Posted on 10/08/2001 11:52:28 AM PDT by BreitbartSentMe
We just had our annual United Way meeting/indoctrination at where I work, and I had to sit through their song & dance about the importance of giving, what great stuff they do, etc...... I don't have a problem with giving, but I do have some problems with giving through the United Way; some of the gay/lesbian/enviroNazi/touchy-feely organizations that your gift ends up benefiting, not to mention the 16.7% overhead figure they quoted today (which they say is low) etc. etc. I like to donate directly to the organizations I want to. However, they had 2 interesting points that might lead me to dontate through them this year.
1. This year you can donate to the Sept 11th Fund, on a one-time basis only, and they will send the entire amount to the fund (no overhead)
2. You can designate ANY 501(c) organization to receive your entire gift through the United Way/CHAD payroll deduction. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.....
Everyone should be free to designate to whom their charitable money goes, shakedowns be damned; I for one choose not to donate 1/6th of a pledge towards some campaign "victory" party.
The United Way has been involved in massive corporate shakedowns for many years. I work at a company where promotions were once partially based on a manager's UW contributions total. It led to some confrontations, and after a while the policy was changed.
To my mind, many of the observations made here are both correct and irrelevant. Here's my take on it, and on charity in general:
As in many other endeavors, the importance of a clear objective and a feedback system that will let you know whether you're moving toward it or away from it cannot be overstated.
"The poor will always be with us." -- Abraham Lincoln
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
Doesn't matter to me how many pro-life organizations they support. They support Planned Parenthood. Enough said.
Once, after an especially protracted arm-twisting from my boss, I pledged $1, and asked to be billed quarterly. Because that gave him the 100% participation he needed to hold his head high (disgusting social climber) he was happy. Because UW tossed out my pledge card rather than waste money billing me, I was happy too.
The UW is another bureaucracy whose purpose is to give to another charity? Why not give it to the charity directly? Any recent moves by UW to imply that the money they take will be forwarded in toto to a designated charity is an ADMISSION that such is not the typical practice of UW. UW talk about "no overhead" is a direct ADMISSION of the redundancy of UW. I suspect UW says such things now because people in general are becoming more aware of direct distributions and "overhead" i.e., bureaucracy expenses/taxation. (I am at least)
Additionally, looking at the UW types, I feel many are corporate board rejects, and UW is kind of a nepotisitic depository for types who don't fit in, can't cut it, or can't get with the program. Welfare for incompetents, their salaries paid by a sort of second taxation on charitable giving.
The trouble you run into is a property of money called fungibility. This means that, once you put a dollar into a pool of money you can't ever be sure what happens to that dollar.
Suppose the UW had decided to give 10% of their money to Planned Parenthood this year. You decide to give $10/month to some 2nd Ammendment supporting organization. They still give $1 of your $10 to Planned Parenthood. That's because they still give 10% to PP and your $10 goes into that calculation.
Just give your money where you like. Tell the UW to take a hike. Tell them to take a hike with the Boy Scouts.
The'll just love that.
Shalom.
If corporations and businesses are so committed to the concept, let them write a check instead of having the HR department act as bagmen.
This would explain the number of UWs dropping the Boy Scouts no doubt. LOL!
A moral obligation perhaps, but not a legal one. My wife worked for an org that was not an official UW entity because it wouldn't submit to UW BS. That org would only get a % even if the donation was designated. I believe your information above is incorrect.
The UW National organization has never repudiated any of the local groups who have ostracized the Boy Scouts. That, as far as I'm concerned, makes ALL UW charities culpable in trying to undermine one of the world's last standing exclusively male Christian youth organizations. Political correctness at its worst.
The decade old scandal regarding the embezzlement of about $15M in funds, and the subsequent conviction and imprisonment of the national director reared its ugly head last year when the scumbag sued for his $6M pension. We never heard anything about it after the initial reports, but it's not hard to imagine that UW settled out of court to avoid the bad publicity.
Finally, the printed material distributed to employees states a 10% overhead for the local organizations. But when pressed, they will admit verbally to a 15% figure. Well, in my book that's a whopping 50% discrepency. Either way, it makes more sense to donate directly to the charity of one's choice.
I speak as a former executive officer of a countywide UW agency. I could go into more detail about the misleading way that individually earmarked UW grants are distributed, but the above should be enough of a word to the wise.
In addition, when my employer does the United Way drive, they use the participation % numbers to toot their own horn.
Jesus said in Matthew 6: 3 - 5:
"But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full."
Instead, I give to the church I attend and to foreign Christian missions.
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