Funding for Baldrige Nonprofit Category Gains Supporters

Washington — Three members of Congress are publicly supporting efforts to fund the nonprofit category for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Representatives Brad Miller (D-NC), Melissa Hart (R-PA), and James Moran (D-VA) have written to the leaders of the House committee that controls much of the program’s $6 million budget, asking them to consider adding $1.5 million to fund the nonprofit category.

The May 13 letter was sent to Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Science, State, Justice, Commerce and Related Agencies, and Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV), the committee’s ranking minority member. The subcommittee controls the budget of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which manages the award program.

The American Society for Quality administers the program.

The three House members who penned the letter were original cosponsors and supporters of H.R. 3389, the bill that added the nonprofit category to the award, which currently is funded by $5 million in federal funds and $1 million provided by the private-sector Baldrige Foundation dedicated to the program.

“Not many programs give so high a return on such a modest investment as that provided by the Baldrige National Quality Program,” their letter said.

President Bush signed H.R. 3389 into law last October. Since then, ASQ and its Washington representative, Sellery Associates, have been working on Capitol Hill to enlist support for funding the nonprofit category.