The United Way

[blas87]

I hate this charity OH so much.

They pushed donations from our paychecks at the grocery store I worked at in high school. And every year at my work, usually in the fall, we have to do the stupid yearly spiel.

No matter how bad things get, hours cut or no raises or layoffs....they still want people to donate to this stupid charity.

As of now, I can't even use the restroom at work without seeing the large sign on the doors reminding everyone to make their yearly pledges.

[Gravekeeper]

My personal nemesis is, weirdly, Big Brothers. They call constantly looking for donations of clothes and what not. I mean holy crap, no one buys so many clothes that they'd have a bag of them for you once every two weeks >.>

[blas87]

Well.....I gave an entire trunk of clothes that I didn't want or didn't fit anymore to a coworker back last spring. And I've sold some newer clothes for cash because I've been so broke lately. And my closet is still overflowing.

See, it'd be one thing if they wanted used clothes, coats, furniture, whatnot, for GOOD causes like women's shelters, needy kids, and men looking to start their lives over. Not begging for money from people who barely make enough to get by, and then try to guilt/annoy them by posting stuff ALL over the workplace.

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[AdminAssistant]

I have been getting so much crap in the mail for charities that it's ridiculous. Yes, last year I happened to have an extra $50 that I split among a couple of charities. So now I get at least 5 letters a week. It's aggravating.

[bara]

I mean holy crap, no one buys so many clothes that they'd have a bag of them for you once every two weeks >.>

Well.... maybe pants, and hoodies, and pink camo pants. And these same people can send lotto tickets to homeless charities so they can burn them for heat!

[guywithashovel]

Maybe I'm jaded, but I tend to be a little leery of charities. I do give, but when I do, part of me suspects that it's just going to go into people's pockets and not help any of the people it's supposed to help. Maybe I'm just jaded.

These days, I make it a point to give blood, and I usually just consider that my charitable donation. The Red Cross is always in need of blood donations, anyway, and I don't see how such a donation could be misused.

[Andara Bledin]

CharityFinder.org

If you wonder about your favorite charity's financials, they have to declare them publicly, so you can compare.

Except for religious ones, such as The Salvation Army. Although SA did reveal theirs to a similar organization who gave them high marks for efficiency and how much actually went into their programs, but noted that they have a closed board (they run like a military organization, thus the name), so non-partisan oversight is not there.

^-.-^

[BlaqueKatt]

See, it'd be one thing if they wanted used clothes, coats, furniture, whatnot, for GOOD causes like women's shelters, needy kids, and men looking to start their lives over.

Yeah I normally wait until our local newspaper does it's "wish list" for the local charities, and find stuff off of that.(rape crisis center usually wants board games, humane society wants towels/blankets/food/toys, battered women's shelters want clothes, kids books/toys and stuff like soap, toothbrushes, shampoo.)

[mikoyan29]

I have heard too many horror stories about the United Way. It seems like every year there is another scandal somewhere about some local chairman who decides that the charity's money is his money.

[Andara Bledin]

Law of averages. The more people involved, the more corrupt people involved; the number is greater, but the percentage stays fairly constant.

Plus, since they're a big name and supposed to be better than that, it makes for great news.

^-.-^

[Tanasi]

We used to have this old battle axe that worked for the company whose sole purpose was to her her 100% participation certificate from UW. She would hound and harass you until you gave in, gotta get that certificate. Me being just a tad hard headed balked and refused to participate. She left notes on my desk, in my pay envelope, notes on my cars and eventually voice mail. When we got email she started up with that and being the admin, I started blocking her emails regarding UW. She then freaked out and demanded to the company president that I be forced to participate. Other folks seeing me stand up to her caused them to standup to her and drop out.
That being said I'm not at all against giving, I do so myself but I won't be harassed into doing so because then it becomes extortion and I have a problem with that. During growing season I and some other farmers donate all we have leftover from the farmers markets to the Second Harvest food banks. One thing about SH is no matter how much food you just gave them they still ask for money. Dude, I just gave you a litteral ton of food and you want all the money in my pockets??? I don't think so.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I pretty much drew a line in the sand every year when I worked at channel 25 and also when I working at the cable company.

I'll distill it down:

Channel 25: low paying, crappy job. Fire me. I don't care.

Cable: decent wage, good job. I now can afford a lawyer. Fire me. I don't care.

Neither place fired me for that. Cable DID lay me off with literally every other person but four from my department. My department doesn't really even exist anymore.

I don't remember if other jobs asked me to donate, but that just goes to show the level of regard I had for the whole process. If they did, they were dismissed with very little fanfare.

I told the TV station they had some kinda huge nerve asking me for a handout considering how little pay and how shitty the treatment the master control ops got. I pretty much blew my stack at the woman then sent to try to intimidate me and she never came back after that. After that, years went by and they stayed the hell out of Master Control.

Cable, I told them that my charitable contributions were my own affair and not up for discussion. And please do not harrass me further about my own financial affairs. And that was the end of the conversation. I didn't make a big deal out of it, and to their credit, they got the message.

They did ask me to sign that stupid "I'm not giving" intimidation form, to which I chuckled like I thought they were kidding and then promptly ignored the request. They didn't press the issue.

[tabbyblack13]

My company supports The United Way as well. If we want to, we can have a specified amount taken out of our paycheck either once or throughout the whole year. If you chose to do this and you go over set amount you can win awards or get vacation days. We get a lot of reminders but so far no one has harassed me to donate. If they did than I would be in HR for yelling at someone.

Now I don't donate to The United Way because they do not support animal shelters. It's just a personal preference of mine to donate to shelters and rescues. Someone I know won't donate to them either because of something to do with the police and getting support from the United Way.

[blas87]

It's not just because they don't donate to animal shelters, for me.

They are a charity that makes businesses go absolutely apeshit insane pressuring and harrassing people (many places where people don't make much to live off themselves) to donate donate donate.

Around here, United Way proceeds go to the AODA. You think I'm gonna donate money to alcoholics and drug addicts? Fuck that.

[Draco]

The Better Business Bureau said that Brian Gallagher, CEO of The United Way earned $1,037,410 in 2008.

For 2009:


Investor relations 39,010,000
Community Impact Leadership & Learning 20,794,000
Campaign and Public Relations 8,711,000
Brand Leadership 8,195,000
UW Store 2,880,000
Public Policy 1,056,000
Total Program Expenses: $80,646,000


Source of Funds
Contributions 51,922,000
Membership support, net 29,202,000
Campaign efforts of Tri-State, net 13,569,000
Promotional material sales 3,764,000
Conferences 1,816,000
Program service fees 1,072,000
Miscellaneous and other 671,000
Investment income, net 342,000
Total Income $102,358,000

So let's look at that.

102,358,000 - $80,646,000 = $21,712,000 left over for the actual charity work.

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Is my math wrong or is around 78% of their donations going to non-charity work/administrative purposes?

That would be why I tell my place of employment no every year (well, that and that I'm not paid enough). And that many others, including management, are starting to do the same. Including the person corporate hounds to ask us to donate!