Fundraiser may lose faculty donations

The administration's decision to outsource the Penn's Way campaign has angered faculty and staff. Some faculty and staff said they will not contribute to the University's charity campaign this year since they were not consulted on the administration's choice of United Way -- which keeps about 12 percent of each contribution to run its fundraising drives. The employees passed a referendum several years ago requesting the University -- and not an umbrella organization -- administer the Penn's Way campaign. Employees objected to letting outside groups take a significant percentage of donations for administrative costs. "There seemed to be no attempt to consult with the community [on the decision to have United Way handle the campaign], particularly with the part of the community that worked on the referendum," Physiology Professor Martin Pring said. Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs Carol Scheman said she was surprised that several employees were unhappy with the decision. "I truly thought the reasons for not going with United Way were no longer a problem," Scheman said. She added that she spoke with people involved in the referendum before the administration made the decision. Scheman explained that the University chose to outsource the campaign because administrators were concerned by a decrease in donations. Last year, Penn's Way raised $304,386 -- about $100,000 less than the $406,580 raised in 1995. Previously, the campaign -- which deducts pledged amounts from individual University employees' paychecks -- was conducted as a combined effort where employees could donate to individual charities directly, in addition to the overall campaign. Under the new arrangement, however, all donations will be handled by United Way, which keeps about 12 percent of each contribution to defray administrative costs. Scheman noted that the University was paying the administrative costs of running Penn's Way, taking away funds that could have been used elsewhere. "The issue to me is what are the best and most efficient ways to run a campaign," she said. Scheman added that she plans to convene a group to discuss the issues surrounding Penn's Way and how to improve next year's campaign. Senior Law Fellow David Rudovsky said he will urge other faculty and staff members to give charitable donations this year, but not through Penn's Way. "The Penn community ought to be giving more than they have in the past, but we ought to be doing it this year directly to those groups which we support," Rudovsky said, adding that he will not contribute to charities through Penn's Way. But English Department secretary Jennifer Giampietro explained that she would probably donate through Penn's Way. "The 11 percent is going to a charity? it's just going to the United Way charity which is an organization that helps everyone," she said. Scheman said she is concerned that donations for Penn's Way may decrease, but added that the overall goal is to give money to charitable organizations. "A secondary goal is to make it is as convenient and easy as possible," Scheman said. The campaign will end December 6.

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