Bear with me. This is a little complicated...
When you receive checks directly from a local United Way it's because a contributor has "written in" your agency on his or her United Way pledge card. These contributions, referred to by United Way as "donor option" gifts, are transmitted to you after the United Way has subtracted a handling fee, typically 10-20 percent.
That is, those gifts used to be transmitted. These days it's more likely that instead of a check you'll receive a form or forms from the United Way you are required to complete and return to establish your "eligibility" to receive the gift, regardless of the fact that your contributor specifically named you to receive it.
Over the past several years most local United Ways have made it much more difficult for donors to direct their contributions to specific charities. United Ways have instituted additional fees to discourage donor option gifts or have added "local presence" or "category of service" restrictions or have required special donor option pledge cards that are difficult if not impossible to obtain. Many have dropped donor option altogether.
Too often, much too often, the donor is never notified if United Way finds his designated charity ineligible. United Way just keeps the money. That's not ethical, but it appears to be legal.
Of course, your prospective workplace giver could simply decide not to participate in the United Way campaign, but the reality is in many companies there is still a strong expectation that loyal employees will support the company's United Way fund drive.
So the question is: How do you accommodate constituents who wish to give to you through their workplace campaigns but who no longer can because of United Way restrictions?
Answer: Send them to the United Workers For the Untied Way Restricted Gift Receipt Service. (www.theuntiedway.org)
That site has a free service that enables your contributor to make a one-time or periodically recurring credit card "restricted" gift to the United Way. The restriction is that United Way must agree to honor your contributor's designation of your organization as the ultimate beneficiary if United Way wants the privilege (and profit) of processing the gift. If the United Way does not agree to honor the designation the gift funds are forwarded directly to you instead.
The contributor is able to print a receipt evidencing his gift to attach to his United Way pledge card when he turns it in.
It's a win-win-win result. The employee shows support for the company's campaign but keeps his freedom-of-choice in giving. The United Way gets its service fee if it is willing to respect the employee's instructions. And you get a contribution you otherwise would never have seen.
Our advice and counsel used to be that your organization should promote "donor option" as a giving option on your web site, in your newsletter, and in other communications with your constituents.
Now our advice is that you counsel your constituents to make sure their local United Way will honor "donor choice" before they attempt to support you at work, and if there is any problem or question about that to visit www.theuntiedway.org to take advantage of the Restricted Gift Receipt Service.
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