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Battle over charity campaign donations moves to House floor

United Way tries to block effort to make fund-raising easier for environmental groups

Friday, March 24, 2006

ANNAPOLIS — A bill moved out of committee Thursday to give charitable and nonprofit foundations excluded from the United Way campaign the same chance to seek donations from local and state government workers.

The bill now moves to the House floor for a vote perhaps as early as today.

The United Way campaign allows government workers to contribute a portion of their paychecks automatically to a group or groups of their choosing.

Three jurisdictions, Montgomery and Frederick counties and Baltimore city, already give government employees the option of donating to other groups in addition to the United Way.

If passed, the bill sponsored by Del. Neil F. Quinter (D-Dist. 13) of Columbia would give the foundations representing 10 or more other nonprofit groups the same opportunity to solicit donations as the United Way. It does not cover private employers.

The bill has turned into a David and Goliath fight. Its main supporters are a coalition of small environmental groups known as the Environmental Fund for Maryland, which has $87,000 annual budget and one paid employee. Opposition is being led by the United Way of Central Maryland, which raises about $60-million annually.

United Way officials told the House Environmental Matters Committee last week that opening up workplace solicitations to other groups would take away donations from the charities supported by the United Way and would create more paperwork for county and state governments.

Del. W. Daniel Mayer (R-Dist. 28) of Newburg, a former Charles County commissioner and a member of the Charles County United Way, said passing the bill would hurt United Way programs.

‘‘Our United Way serves a unique purpose, and if their funds were to be siphoned, the county government would have to pick up that burden,” Mayer said.

Supporters of the bill disagreed. When employees are given more options of where their donations can go, they are more likely to contribute, said Dru Schmidt-Perkins, executive director of the 1000 Friends Of Maryland.

Environmental groups told the committee last week that they have campaigned for years to be part of the United Way, only to be rebuffed because the organization wants to focus on health and human services charities.

After scandals rocked the United Way four years ago, the charity restructured to focus on groups that provide health care, shelter, food and other basic human needs.

Quinter’s bill might lead county governments to simply not allow workplace solicitations rather than open up to ‘‘hundreds of federations” including the environmental groups, said Larry E. Walton, president of the United Way of Central Maryland.

Environmental groups can seek contributions in ways other than through workplace solicitations, he told the committee.

‘‘They have a marketing problem,” Walton said.

But people are more likely to donate when they see a group on a list in front of them, countered Shannon M. Baker, executive director of the Environmental Fund For Maryland.

‘‘It’s like going into a restaurant and ordering from a menu,” she said. ‘‘If you see something on a menu, you’ll order it. If it’s not there you won’t.”