Is United Way Donor Option Disappearing? Part II

So United Way wants to be more like a big grants-making foundation and less like "a mere pass-through organization." Too bad. They are pretty good at being a pass-though organization, and common sense tells you that the giving public as a group is in a better position to determine what giving priorities should be than the charity bureaucrats at United Way.

Nevertheless, if that's their agenda, that's their business. But when they want to advance their agenda by dis-empowering YOUR donor, that's your business. So what do you do when your donor calls and says "United Way won't let me give to you."

1. Get it in writing, either from the donor or the United Way.

2. Ask the donor to file a complaint with the company's human resources office. Charitable giving through payroll deduction is an employee benefit, and if the employee is not able to exercise that benefit because the United Way has decided to pre-empt the employee's choice of recipients, that's discrimination. Not legally, perhaps, but in reality. My buddy who wants to give to the United Way can use the payroll deduction benefit. But if I want to give someplace else I can't use the benefit.

3. Accept that the employee wants to vent his anger and frustration but in the end, most of the time, will do nothing. Fear of consequences for rocking the boat will usually trump standing up.

4. Give the employee an alternative way to give to you in bite-sized chunks using a method other than payroll deduction. Send him to your web site to make a recurring credit card gift. That's as economical and convenient for the giver as payroll deduction, and it's even better for you because you get the money without United Way's service fee taken out.

5. Write the company's chairman of the board or CEO and express your dismay with United Way policy. Don't use the complaining employee's name without his express permission, of course, but do express your own displeasure, politely but forcefully. The United Way is the company's agent if it's running the company's employee fund drive, so if the United Way is discriminating against you then the company is discriminating against you.

Write to share your own ideas for "best practices" in handling this situation.

Comments

[Arlene Hatton]

Excellent suggestions! I plan to pass this information along to Staff, Board and Development Committee members.