. The application under Section 33-103 must disclose the applicant's residence and business addresses for the past three years, age, marital status, physical description, employer, the subject matter of the soliciting, prior applications, and any felony convictions or prior revocations; fingerprinting of applicants was repealed in 2021.

The City Clerk denies an application if the applicant lacks the required qualifications, and a Certificate is revoked if the holder is convicted of violating the article or made a false statement on the application. Under Section 33-104, a Certificate expires six consecutive months from approval, and each applicant pays a fee set in the City's Schedule of Fees; a denial or revocation may be appealed in writing to the City Manager within 10 days, with a decision due within 10 days of the hearing.

Charitable organizations that comply with Chapter 38's street-solicitation provisions can be exempted from the individual certificate requirement. Violating any provision of Article I, including soliciting without a valid Certificate, is punished under Section 33-111 by a fine of not more than $500 for each offense.