Key Senators Urge Federal Government to Back Off From Changes in Federal Charity Drive

By Grant Williams

Three members of a key Senate committee — including its chairman, Joseph I. Lieberman, a Connecticut independent -- say they have serious concerns about two "significant" policy changes made recently in the federal government's annual charity drive and that legislation might be needed to deal with some of their concerns.

One change, made late last year by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, which oversees the Combined Federal Campaign, dropped a requirement that charities participating in the Combined Federal Campaign spend no more than 25 percent of their total revenue on administrative and fund-raising expenses. Under the old rule, any organization that exceeded the 25-percent limit could participate only if it could explain why such expenses were reasonable and submit a formal plan to reduce them.

"We believe that OPM's decision to eliminate any limit on administrative and fundraising expenses would remove a key requirement and would significantly weaken OPM's accountability standards and could weaken federal employees' confidence in the CFC program," said a letter sent to the federal agency by Mr. Lieberman, who is the chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which has jurisdiction over federal personnel matters; Daniel K. Akaka, a Hawaii Democrat who is chairman of one of Mr. Lieberman's subcommittees; and Susan M. Collins of Maine, who is the top Republican on the committee. "We would ask that you consider revisiting this decision at the earliest appropriate time," the senators said.

The Office of Personnel Management has said that the move to drop the overhead requirement stemmed in part from concerns prompted by lawsuits filed in the past. The agency said it also was worried about the overall administrative burden on its own staff members who determined if organizations met the rule. Federal officials note that a "significant majority" of comments it had received on the issue of overhead expenses had opposed the idea of eliminating the requirement, which covers charities applying for the fall 2007 campaign.

In their letter — which was sent to the director of the Office of Personnel Management, Linda M. Springer — the three senators said that, "Whereas one of OPM's goals was to avoid litigation, we would ask you to consider whether the development of better-defined policies and procedures, perhaps together with legislation clarifying OPM's authority in this area, might sufficiently serve that goal without entirely eliminating any ceiling on administrative and fundraising expenses."

Earlier this month other members of Congress expressed concerns about the elimination of the overhead requirement in letters to government officials. The letter writers were U.S. Rep. Henry A. Waxman, the California Democrat who is chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; Danny K. Davis, an Illinois Democrat who is chairman of one of Mr. Waxman's subcommittees; and Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.

In their letter to Ms. Springer, Senators Lieberman, Akaka, and Collins said they were also concerned about the decision of the Office of Personnel Management to assign to charities participating in the Combined Federal Campaign new code numbers for this fall's drive, which are used by federal workers to make their pledges to specific organizations.

The Office of Personnel Management has said that the change in numbers is needed in part to eventually make it easier for federal employees to contribute to charities across the country, not just in the region where they work, and "enable OPM to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the CFC through the use of electronic-giving technology."

Ms. Springer has said that the government had carefully considered "a variety of coding options" and decided to assign new code numbers randomly in a way "that treats all participating charities equally and minimizes confusion."

In their letter, the three senators said that charities and coalitions of charities have explained to them "that the random assignment of new numbers would be very disruptive and confusing." The senators added: "We would therefore ask that you immediately work with the charities and federations in order to address their legitimate concerns regarding the proposed new system of codes."