Manna or Pork?

Members of Congress earmarked more than $2-billion for charities this year, a Chronicle study finds

Lawmakers steered more than $2.4-billion in federal money to at least 5,000 of their favorite charities this

year through a process known as “legislative earmarking,” a Chronicle review has found.

The allure of such dollars has created a gold-rush atmosphere, as more and more charity leaders visit Capitol Hill — and spend tens of thousands of dollars to hire lobbyists — in the hopes of convincing senators and representatives that their groups deserve federal money.

The process is far different from the traditional one followed by charities that apply for grants and contracts with federal agencies: Their proposals are reviewed by experts to determine which efforts have the most merit. By contrast, a charity can win an earmark simply by persuading lawmakers to push for the project to be included in a Congressional spending bill.

As a result, recipients of these earmarks — often called “pork-barrel spending” by critics — tend to be organizations in states with lawmakers who serve on Congressional spending committees, a Chronicle analysis of earmarks for fiscal 2005 has found. Big national organizations, charities that are well known, and those that represent popular causes or have the right political connections also find it much easier than other groups to get money.

The groups that are winning money are pleased with the results — but even many of them worry about the effect such fund raising has on the collective ability of nonprofit groups to serve society. Often earmarks come at the expense of grant programs that serve a broad number of organizations, and are not supplements to other types of federal spending.

On the plus side, nonprofit executives say, earmarks can provide federal dollars for cutting-edge, new programs that might not qualify for government aid any other way.

“The earmark process gives you a chance to innovate. Everything else is highly restricted,” says Joel Carp, a senior vice president at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, which has received three earmarks worth $494,776 for a project officials hope will be copied nationwide. The project helps elderly people remain in their own homes for as long as possible, thus avoiding some of the expense and other problems associated with nursing homes and other such institutions.

The total number of earmarks — for government entities and charities — has risen sixfold from the 1994 fiscal year to the 2004 fiscal year, according to the Congressional Research Service. While the vast majority of the $25-billion awarded this year went to state and local government agencies, nonprofit institutions say their share has been growing rapidly as well.

Recipients of Congressional earmarks include not only hospitals and universities, but also environmental groups, arts organizations, and social-services charities, both large and small. The biggest nonprofit earmark in the fiscal 2005 budget was $20-million; the smallest, $15,000, according to The Chronicle’s analysis of data provided by Citizens Against Government Waste, a Washington watchdog group, and other sources.

Among the top nonprofit recipients of earmarks this year:

• Project GRAD USA, in Houston, received $20-million for operating expenses. The program, which is also supported by several foundations, works to improve education for children who live in predominantly poor neighborhoods. The program has strong support from Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the nine states where it operates, including several legislators who serve on the House Appropriations Committee.
• Institute for Scientific Research, $18.8-million to be used to construct new laboratories. This charity, in Fairmont, W.Va., was founded in 1995 by Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, a West Virginia Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee who has since funneled $136-million to the group. The institute conducts scientific studies for NASA and other government and private customers. Mr. Mollohan says this and other charities he created represent a long-term way to help West Virginia improve its economy.
• Syracuse University, $13.7-million. Of that money, $10-million, to be provided over two years, will establish an endowment for the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Global Affairs Institute, named for the late senator from New York. The remainder will be spent on construction at an environmental-engineering center at the university.

Although nonprofit earmarks have been growing, they have a long way to go before they outpace other types of government aid to nonprofit groups. The government distributed about $40-billion in direct federal grants to nonprofit groups last year. But almost everyone expects earmarks to become an increasingly large piece of nonprofit financing.

Even opponents of earmarking say they understand why charities are getting in line for handouts.

“From a public-administration point of view, earmarking is bad. It makes for poor planning,” says Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, a government watchdog group in Washington. “But from a political point of view, it’s a reality. It’s the way the game is played. When the No. 1 issue I hear from nonprofits is budget cuts, my response is, play the game more effectively.”

In a special report, The Chronicle examines which causes are getting earmarks and which are missing out — and what the system means for the nonprofit world.