Executive Order

Executive Order  No. 354: Commonwealth Of Massachusetts Employees Campaign (COMEC)

Date: 05/10/1993
Issuer: William F. Weld
Mass Register: No. 714
Revoking and Superseding: Executive Order 243
Revoking and Superseding: Executive Order 272
Revoked and Superseded by: Executive Order 404

Table of Contents

WHEREAS, Employees of the Commonwealth share the same feelings of civic responsibility as their nongovernmental neighbors, and deserve the same opportunity to discharge that responsibility through a convenient and responsible system to support private nonprofit social, health and welfare organizations; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has an interest in assisting its employees in their charitable giving through the establishment of a single state employee campaign which minimizes the disruption of the workplace and maximizes contributions to these organizations; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth has an obligation to ensure that these charitable organizations are held accountable for the uses of the funds so raised; and

WHEREAS, such charitable giving is all the more important because of the financial strain placed upon these organizations and the individuals they serve due to the uncertainty of continued federal support for social service programs;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, William F. weld, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Supreme Executive Magistrate, do hereby revoke Executive Order No. 272 and order as follows:

ARTICLE I RESOLUTION

Deductions from payroll schedules of state employees may be distributed to nonprofit social, health and welfare organizations which meet the criteria and follow the participation process set forth in this Order.

ARTICLE II. PLACEMENT

The payroll deduction campaign shall be conducted under the authority of the Secretary of Administration and Finance. Under the direction of the Secretary of Administration and Finance and the State Treasurer, the Local Campaign Manager selected pursuant to Article IV, Section 2 shall provide and administer the central receipt and accounting function for all cash and payroll deduction pledges. One check shall be sent by the Treasurer's office each pay period, in the gross amount of deductions on the basis of current authorizations, to the Local Campaign Manager. The Local Campaign Manager shall be responsible for the distribution of all cash and payroll deduction amounts, less administrative costs (see Article VI), quarterly and on a fixed schedule to the participating organizations or the federated agencies a participant organization has designated to represent them. Contributions and pledges obtained during a period of organized solicitation in the fall of each year shall be for disbursement during the ensuing calendar year.

ARTICLE III. PARTICIPATION

The following criteria shall be used to determine whether any individual organization or united fund, community chest or federated agency is eligible for participation in the campaign and to receive funds contributed by state employees in the communities it serves:

1. A demonstrated ability and willingness to present in writing, individually or by joint submission through a united fund or community chest or federated agency, sufficient organizational, financial and programmatic information with which to evaluate the criteria listed in sections (2) through (9) below. In order to be considered a united fund, community chest or federated agency, an entity must have no fewer than ten eligible participant organizations as members.

2. Registration to solicit funds in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a private nonprofit organization and annual reporting to the Office of the Attorney General, unless the organization is exempt from such filing requirements.

3. Status as a 501(c)3 tax exempt entity pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code and applicable laws of the Commonwealth.

4. Adoption of standard accounting and financial reporting systems commonly used by voluntary, nonprofit health and welfare organizations, and preparation of an annual financial report. Agencies with gross revenues between $100,000 and $250,000 shall file a financial statement accompanied by a Certified Public Accountant or public accountant Review Report. Agencies with gross revenues in excess of $250,000 shall file an audited financial statement, with an Independent Auditor's Report. Organizations which complete the Uniform Financial Report ("UFR") and Independent Auditor's Report may submit a copy of the UFR in lieu of an audit.

5. A demonstrated ability to limit administrative and fund raising expenses.

6. Direction by a volunteer Board of Directors, which meets regularly, the majority of whose members serve without compensation.

7. A stated policy of nondiscrimination in regard to all persons, irrespective of their race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual preference, age or disability, and compliance with all requirements of law and regulations with respect to employment, volunteer participation and the provision of services.

