http://www.wral.com/apncnews/9367625/detail.html

PITTSBORO, N.C. -- The Chatham County United Way denied funding to a Hispanic group in part because of its political advocacy, according to correspondence from the agency.

Dina Reynolds, executive director of the Chatham County United Way, said Tuesday that her agency denied the $27,000 request because the Siler City-based Hispanic Liaison spent more for administration than the maximum established by the organization.

But in an e-mail sent last week to Chatham County resident John Hammond, Reynolds wrote that, "Members of our Board and many of our donors are concerned about the recent political activism engaged in by the Hispanic Liaison. The feeling among these members is that United Way donor funds should not be used to support political activism of any nature. Undoubtedly, these concerns weighed on the decision to deny funding the agency."

Hispanic Liaison received $20,000 from the United Way last fiscal year. The loss of the money would hurt its ability to win matching grants from the state, said Ilana Dubester, the interim director of Hispanic Liaison.

Dubester said her group is being punished for participating in an immigrants' rights demonstration in April in Siler City and a national boycott May 1 that asked immigrants to stay home from work and school. Both were part of a national effort to protest a U.S. House bill that would make illegal immigrants felons.

Dubester acknowledged that her agency's administrative cost used 36 percent of its revenues for salaries and administrative costs, above the 25 percent preferred by the United Way.

She said the percentage climbed above the threshold in 2004-05 because two new managers spent most of the year learning their positions and less time raising money.

The Hispanic Liaison, founded 11 years ago, is the oldest social service agency for Latinos in North Carolina and serves about 5,000 people a year.

Dubester said the group has reduced its administrative costs and she plans to explain that during a meeting with United Way board members.

She also said that the money spent by the group for the rally, about $3,700, came from private donations.

"This is about our freedom to express our opinions about what impacts our community," she said.