Balancing compliance with compassion

Lutheran, The, Jul 2006 by Freeburg, Emily

With the Patriot Act & related legislation, aspects of global mission and ministry with immigrants have changed

Enacted immediately after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U .S., one of the Patriot Act's goals is to prevent American resources from being used to support terrorist groups. Over civil liberties groups' criticisms that the act would interfere with citizens' civil rights, the Patriot Act was reauthorized with broad, bipartisan support in 2006.

According to the Justice Department's Web site, the act has led to the capture of more than one-third of Al Qaida 's senior leadership, coordination of different security branches of the government, the freezing of more than $136 million in assets globally, and incapacitation of more than 3,000 terrorist operatives worldwide. It's also changed some of the practical ways that U.S. nonprofits and churches, including the ELCA, carry out ministry.

"The Office of the Treasurer has implemented additional steps, as suggested under the act's voluntary guidelines, to what was already a well-monitored and controlled disbursement process," said Christina Jackson-Skelton, ELCA Treasurer. "Programmatic unit staff, such as in Global Missions, add another level of oversight through their on-site monitoring and reporting."

Bishal Maskey, director for finance with Global Mission, said oversight has both benefits and drawbacks. "[We] do realize the Patriot Act is something the government is doing for the safety of [the American] people, it's just that we also see it has some costs ,"he said.

With an annual operating budget of nearly $30 million, Global Mission sends money to churches, missionaries and church-related projects worldwide, also channeling funds for witness and service ministries through Lutheran, ecumenical and partner agencies. There has been no suggestion that any ELCA grants ever helped finance terrorists.

If funds are found to have inadvertently gone to a terrorist or a terror group, a church account involved in the wire transfer could be temporarily frozen, Maskey said, adding that the ELCA should have the necessary credibility to resolve any difficulties.

ELCA in-house legal counsel-Phillip Harris and David Ullrich -also work with the Office of the Treasurer.

"As attorneys for the churchwide organization, we work to keep up to date on any changes in laws and regulations that might affect our church's charitable activities," reads a statement from Harris and Ulrich. "The government has worked to assist charities by producing the document. US. Department of the Treasury Anti-Terrorist Financing Guidelines: Voluntary Best Practices for U.S.-Based Charities. The ELCA has found this helpful in setting up its best practices and procedures for grants."

Checking lists

According to the Council on Foundations, which provides leadership expertise, legal services and networking opportunities to grantmaking foundations and giving programs, suggested due diligence tor nonprofits includes review of past partners, more field visits, strict documentation of communications, and more frequent narrative and financial reports on how funds are spent.

"In addition to reviewing the payment request documentation, the Office of the Treasurer screens all payees -whether individuals or organizations - against recommended terrorism lists." JacksonSkelton said. "Additionally, there is an extra review process for any first-time payees. This vetting is integrated into our accounting procedures. Oversight rests with more than just one person."

So Global Mission staff now screen the names of all recipients against a continually changing list of more than 3,500 terrorism suspects. The list is located on the Web site of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control. The site noted: "Investigations revealed terrorist abuse of charitable organizations and donors, both in the United States and worldwide, often through the diversion of donations intended for humanitarian purposes."

Molly Millerwise, an OFAC spokesperson, told The Lutheran that more than 40 U.S. public charities have been designated as providing material support to terrorists. Their funds were seized and assets frozen. Most of those affected have been Muslim charities.

"The Treasury has engaged in an ongoing dialogue with the charitable community - and notably the Muslim-American charitable community-to help protect the sanctity of giving from abuse by terrorists," she said. The newly established Council of American Muslim Non-Profits, she added, promotes "transparency in the Muslim charitable community to help protect the sector from the threat of terrorist financing."

Global Mission has long required financial reports and audits of programs the ELCA funds. Maskey said. While in the past staff could be flexible for recipient churches without technical or financial resources to provide audits, "now no audit almost always means no funding," he said.

"It may strain our relationships at times." Maskey said. "Some churches bring up the issue of cost of the audit and trust." For them, the new stringency could "look like we lack trust in our companion churches," he added. "We want to comply with the Patriot Act, [and] we don't want companion church programs and ministries to suffer."