8. The provision of programs or services directed towards service, research, special education, advocacy or advancement of the following common human needs within a community:

  • health and human services;
  • civil and human rights;
  • social adjustment, counselling, rehabilitation, and job training;
  • neighborhood and community organizing;
  • housing, shelter and emergency relief;
  • food and nutrition;
  • recreation;
  • programs or services for school age children with special needs;
  • day care, foster care, protective care, adoption services and shelter for children, adults and families;
  • protection or preservation of the environment as it relates to health and well being of members of the community;
  • or a combination of programs or services specifically designed to meet the needs of children and youth, the ill and infirm, the disabled, the elderly, the poor, minorities and women; and

9. The programs and services of the organization provide specific assistance to the employees or the families of employees within the solicitation area. The organization operates primarily in the local campaign community or provides services and programs judged by the Local Employees Campaign Committee to be significant and substantial which:

a. are located in the local campaign community; or

b. directly benefit residents of the local campaign community even if delivered elsewhere, provided that the charitable nature of the services or programs is clear; or

c. impacts the local campaign community in such a way that its importance to the health and/or well being of employees and/or their families within the solicitation area is clear;

Applicants providing services which are rendered exclusively or in substantial part overseas but which otherwise meet all of the eligibility requirements contained in paragraphs 1 through 8 above shall be eligible to participate in the campaign.

ARTICLE IV. CAMPAIGN PROCEDURES

1. The Secretary of Administration and Finance or the Secretary's designee shall, after consultation with persons and organizations active in prior employee campaigns and with those expressing interest in inclusion in the upcoming campaign, identify the campaign communities within the Commonwealth where there will be a Commonwealth of Massachusetts Employees Campaign, hereafter referred to as COMEC.

2. The Secretary of Administration and Finance or the Secretary's designee shall select a Local Campaign Manager to conduct and manage the annual COMEC in each. area. The Secretary or the Secretary's designee shall select whichever applicant organization or other agency he or she assesses will most effectively and fairly provide the campaign services and administrative support necessary for a successful campaign. The responsibilities and powers of the Local Campaign Manager are described in Section 3 below.

3. The Local Campaign Manager shall manage the campaign fairly and equitably; conduct organization operations and accounting separately from other volunteer agency operations; consider advice from, seek input from and be responsive to reasonable requests for information from other participants and state employees; and be subject to the ultimate oversight authority of the Secretary.

Activities for which the Local Campaign Manager is responsible shall include, without limitation, the following:

a. after notice and opportunity for comment from participating federated agencies and agencies, establishment and publication of a campaign timetable and program which clearly sets forth application deadlines and review procedures, procedures for publication and distribution of campaign materials and training materials and promotion strategy of the actual campaign; these materials shall be distributed to the preceding year's participant organizations and other interested parties;

b. receipt of applications from interested organizations, and review of each application to determine whether the organization complies with the criteria set forth in Article III; presentation of a report on these activities for review by the Employees Campaign Committee; and preparation of timely notice to unsuccessful applicants as to which of the articulated criteria it fails to meet and procedures to be followed for appeal of the denial to the Employees Campaign Committee;

c. development and printing of a pledge card and a promotional brochure which lists each campaign's participating organizations using a format and system consistent with those developed and approved by the Secretary of Administration and Finance, and which is designed to group and highlight united funds, community chests and federations;

d. conduct of the actual campaign including, but not limited to, timetable development, training of solicitors, arrangements for rallies, group solicitations and report meetings, management of agency coordinators, plans for post campaign recognition, provided that the following standards for campaign development and conduct are adhered to:

(i) employees shall be permitted to designate money to united funds, community chests, or federated agencies as well as individual organizations;

(ii) a pledge card and promotional brochure shall be distributed to each state employee being solicited for the campaign;

(iii) each individual or federated participant organization shall have timely opportunities to submit to the Local Campaign Manager and to the Employees Campaign Committee its ideas and suggestions for campaign procedures materials, and marketing; and

(iv) for any meeting of the Employees Campaign Committee at which a final decision is to be made on any major campaign policy issue, including, but not limited to, participant eligibility, campaign promotional materials, and the distribution of undesignated funds, notice of such meeting shall be given at least seven calendar days prior to such meeting to the designated representative of each united fund, community chest, federated agency or any individual participant requesting such notice; such meeting shall be open to the public with reasonable participation permitted by individual or federated participant organizations. Materials shall be ready 48 hours in advance of the meeting;

e. processing, accounting, reporting and distribution of all funds contributed locally, including receipt of cash and bill directs from donors and of lump sum payroll deduction payments from the Treasurer;

f. preparation and submission, following each campaign, to the Secretary of Administration and Finance, the Treasurer and the Comptroller, of a final report detailing the amounts of designated and undesignated contributions and their distribution to campaign participants and summarizing campaign costs, uncollectables and interest apportionment; a synopsis of this report shall be distributed to each participant organization or its designated representative federation; further, a brief summary of how the prior year's contributions were distributed shall be included in the current year's campaign brochure; and

g. provision, upon the reasonable request by any organization applying for participation in an area's campaign, of full information on the systems and standards used by the Local Campaign Manager in fulfilling the responsibilities delineated above.

