A Gold Rush

Special Olympics

MANNA OR PORK? More than $2-billion was steered to charities by members of Congress through a process know as legislative earmarking. Among the recipients: Special Olympics, which won $4-million that will be used to hold a weeklong sports competition.

CONGRESSIONAL EARMARKS -- some call them "pork" -- benefit a lot of charities, allowing some to skirt the competitive federal-grant process and prompting a chorus of criticism from opponents of the system.

LOBBYISTS who can help charities land an earmark don't come cheap, but many nonprofit officials who have gone to the expense say it is worth it.

PROMISING TO MATCH THE AMOUNT of an earmark and lining up local support for it are among the experts' tips for nailing a line-item appropriation from Congress.

SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY, the Iowa Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, helped secure a $50-million earmark to build an artificial rain forest in his state.

EVEN THE MOST DOGGED EFFORTS to get an earmark can fail, as the experience of Friends of the Children, in Portland, Ore., shows.

A STATE-BY-STATE LOOK at where charity earmarks go.

HOW THE CHRONICLE compiled its study of legislative earmarks