RE: United Way Supports Anti-Nukes

["Michael Ford" <MFORD@PANTEX.COM>]

Peter,



[Note:  I'm pretty sure this is drifting WAY off topic]



I am aware of the scandal.  Indeed it was one.  I do know that *now*, however, all "donor-directed" dollars are subtracted from the overall annual contributions and *are not* considered as part of the total support provided to the Partner Agency based on its needs.



The United Way Staff has very little say in the allocation of non-donor-directed monies to various partner agencies.  Locally, we have a group of about 100 community volunteers - - not affiliated with any partner agency - - that evaluate the agencies and determine their annual allocations based on their *demonstrated needs* and *demonstrated abilities* to effectively deliver services to their target communities or groups.



I'm fairly certain this change was carried out in United Way across the nation within the last six years.



I already challenged one RADSAFER that says he/she's turned away from the United Way because of their high profile scandals and company arm-twisting.  Here 'tis:  RADSAFERs, please visit your local United Way's partner agencies.  See the effect they're having on people's lives in your communities, and then decide whether your decision to not support them (if such is the case) has been valid all along.  I personally know of many folks who have latched on to one tenuous reason or another for not supporting United Way (or pick any charitable organization) much to the detriment of no one else but the less-fortunate in their community.



Have a great holiday,

v/r

Michael



>>> "Vernig, Peter G." <Peter.Vernig@med.va.gov> 26 Nov 02 1:01:07 PM >>>

I hesitate to mention it.  But a scandal of a few years ago was that the

United Way was not, in fact honoring their donor's wishes.  That is if a

donor said they wanted 100% of their donation to go to the American Red

Cross the following happened.  If ARC was in UW's opinion or intention to

get either 1% of total contributions or say $1M, the contributions of our

ARC friend would be applied to ARC and subtracted from the total dollars

allocated and the none ear marked donations would them be split up according

to UW's master plan so the ARC would be no better off because their friends

had designated all or part of their contributions go to them.  



I am unsure if this was the whole US United Way or a Regional subdivision

possibly just Colorado but my impression was it was either national or a

major region.



United Way's image was greatly tarnished by that and the concurrent issue of

the Director's compensation and perks.  Those two scandals led to a dramatic

decline in contributions for at least a couple of years.



Sorry doesn't have much to do with the main issue.



Peter Vernig

VAMC Denver







************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.

You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/