United Way accused of trying to dupe charity donors

Combined Campaign supporters yesterday blasted the United Way's recent creation of eleven dependent satellite organizations, calling it an attempt to confuse donors into giving more money to the embattled charitable fund. The United Way denied this charge yesterday, saying that the organizations were formed to deal with combined campaign environments and that they will promote an atmosphere where the donors can better understand all of their choices. University administrators will discuss the new United Way plan next Tuesday, according to Assistant to the President Linda Hyatt. But, initiation of the Combined Campaign at the University may have been the incident that triggered the new development in the United Way's organization, according to Judy Claude, director of Bread and Roses Community Fund -- a fundraising organization that openly supported the Combined Campaign from the onset. "I'm really upset about this," Claude said Wednesday. "The United Way is using a scare tactic . . . to stop other private employers from initiating a combined campaign like Penn." United Way Spokesperson Joe Divis said Wednesday that the decision to introduce the new corporations was not influenced by the debate at the University and that it had been planned "intensively" for over a year. He added that these satellite organizations will only be in effect in combined campaign environments. "Now the donors will be fully informed and have a wide open choice," Divis said. Combined Campaign supporters called the United Way "hypocritical," for its two year-old opinion that a combined campaign system would be detrimental to the University since it would expand the number of charities and fundraising groups. "It's as if they warned that the dike is going to fall down," said Nan Steketee, director of the Center for Responsible Funding. "Now they are pulling it down." Eight of the eleven sattelite organizations have applied to the University to solicit donations through Penn's Way, Divis said. "My proposal to the University is to reject these United Way organizations," said Bob Boswell, director of the Washington, D.C. based National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy yesterday. "They are just trying to confuse the donor who hasn't stayed current and might see them on the pledge card."

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