Ethics Commission says United Way unfairly favored

HONOLULU — Allowing Aloha United Way to solicit donations from state workers gives the charity an unfair advantage over other nonprofits and violates the state ethics code, Hawaii’s state Ethics Commission has concluded.

The commission recommended that Aloha United Way should be replaced with campaign that gives state workers more donation options, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Thursday.

Governors have long favored Aloha United Way for the state’s workplace giving program. The Ethics Commission ruled in 1976 that communitywide support for AUW made the charity a “public business” excluded from the fair treatment provision of the ethics code, which prohibits state workers from granting unwarranted privileges to private interests.

Other private charities, such as the Hawaii Foodbank and the March of Dimes, have received similar consideration.

But Commission staff members have received complaints from state workers about favoritism toward Aloha United Way, they said. The nonprofit acts as a fundraiser for more than 200 local charities.

Aloha United Way collected more than $9 million last year, with the bulk of the money coming from its state campaign.

The nonprofit allows donors to direct their contributions to specific charities, but most donors don’t, so the nonprofit chooses for them.

“Employees are free to designate to whomever they want,” said Cindy Adams, president and CEO of Aloha United Way. “So we’re not stopping them from doing that in terms of the 200 or 300 agencies that we have vetted.”

Most other states have a combined campaign model, according to the commission.