New topic
Printable| Author | Message |
United Way: Yay or Nay?? What's your opinion on this organization and why? RIP, mom. I will forever miss and love you. | |
- E-mail - orgNote -  Report post to moderator |
I don't know who they are but "way" rhymes with "gay" so.... | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Spookymuffin said: I don't know who they are but "way" rhymes with "gay" so....
 They are an organization that supposedly collects money to help poor people. But I have not heard good things about them, so I was wondering if anybody heard negative things about them as well.RIP, mom. I will forever miss and love you. | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
psychodelicide said: Spookymuffin said: I don't know who they are but "way" rhymes with "gay" so....
They are an organization that supposedly collects money to help poor people. But I have not heard good things about them, so I was wondering if anybody heard negative things about them as well.They get a Nay. Any organisation that gives money to the poor over shelter, food, clothing, haircuts and such is doing the wrong thing and more likely fueling a drug addiction or alcoholism. Sad but true. We've had lectures from 3 different homeless-help organisations who've all said the solution is not to give them money but to re-habillitate and re-motivate them.  | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
Spookymuffin said: I don't know who they are but "way" rhymes with "gay" so....
 | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
 I think all of those types of organizations do some good and some bad. I don't know much about United Way specifically, though. | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
One negative thing about United Way is that they get sort of political in their choices of to whom they donate. If you want them to donate your money to a certain organization and it's not on their list, too bad, they decide for you. They've also had some upper management problems in the recent past, with their CEO being convicted of embezzling money. | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
i've worked for a United Way agency for several years (mind you, not the United Way directly, but one of the agency it supports). there are pros and cons to the UW system:
the pros: - the United Way has access to the giving power of large corporations and their employees, which is hard for small to mid-size agencies to gain - agencies rely on a number of revenue sources to make their budgets - private donors, companies, churches, civic groups and foundations. many of those donors change focus at will and are not always a reliable multi-year source of funding, whereas the UW gives on an ongoing basis - fairly new, small agencies don't have the fundraising staff or name recognition of larger agencies and therefore have a harder time raising funds - the UW requires a lot of reporting on outcomes (i.e. the impact an agency has on its constituents), which has made agencies more accountable - the UW offers their agencies training and other resources - anybody in the community can join a volunteer allocation committee, and i highly recommend people do that the cons: - more and more donors resent the "arm twisting" they perceive their companies to do. they would rather give to certain agencies, which may or may not be on the roster of their local UW. (for example, our UW does not support any environmental or animal welfare agencies). so the UW now offers to funnel a person's donation to the agency of the donor's choice, including colleges and universities, which has the drawback of syphoning funds away from local UW agencies. - some corporate foundations will not give separately to agencies that are already UW agencies. so if an agency stands to get only limited annual funds from the UW, it might be a better choice to remain independent and go after larger corporate foundation grants - there is an overhead factor, and to be perfectly honest, i've not always been happy about the expenditures of our local UW basically skimming off the top. then again, some of that money is very well invested. - there have been a few instances of UW mishandling of funds, which makes the entire sector look bad. so, all in all, it's not a bad concept, but there's always room for improvement.  | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
| Ex-Moderator |
IrresistibleB1tch said: so, all in all, it's not a bad concept, but there's always room for improvement.
I'd agree. I give united way through payroll deduction, but I do 'earmark' my donations because I don't agree with some of the organizations united way supports. But all in all, I think its a good thing. |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
IrresistibleB1tch said: i've worked for a United Way agency for several years (mind you, not the United Way directly, but one of the agency it supports). there are pros and cons to the UW system:
the pros: - the United Way has access to the giving power of large corporations and their employees, which is hard for small to mid-size agencies to gain - agencies rely on a number of revenue sources to make their budgets - private donors, companies, churches, civic groups and foundations. many of those donors change focus at will and are not always a reliable multi-year source of funding, whereas the UW gives on an ongoing basis - fairly new, small agencies don't have the fundraising staff or name recognition of larger agencies and therefore have a harder time raising funds - the UW requires a lot of reporting on outcomes (i.e. the impact an agency has on its constituents), which has made agencies more accountable - the UW offers their agencies training and other resources - anybody in the community can join a volunteer allocation committee, and i highly recommend people do that the cons: - more and more donors resent the "arm twisting" they perceive their companies to do. they would rather give to certain agencies, which may or may not be on the roster of their local UW. (for example, our UW does not support any environmental or animal welfare agencies). so the UW now offers to funnel a person's donation to the agency of the donor's choice, including colleges and universities, which has the drawback of syphoning funds away from local UW agencies. - some corporate foundations will not give separately to agencies that are already UW agencies. so if an agency stands to get only limited annual funds from the UW, it might be a better choice to remain independent and go after larger corporate foundation grants - there is an overhead factor, and to be perfectly honest, i've not always been happy about the expenditures of our local UW basically skimming off the top. then again, some of that money is very well invested. - there have been a few instances of UW mishandling of funds, which makes the entire sector look bad. so, all in all, it's not a bad concept, but there's always room for improvement. sounds good to me! | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
They get a 'nay' from me. I gave to United Way for seven years and when it was time for me to ask them for help, I couldn't get any. If anyone knows of any worthy charities, I'd love suggestions. | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
I don't like the fact that they basically make employees of there funded organizations give donations per payroll deductions. I've done it many times and felt like I should not be pressured to. Most people will give anyway without the pressure. | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
RIP, mom. I will forever miss and love you. | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
| Ex-Moderator |
psychodelicide said: Keep in mind you don't know who those people are posting. Maybe I'm naive, but I trust the company I work for that the info they give us is sound. I believe the last figure I was given was 87% of dollars donated go directly to the agencies that are doing the work, which means 13% is used for administrative costs, and that is a very good percentage. I bet you could even find United Way's own disclosures of how their money is used on the web if you looked hard enough. |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
psychodelicide said: websites like charitynavigator or guidestar give ratings to charities, and you can download the agency's tax forms (990s) for additional information. | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
nurse said: I don't like the fact that they basically make employees of there funded organizations give donations per payroll deductions. I've done it many times and felt like I should not be pressured to. Most people will give anyway without the pressure.
I will forever love and miss you...my sweet Prince. | |
| - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator |
