NAACP delays move to Washington

WASHINGTON, May 22 (UPI) -- Problems with fundraising have delayed plans by the nation's oldest civil rights organization, the NAACP, to move headquarters from Baltimore to Washington.

"I wouldn't say the deal fell through -- it's been slightly delayed," said NAACP Board Chairman Julian Bond. "We have looked at other property in D.C. and are looking forward to becoming citizens of the nation's capital."

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People last year announced it was moving from Northwest Baltimore to a new 63,000-square-foot office complex on the banks of the Anacostia River in the nation's capital, the Baltimore Sun said.

The District of Columbia City Council approved $3.5 million in incentives to assist in the relocation in December.

The newspaper said the civil rights group has been without a president since March and has been struggling with fundraising for the move and had not found a buyer for its five-story Baltimore property.

The relocation would cost an estimated $20 million. Bond said despite recent slow fundraising the 98-year-old organization's finances remained sound.