united way donation

[andyhappy]

so, what do you guys think of the united way? Good place to give money?

every year my work does this mandatory/optional (but really mandatory) thing where we are passive aggresively forced into signing up to give them a certain amount of money every paycheck all year long.

but I have heard bad things about the united way ...any thoughts oh wise DU?

[MemphisTiger]

1. you can send the money to a certain charity that the

UW is affiliated with. You have to fill out a separate form. Ask your UW contact. For example, if they are affiliated with a soup kitchen in the are you can send part or all of your contribution to that soup kitchen. They usually have a book of all the charities they are affiliated with.

[madinmaryland]

2. I strongly disagree with the tactics

that employees are made to contribute to united way. I feel that I should be free to donate charity of my choice. Donate the absolute minimum if you feel that you are being pressured. ($25 will normally get them off your case.) Then contribute to the charities of your choice on your own. Good luck!

[andyhappy]

7. welcome to corporate america! ;)

[Aiptasia]

3. CEO of the united way draws down $300k in donations every year..

Give to the salvation army instead. Their CEO only demands an $80k salary.

[elehhhhna]

4. Yeah they stink at UW. They blew off Planned Parenthood.

[gollygee]

9. We can give to our local Planned Parenthood through United Way

My theory about United Way is this:

They decide before they even get donations how much money their "regulars" will get. They know roughly how much they'll get each year, how much their administration costs will be, and how much their politically milquetoast at best groups will get.

However, you can go "off the board" and give money to someone not on their regular list. People should check with their employers to see how to do this. Every penny of ours goes to non-standard groups. We choose groups that don't get United Way type funds usually - like Planned Parenthood, GLBT groups, etc.

[fudge stripe cookays]

6. No, don't.

The Salvation Army is blatantly, discriminatorily anti-gay.

There are other plenty of charities that need our money MUCH more than those hate-mongering bell ringers.

FSC

[GOPisEvil]

5. Does it have to be United Way?

My employer has a charitable campaign where I can send money to UM if I want, or I can send money directly to charities themselves. I'd rather leave UW out, as they are often just a middle-man for funds.

[Lerkfish]

8. they're a middleman

you're better off donating directly to the charities they list.
all middlemen have operating costs.

Further, United Way is very creepy in this regard: they hustle CEOs to force their employees to give, and then aftwards reward the CEOs at hoity toity soirees.
No rewards given to the people who donate, beyond the chance to win some sort of raffle.

its a way for corporate america to pat itself on the back for donating other people's money to charities that don't get to see all of it, anyways.

Its a dance of the priveleged, IMHO.
But good luck getting out of it...most corporations strong arm you into donating, so I always do the absolute minimum. One company I worked at decades ago forced you to watch an hour long PR movie with John Denver singing, and afterwards, you were not allowed to leave the room WITHOUT signing a pledge form, handed to you by the CEO, who WATCHED YOU FILL IT OUT.

[Squeech]

10. No fan here

First of all, many of the charities funded by United Way aren't the ones that really need my money-- for instance, the Boy Scouts, which excludes both gays and atheists from its membership.

Yes, you can tell UW to earmark your money to specific charities instead, but they'll still absorb their administrative fees-- which they'll tell you are well under 10% of the total, but considering how much money passes through their hands overall, their rakeoff is still an enormous amount of money that isn't meeting real needs. (For comparison, the administrative fee on your 401k plan is on the order of *one* per cent, and it's got way more stringent accounting and reporting requirements.)

Some employers allow you to bypass United Way altogether and contribute to other charities directly. I contributed to an organization called Community Works, which was like a progressive version of UW, redistributing contributions to community development organizations, battered women's shelters, AIDS hospices, that sort of thing. If you feel you have to participate in some charitable payroll deduction scheme, see if that's an option.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

11. People!!!!!!! Please!!!!!!

Most everything I've read in response to the question is not factual.
I say this because I worked as a 'Campaign Executive' for my local United Way for two terms.
Here is the scoop;
1. Each United Way is controlled at the local level. No matter what anyone tells you, they are not run by a central authority. This is why in some communities the United Way may raise funds for Planned Parenthood say, and in others does not.
2. Funding decisions are mande by citizens of the community, not the local United Way administration.
3. Agencies that receive United Way funding have approached the UW and demonstrated through a grant type process that their programs are having a positive impact on the community.
4. The United Way of America recieves a miniscule amount of money from each local United Way. They raise their own funds. The money they do get from the local offices is to fund the nation wide announcements like the ones that run during football games on TV.
5. There may be bad apples in the barrel but the United Way I worked for, DID NOT APPROVE of strong arming the work force into giving. All we wanted was a chance to talk to the potential donors and tell a story.
6. The United Way I worked for held its administrative costs far below the federal established standard of "no more that 50% should go to admin costs". More in the area of 13-15%. The books at any United Way are available for review.
7. Giving directly to the charity of your choice is a great idea. Realize however, that if 500 of you decieded to do so and the charity had a three person office, as many of them do, the person managing the deposits and money would be swamped as they processed the checks one, two or ten at a time. With the United Way the check is presented in a lump sum, saving MUCH time and effort.

Bottom line? The United Way isn't perfect, but I've seen it up close and personal. It's nothing like what most of you have described.
:shrug:

[andyhappy]

12. thanks for the info

I have always heard such awful things about them but its good to know they are not all that bad.

I pretty much HAVE to give money. I work for a big company and its this odd mandatory/volunteer thing. 100% participation is strongly suggested! Our head honcho of our office promises to the head honcho of all the offices who promises to some other head honcho that EVERYONE is gonig to give money.

It is kinda scary how mandatory it is to give so its nice to know that the money is going to do some good.

too bad I can't give it to the ACLU! ;)

[gollygee]

13. My husband's company is the same way

He really has to give. They insist upon having 100% participation. We'd give to charity anyway, and we give to places other than through UW as well, but it's annoying being told you *have* to contribute. That is what I dislike most about UW - the heavy-handed way they get money.

[Dem_4_Life]

14. It all depends on where the money is going

I always donate my money to the Battered Women's Shelter.

There are a lot of other good org in the UW as well such as Big Brothers and Big Sisters and Any Baby Can (I had a friend who was helped by this group trememdously and she could not have made it with out them. Her daughter was born without a palette in her mouth and she had to use a special formula that was $50 a day. Any Baby Can would bring her formula and drop it off at her door. She met other parents that were going through the same thing and still sits for other parents so they have time to go out since they cannot hire any babysitter since these babies need to be fed through feeding tubes)

Yes, UW is good if you just look for the Org that you want to give your money to.