Since 9/11, the U.S. government’s crackdown on and investigations of funding, intentional or inadvertent, of terrorist groups have caused some trepidation in the philanthropic world. Suspicions that the efforts might put a chill on international giving seemed justified when Cisco Systems Inc. last May suspended its employee matching gifts program.
In the months prior, Cisco’s program and others at some big U.S. multinationals had been accused by some Indian groups of contributing, unwittingly, to sectarian violence in their country. And in halting its program, Cisco, the San Jose, Calif.-based networking products giant, cited as one reason uncertainty over interpreting U.S. Treasury voluntary guidelines, issued in November 2002, on preventing diversion of charitable dollars to terrorism.
Now, Cisco’s program is back on line — though its return has been little noticed outside the company. Cisco said it is still awaiting more clarity on the Treasury guidelines, but the downtime allowed it to retool a program that had become burdensome to manage as employee rolls around the world increased.
Rita Kusler, chief financial and operating officer of Princeton, N.J.-based JK Group Inc., which handles matching gift programs for 160 clients (not including Cisco), said there has been concern in her field about Cisco program’s suspension and the Treasury guidelines. But she knew of no other firm that had followed Cisco’s lead, except on cost-cutting grounds.
Under such programs, employees contribute to a charity of their choice and ask their bosses to match the gift by at least a factor of one.
Kusler said uncertainty persists over whether the government will impose onerous investigative requirements on giving abroad.
Responding to a government call last year for comment on the guidelines, some philanthropies contended they were being enlisted to do things outside their capabilities, such as ferreting out money-laundering schemes in countries with civil unrest and weak banking systems.
“How much due diligence do you do when the average [employee] gift is $250?” Kusler said.
Cisco said it began informing employees last October that its program was being resumed, although with some modification. But its Web site didn’t post the change until late January.
Cisco said the program, which gave away $2.9 million in the fiscal year that ended last July, has been more aligned with its corporate goal of building teamwork.
“At least 10 employees need to come together to bring a new entrant [matching gift recipient] into the program, except for schools,” said Michael Yutrzenka, Cisco Foundation executive director.
The change could have another effect — limiting the number of unfamiliar foreign charities that require Cisco’s scrutiny.
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Charles Storch is at cstorch@tribune.com.
