Alcoa reduces donations to western Pa.

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The charitable arm of Alcoa Inc. has been giving less money to western Pennsylvania groups and is instead spreading money where it operates.
The shift reflects the aluminum manufacturer's disclosure last month that its headquarters is in New York, not Pittsburgh.
"We shifted more funds to the communities in which we operate, versus solely in Pittsburgh, or New York, for that matter," Alcoa spokesman Kevin Lowery said.
The Alcoa Foundation donations in western Pennsylvania totaled $4.1 million in 2001 and have declined to less than $1.5 million last year, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported for Sunday's papers.
The foundation made no donations in New York in 2001. It distributed $278,334 there in 2003 and $1 million last year.
Alcoa, founded in Pittsburgh in 1888, is still "committed to Pittsburgh, and we have been committed to Pittsburgh. But we do things in a global manner now," Lowery said.
Bill Meyer, president of the United Way of Allegheny County, said it was easy to see the move coming. Last year, United Way received $35,000 compared with $254,000 in 2000.
"Alcoa has become a truly global company," Meyer said. "The needs they now have in communities like Pittsburgh include countries all over the world. A flood in South America is as much of a concern to them as one in the U.S."
Location matter
Lowery said the listing of New York as its principal office in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last month reflects the opening in 2000 of a Manhattan office for top executives. At the time, CEO Alain Belda said Alcoa operates around the world and needed an office in the world's financial capital.
Jim Roddey, former chief executive of Allegheny County, said Alcoa has always been a good corporate citizen but disagreed with the company's contention that it needed to be closer to financial markets.
"[What] this move really says is that the chairman-CEO likes New York better than Pittsburgh," he said. "It hasn't hurt Mellon or PPG to stay in Pittsburgh."
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