Any thoughts on the United Way?

[Chico Man]

My employer has some affiliation with them and has invited all new employees to a luncheon with the United Way. I believe we have setup an employee donation program or something like that. Is the United Way clean?

[CO Liberal]

1. Personally, I Don't Donate Any More.....

...because the United Way supports the Boy Scouts and I'm opposed to their anti-gay position.

[larryepke]

3. If memory serves...

one can check off the groups you want or do not want to support. So you could make your donation and NOT give to the Boy Scouts.

At least, that's the way I recall it used to be. Their list of groups is HUGE and I always picked and chose. (My current employer doesn't use United Way.)

[FloridaJudy]

22. Use the "Directed Donation" option

Aaaarrgghhh!

Every October my employer (I work for a government agency) holds a United Way drive. I can't turn around without having someone demanding a pledge, or begging me to participate in a fund-raising drive.

Do *not*, repeat NOT, agree to give money to "the charity that needs it most"! You'll find yourself funding folks like Gays Against Sex, Right to Life, and Christians for Abstinence if you're not careful.

Instead, agree to contribute via "directed donations". They'll be forced to give you a pamphlet that lets you choose which charities you want to support.

I give hundreds of dollars to the United Way every year. I'm very careful to check Doctors Without Borders, Habitat for Humanity, and Planned Parenthood.

[forgethell]

7. I thought

that the United Way had cut off donations to the Boy Scouts? Did I misunderstand?

[gWbush is Mabus]

8. not sure, but

I believe 85% of donations goes to United Way executives
while only 15% ever reaches the actual charity.

I would recommend donating to the charity directly.

[CO Liberal]

11. Which is What I Do

:-)

[burrowowl]

13. True

Give to a local charity you know works or join Working Assets for long distance. Give to Habitat for Humanity, Doctors without Borders, etc.
UW is bigoted and most of the money goes to its executives.

[Kolesar]

18. wrong, they are not such a ripoff

I reviewed the numbers when I was on the UW committee ten years ago. I recall that ~90% of the money goes to the end charities.

[blondeatlast]

20. Not perfect, by any means, but they have improved drastically

after the bad publicity.

I donate an hour's pay twice a month and divide it between two charities, JDF and a DV shelter.

There is something to be said for it: many people who would not otherwise donate do so through payroll.

[Chico Man]

2. I also found the incident with the cancelling of Susan Sarandon..

At the Tampa fundraising event due to her outspokenness re: the war.

Well that 2-0 against the United Way. Anything else?

[SharonAnn]

6. I thought that was the Red Cross? Was it United Way?

eom.

[Chico Man]

15. It was United Way

http://www.stpetersburgtimes.com/2003/03/27/TampaBay/Charity_calls_off_eve.shtml

[GOPisEvil]

4. At work, we don't have a "United Way" drive anymore.

It's been replaced by a more comprehensive giving plan. Money goes directly to the charity of your choice, without having to pass through UW. You can still give to UW if you want, but I choose to support other charities directly.

[Squeech]

5. I donate to causes I care about

which United Way is kinda thin on.

I could get snarky and say "United Way is to charity as McDonald's is to cuisine."

It's not really that bad, but if you want to support progressive causes, you can do a lot better. I used to donate to an organization called Community Works.

[MaineDem]

9. I don't like them

We were almost forced into giving at work. "Fair share" meant they told you how much to give and you were expected to do it.

I've seen many United Way agencies turn people away because they "made too much". And I forget what percentage of each dollar donated goes to pay the office staff (including a big salary for the CEO.)

The Susan Sarandon affair turned me off even more.

I used to donate and specify that my donation go to one particular agency. I don't know if it ever went to them but now I give directly and leave the United Way out of it.

[mac56]

17. I have worked at places where we were REQUIRED to donate.

Small non-profits that accepted small United Way grants. In each case, the powers that be required all employees to contribute. It was not an option, and there was no debate. That sucked. To their credit, they didn't stipulate a dollar amount - only that you ponied up.

[SharonAnn]

10. United Way does a great deal of good and

I support them. Having said that, and being disapointed that they don't support Planned Parenthood because of right-wing pressure over the years, I earmark all (or a substantial part) of my United Way contribution for Planned Parenthood.

There are many organizations who do great good in communities and many of these have some support from United Way. Many of these groups I would not even know about so I wouldn't contribute because of not knowing about them. Also, United Way through the workplace makes it really easy to give a small amount each pay period and I like that.

Though maybe not perfect, they do a great deal of good and are a good example of people joining together to try to alleviate the sufferings of those less fortunate.

[notadmblnd]

12. I heard somewhere that

Only 30 cents of every dollar you donate actually gets to any charity. Does that sound like they're clean?

[Chico Man]

14. I guess there is a special setup here for UW of Rhode Island...

"One-hundred percent of funds collected go to programs and agencies to help people. Royal Little, founder of Textron, a well-respected name in Rhode Island, established a trust fund that pays UWRI’s fundraising and administrative costs."

That's a plus for sure.

[XEON]

16. Very corrupt.

Maybe not where you are but overall they have lots to explaian.

[trof]

19. They get 3 out of a possible 4 stars here.

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.summary/orgid/4629.htm

When I was in the air national guard we were almost "forced" to contribute "so our unit can show 100% participation". So what?
bleh BFD

Very few things have given me more pleasure and satisfaction than finding an local person who has so little that the little I can do for them (anonymously) truly makes a difference in their life.

I don't like the clumsy way I worded that, but you get the idea.

[TreasonousBastard]

21. They're better than nothing.

And some money goes to small charities you may never have heard of, but wish you had. They have some of their own programs that may be worthwhile. Checking off a few bucks per paycheck is an easy way to give, and most of the money will do some good.

Adds a level of high overhead, though, and there's that idiotic pressure to get to 100%. Like many other organizations, they seem to be more into self-perpetuation mode than actually doing much that can't be done some other way.