As a WSU employee or official, resources available to you or in your control belong to the state and may not be used for private benefit or personal gain. State resources include your computer, wsu.edu email account and other WSU property used to perform your duties as an employee. A private benefit would include not just benefit to you, but to any person or group other than WSU, including charities, shelters, nonprofits, or individuals.
Guidance from the Washington State Executive Ethics Board clarifies allowable uses. Specific to charitable events: the limited use of state resources to support charities may be allowed if an agency head or designee approves the activity as one that promotes organizational effectiveness… (WAC 292-110-010 (2)).
Limited Use – Even if approval is received for an activity determined to provide organizational effectiveness, if state resources are utilized for the private benefit, the use must be limited in nature – infrequent, short in duration, little or no cost to state, and does not interrupt state business or disrupt or obligate other state employees to make personal use of resources.
Designee Approval – WSU’s designee is the AVP for Finance & Administration.
Organizational Effectiveness – This relates to an agency’s mission (such as community outreach) and encompasses activities that enhance or augment the agency’s ability to perform its mission. With the proper approval, employees of WSU may be allowed to participate in activities that are not official state duties but promote organizational effectiveness, even if the activities may incidentally support a private organization. It has been determined that as long as the employees participating in the activity limit their use of state resources, these activities would not undermine public confidence in state government. In no cases, however, is an activity allowed that may involve a state agency’s endorsement or promotion of a commercial activity such as advertising or selling products.
Past approval for an event or a similar event does not guarantee that the approval for the event is grandfathered. Thus, for annual events, the review and approval process should be observed each year or occurrence.
Further, the state’s ethics law contains a very strong presumption against solicitation by any state officer or state employee for any purpose, including charitable events. This includes solicitation from local businesses, as well as coworkers and colleagues. Avoiding such personal solicitation is best to not create a situation in which others feel pressured to give or perceive the risk of an unfavorable job action if they fail to give.
You can learn more about this topic at BPPM 10.24, the Washington State Executive Ethics Board website or by contacting the Office of Internal Audit at ia.central@wsu.edu.
