The board of the Moncks Corner-based company also approved a plan to hire two real estate brokerage firms to sell 1,100 acres of land that it has identified as surplus.

The question of whether Santee Cooper, a state-owned agency, should dole out charitable funds has been hotly debated for most of the past 12 months.

The people who steer the massive utility have drilled down on a lot of numbers in that time, questioning how much money should be given away, how much contributions have increased or decreased over the years, and how much the funds would boost state coffers if they were diverted.

But the equation Friday was simple: Six directors voted in favor of maintaining the status quo on donations and killed a proposed moratorium on contributions; four of the six were appointed by Sanford. Five other directors voted against the giving and in favor of the moratorium.

"I think we should do what's right for Santee Cooper, not what the governor thinks," said director Patrick Allen. "It's the responsibility of the corporation to have that conscience. ... It's a thing called give back."

Santee Cooper is expected to distribute about $1.16 million in contributions and sponsorships this year.

The utility's contributions, however, may be trimmed in the next few months as Santee Cooper finalizes its budget. Several directors who voted in favor of the contribution policy also spoke critically about a few appropriations, most notably thousands of dollars in annual donations to charitable golf tournaments.

Sanford took Santee Cooper executives to task on their contributions at an annual budget meeting Sept. 30. He argued that any extra money the utility makes should be directed to state coffers and distributed via the budget process.

At least five directors on the Santee Cooper board made similar arguments Friday.

"I just can't come here every month and listen to status quo, that we're going to do it the same way we've always done it," said Richard H. Coen. "If you want to give money to education, give it to the (state) Department of Education."

Clarence Davis noted that some of the poorest counties in the state are absent from Santee Cooper contribution lists.

In the weeks since the meeting with Sanford, Santee Cooper directors and the governor have received scores of letters imploring the utility not to stop its charitable giving.

Eric Friberg, chairman of the Spoleto Festival USA board and first vice president of the Gibbes Museum board, said Santee Cooper donations were "vital" to many of the nonprofits in the state.

Cutting contributions "would be a devastating loss to the many communities Santee Cooper serves," Friberg wrote. "Such a vote by a major entity sends a message to our community that philanthropy doesn't matter."

Spoleto Festival received $25,000 from Santee Cooper this year and will get another $25,000 next year.

Friberg and other nonprofit and public agency leaders said Santee Cooper's giving is particularly important because of the relative dearth of big corporations with sizable operations in South Carolina.

Those in favor of maintaining the policy pointed out that most utilities, public and private, make charitable contributions. But Santee Cooper's contribution policy has been controversial for years. In 1994, the utility was sued by a conservative group, the South Carolina Policy Council, for giving money to religious organizations, private schools and organizations with which Santee Cooper directors were affiliated.

A legislative audit in 1995 also criticized Santee Cooper's donation policies. It noted at least two instances in which groups that received money named buildings after a Santee Cooper board member.

Many former Santee Cooper officials, including current Chairman Graham Edwards, support the contributions. Edwards, who served for a time as CEO of the utility, said Santee Cooper probably provides a better return to the state because of its philanthropy. His vote broke a tie Friday to maintain the donation policy.

Chief Executive Officer Lonnie Carter also spoke in favor of the donations policy, saying that it was a valuable economic development tool.

The utility, meanwhile, voted to move forward with a plan to sell some of its surplus land, another issue that the board has argued about for months. Board members interviewed three real estate brokers Thursday: Sumter-based American Forest Management, Colliers Keenan Inc. from Columbia and Myrtle Beach-based H.B. Springs Co.

Per the board's direction, Santee Cooper executives are hoping to hire two of those firms to sell 33 superfluous plots of land. Negotiations are just now getting under way, so the utility won't say which companies will get the job.

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