U. abandons United Way giving system

The University will abandon its United-Way-only charity campaign next year to implement a so-called combined campaign that gives employees more say in how their donations are spent. Hackney's decision comes after a month-long referendum, in which University empoyees overwhelmingly voted in favor of the combined campaign. The combined campaign received 1929 votes compared to the 1133 votes for the United Way-run system. Another 343 voters did not express a choice. Until 1988, the University's charitable campaign, through which employees can donate a portion of their paycheck to charity, was entirely under the auspices of the United Way. Employees could designate charities to which they would donate, but all funds were channeled through the United Way. In 1988, a group of faculty and staff, calling itself the "Committee for a Combined Campaign," argued that the United Way guided campaign stifled freedom of choice and information. The University adopted a hybrid form of the combined campaign in 1989. Under the new campaign, the University raised nearly $324,000 for the United Way and increased total charitable contributions by about 30 percent. President Hackney said yesterday several factors went into his decision to adopt the combined campaign for the next year, including last months referendum. In the referendum, employees were asked if they supported a campaign at all, and, if so, would they like a combined campaign or a United Way campaign. Of the 9,000 ballots distributed to University employees, 3,405 were returned to the President's Office. Of these, 2,528 employees voted for a charitable campaign, while 877 voted against having any campaign at all. "The referendum played a part . . . and I listened to the discussion," Hackney said. "I looked at the charitable campaign as something the University does for its faculty and staff." Combined Campaign committee member Jane Combrinck-Graham said last night she was "thrilled" and called the 62 percent vote for the combined campaign "astonishing." She said she feared that the referendum would have been won by the United Way because the organization still receives the greatest number of contributions of all the groups under the current plan. United Way officials declined to comment yesterday, but they expressed displeasure with the vote in a statement released yesterday evening. In the statement, the officials called the decision "a change for change's sake," adding that the combined campaign "does not offer Penn employees anything that they were not already receiving through the United Way campaign." "It is President Hackney's prerogative to determine how the University will conduct its workplace fundraising," the statement said. "We respect that." Along with the decision, the President announced that Dental School Dean Raymond Fonseca would serve as Penn's Way Campaign Chair. Fonseca said he was "excited" about being asked to take the position and added he looks forward to a successful campaign. He said he does not believe the past year's controversy will affect employee's good will. "I think that the better instincts will come out in people," Fonseca said.

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