Penn's Way donations decrease by 22 percent

The campaign started later than usual and was plagued by controversy. Two pledge cards, two envelopes, two managers and nine umbrella organizations proved unable to lure Penn employees into reversing the steady decline in donations that has plagued the University's annual charity drive in recent years. The Penn's Way campaign, which ran December 6-19, raised approximately $178,500 -- a 22 percent decrease from last year's total of $230,029 and a figure constituting less than half the amount raised in 1994. Nearly half of last year's donors chose not to participate in the 1997 campaign, a statistic that contributed to the disappointing 5 percent return on the more than 10,000 fundraising packages sent to employees. Penn's Way coordinator Barbara Murray attributed the decline to the drive's "late start." In previous years, the campaign lasted for about two months. This year, however, controversy over who would manage the Penn's Way drive delayed the launching of the campaign until early December, allowing for no more than a three-week campaign. But Murray added that the campaign expects a number of late contributions which should alter the drive's low preliminary figures. Following a long-standing and bitter debate over the campaign's management, University administrators decided to run a "side-by-side" charity drive this year, incorporating management efforts from the two finalists to run the campaign -- the United Way and the local Center for Responsible Funding. The United Way and its three umbrella organizations -- the United Negro College Fund, the Federation for Allied Jewish Appeal and the Catholic Charities Fund -- served as both a campaign partner and co- manager of the drive. The Center for Responsible Funding, which supervises the transfer of gifts to its five umbrella organizations -- the Aids Fund, the Black United Fund, the Environmental Fund, the Bread and Roses Community Fund and Women's Way -- also served as a campaign co-manager. The Center raised $37,500, over one-third of which was donated to Women's Way, while the United Way raised $141,000. As of yesterday morning, the United Way was unable to provide The Daily Pennsylvanian with a breakdown of its contributions. The University outsourced campaign management duties to the United Way last year, a decision which also provoked considerable controversy. Last year's outsourcing agreement with the United Way prompted complaints from employees who believed that the United Way would force employees to donate to the organization's member charities. But if the University had hired the Center exclusively, the United Way threatened to charge a fee for any donations targeted to United Way members, Center for Responsible Funding Director Nan Steketee explained. Both the United Way and the Center levy an 11 percent fee on all contributions to cover administrative costs, but the United Way would have charged a fee of about 22 percent if relieved of its management role. The extra fee would have reflected the "cost of processing and developing new campaign materials," and would not have been a penalty for failing to use United Way management, according to United Way Assistant Vice President Ray Smith. According to Director of Career Planning and Placement Patricia Rose, however, "the University caved into United Way pressure. United Way blackmailed us." Steketee added that there is "no justification" for charging a double-fee and expressed disappointment in the University's inability to "stick to its guns." But Murray noted the impossibility of running the campaign without the United Way, adding that 70 percent of last year's donations were marked for United Way organizations. Each organization ran separate campaigns and sent out separate donation cards in an effort to "make everyone happy," Murray said, adding that an "efficient campaign" draws on the talents of both groups. And although Steketee stressed that the system caused many donors to confuse cards and envelopes and place both contributions on the same card, Murray said Penn's Way will continue to be co-managed in the future and pledged to begin the 1998 campaign on time next year.