4. The Secretary of Administration and Finance or the Secretary's designee may select a statewide campaign manager and prescribe reasonable duties for overall management of the campaign.

5. The Secretary of Administration and Finance or the Secretary's designee shall select for each campaign community, an Employees Campaign Committee of no fewer than 10 but no more than 20 state employees representing a cross section of the agencies and departments that will be participating in the area campaign. The size of the Employees Campaign Committee shall be determined in proportion to the number of state employees working in each campaign region. The Employees Campaign Committee shall have the responsibilities and powers set forth in Section 6 below.

6. The Local Employees Campaign Committee shall provide advice and leadership during the campaign with reference to campaign operations, education, motivation, and other activities supporting the goal of an efficient and successful campaign. The Local Employees Campaign Committee shall have the following duties:

a. to review and make a final determination, following a report with recommendations by the Local Campaign Manager, of which organizations will be accepted and which rejected for participation in the local campaign;

b. to assist in the development and conduct of the annual campaign through a network of campaign representatives selected by the heads of each facility in that area; and

c. to inform campaign representatives of the role and authority of the Employees Campaign Committee.

7. In addition to a Local Campaign Manager and a Local Employees Campaign Committee for each region, the Secretary of Administration and Finance shall establish a Statewide Employee Campaign Committee responsible for generic campaign issues including final approval of the campaign timetable, brochure and pledge card.

This Committee shall consist of one member from each of the Local Employees Campaign Committees and one representative of each of the participating federated agencies; the latter will serve as ex-officio members, in an advisory capacity and will have no voting privileges.

Each federation will notify the Secretary of Administration and Finance of the name of the representative who will serve on the Statewide Employees Campaign Committee.

In the event an organization applying to participate in, or an eligible participant in, an area campaign is aggrieved by a certification, distribution or any other decision of the Local Campaign Manager, the decision may be appealed within a reasonable time, reasonableness to be defined with reference to the campaign timetable mandated in Section IV 3(a) above, to the Local Employees Campaign Committee. If not satisfied by the review of the Local Employees Campaign Committee, the organization may appeal for further review by the Statewide Employees Campaign Committee. The Statewide Employees Campaign Committee's decision shall be final. The decision by a Local Employees Campaign Committee shall not be overturned by the Statewide Employees Campaign Committee unless determined to be arbitrary and capricious or not supported by substantial evidence.

ARTICLE V. DISTRIBUTION OF UNDESIGNATED DOLLARS

The distribution of undesignated dollars will be based on the total dollars expended on programs and services. All participants in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Employees Campaign will be eligible to submit to the Local Campaign Manager the total dollars spent on programs and services. In the case of local agencies or federations, the services and programs must be provided in the campaign area. In the case of agencies or federations whose programs or services are rendered exclusively or in substantial part overseas, they shall submit 1/50th of the total dollar amount spent on all programs and services overseas. This amount shall be applied to the Region I program and services formula. The total dollars spent on programs and services will be added together for each agency or federation to form a dollar base. The undesignated dollars from the campaign shall be distributed pro rata from this base of programs and service dollars. The percentage base for agencies or federated agencies in Region I, whose programs and services are rendered exclusively or in substantial part overseas, shall then be used as the percentage base in all the other regions in the Commonwealth.

ARTICLE VI. COSTS, UNCOLLECTABLES AND INTEREST

Campaign costs, uncollectables and interest shall be apportioned to participants in direct proportion to their receipts. Costs, uncollectables and interest itemization shall be part of each Local Campaign Manager's report to the Secretary of Administration and Finance, the Treasurer, the Comptroller, and the participant organizations or their designated representative federation following the campaign.

ARTICLE VII. REMOVAL

The Secretary of Administration and Finance shall have the authority to remove from participation in the campaign any organization which ceases to comply with the Articles of the Order.

ARTICLE VIII. SUMMARY

The Secretary of Administration and Finance shall retain final authority over adherence to this Order and all decisions not expressly left to other parties herein.

Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston on this 10th day of May in the year one thousand nine hundred and ninety three.

William F. Weld, Governor
Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Michael Joseph Connolly
Secretary of the Commonwealth

Contact   for No. 354: Commonwealth Of Massachusetts Employees Campaign (COMEC)

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