Charities seek help from college payrolls

Wednesday, Sept. 8, 1999 | 10:10 a.m.

Regents on Friday are scheduled to discuss a proposed policy on deducting charitable donations from employees' payroll checks, a move that could stop a lawsuit filed last week in District Court.

But the group that filed the lawsuit is already gathering ammunition against the regents' proposed policy.

The suit was filed Aug. 31 by Community Health Charities of Southern Nevada -- an umbrella organization made up of 19 separate entities -- against the University and Community College System of Nevada.

The suit by Community Health Charities seeks a permanent injunction, claiming the university system is depriving it of its constitutional rights by not allowing it access to conduct a payroll-giving campaign for university employees, the group's attorney, Aviva Gordon, said.

A hearing was to have been held Tuesday by District Judge Valorie Vega, but the proceeding was continued until Oct. 4 because the issue already was on the regents' agenda.

"We have a proposal we have been working on for many months that addresses all the concerns this particular group has raised," Brooke Nielsen, assistant general counsel to the regents, said.

However, the attorney for Community Health Charities, which consists of such organizations as the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association, voiced concern about the proposal.

"We have seen the proposal and we continue to have questions and concerns about it," Gordon said. "We hope they can be worked out without having to go back to court."

She said the concerns relate to the protection of Community Health Charities to be able to get their message to employees of the University and Community College System of Nevada.

Nielsen said the policy proposal would provide that charitable federations that want access to the university system's employees would be chosen by a method commonly used at universities around the country called "request for proposal."

The process, explained Nielsen, involves choosing one charity to take the lead in getting the donations and then distributing the funds to the charities designated by the individual donors.

Nielsen said the regents would select the lead organization.