January 6, 2005 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The New York State attorney general’s office is investigating whether the American Civil Liberties Union violated its pledge to protect its donors’ privacy with an effort to collect information about them.
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sent the New York nonprofit group a letter last month asking questions about its decision to hire a fund-raising consulting company, Grenzebach Glier & Associates, in Chicago, to collect data about the charity’s supporters. The information would include supporters’ estimated net worth, their holdings in public corporations, and a list of other nonprofit groups they support. The civil-liberties group said all the information it sought was in the public record.
The attorney general’s office declined to comment on the inquiry.
Changes on Web Site
Michael Meyers, an ACLU board member and executive director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition, said that Mr. Spitzer primarily is concerned about whether the nonprofit group removed from its Web site a pledge not to collect data about its supporters.
“They played around with that statement to justify what they’re doing,” he said.
Legal issues aside, Mr. Meyers said the data-mining effort runs counter to the values of the civil-liberties group.
“As a member, I don’t care if it’s on the public record or not. I don’t want them getting into my business,” he said.
Defending Practices
In a statement, the group’s executive director, Anthony D. Romero, said the privacy policy was not changed “in response to any objections or to a change in fund-raising practices. It is updated routinely and the most recent update was intended to make it more thorough and user-friendly.”
In addition, Mr. Romero defended the decision to hire Grenzebach Glier, saying that many other notable nonprofit groups conduct similar research.
“The ACLU and many other highly regarded nonprofit organizations like the Johns Hopkins Institution, the Mayo Foundation, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America do public research to assist in fund raising because it greatly enhances the good work they are able to undertake,” he said.
Emily Whitfield, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group, said the organization plans to respond to Mr. Spitzer’s letter this week.
