Should You "Pre-Certify" With The United Way?

I've heard that some local United Ways are requiring annual "pre-certification" paperwork from charities that wish to "remain eligible" to receive donor choice ("write-in") gifts from contributors in UW corporate campaigns.  I'd like to hear from you if your organization has received any such applications.  If you receive any pre-certifications, I recommend you complete and return them.  I'll explain why below.

The idea behind pre-certification is that United Way will only accept write-in gifts to charities that it has "pre-certified" before its fall campaign begins.  To get said certification a charity must apply annually using a form provided by the local United Way with includes various affirmations (e.g. anti-terrorism compliance), contact information, a copy of the applicant's IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter, and perhaps an ACH authorization form and a voided check.

Obviously, this process reduces the administrative burden on United Way of processing donor option gifts.  It reduces the number of charities UW has to send remittances to, and it streamlines the process of making the remittances it does send.  Of course, it also takes the donor's choice out of "donor choice."  "You may give to the charity you like, just as long as it's one of these." 

If you have received a pre-certification application from a United Way, it's because at some point a workplace donor made a write-in gift to your organization that was processed by that United Way.  That's how come the United Way has your name and address.  Is it worth the trouble to complete and return the appplication?  The answer is yes.  Somehow, some way, that United Way is going to publish that list of "certified" charities.  Some donors will be offended that the charity they'd prefer to give to is not included on the list, but others will just shrug their shoulders and find someone on the list to give to.  You want to be on that list.  Remember one of our Golden Rules of Workplace Campaigning:  You have to be present to win.

Again, if you receive any pre-certification requests, please share them with me.  Thanks.

Comments

[Andrew Horowitz]

We did submit the precertification. We have several donors who give through UWAC, so it appeared to be worthwile. I just hope that we don't find too many more of the United Ways we work with doing this.

On a related note, we recently switched to a new bank account that requires that we collect 10-digit originator ID numbers from anyone who is depositing funds into our account via ACH. This is a relatively new system and very uncommon (many people I spoke with had not heard or OID numbers nor had anyone requested them previously). The United Ways were particularly hard to work with. They didn't return my repeated messages, and it took over a month to get them all resolved. In contrast, your staff replied with the numbers within a few days.

[Jill George]

What happens if we don't receive the 'pre-certification' paperwork? How to make sure we are eligible to receive 'write-in' gifts from contributors in UW corporate campaigns?

Jill George
CURE Childhood Cancer

[Patrick Maguire]

Jill -

Good question, but there is no good answer. First, only some local UWs have a pre-certification program; nobody including United Way of America has a complete list of who they are. Other local UWs will process any write-in gift to any charity. Others will only process write-in gifts to charities they consider to be "health and human care charities." Others accept no write-in gifts at all. Finally, most of the Fortune 1000 require the UWs that do their campaigns to honor whatever the corporate policy may be -- which ranges to no write-ins, to some on the company's approved list, to any charity anywhere.

Thus, there is nothing you can do to be pro-active with the United Way system except respond to any pre-certification letters you do get (and you may not get any).

The bigger problem is that many charities forget to tell their constituents that they can give at work. Most times, in most companies, the gifts will go through.

We'll be covering all this in detail at the September training conference in Washington.

Patrick

[Laura Carpenter]

We recently received a "2007 Contributor Choice Eligibility Certification Packet". In order to be eligible, it says we must be either "a health or human service agency" or "an approved agency of any United Way." We are an anti-hunger advocacy organization, and I'm fairly confident that we are not an "approved" UW agency. Does this mean that we shouldn't bother filling it out? Thanks!

[Patrick]

Laura -

Most United Ways would consider an anti-hunger advocacy organization to be a human service charity, so I think you should complete and return the form.