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Have you ever shaved a sheepdog? Once you remove all that lovely, shaggy coat you find beneath it a surprisingly scrawny canine. United Way of Central Carolinas' campaigns have been like that sheepdog. Once you strip away the money that doesn't go to local United Way agencies, you find things are a tad skinnier than you've been led to believe.
So it's good news that the agency's new president, Jane McIntyre, wants to change the way it tells the public about dollars raised in United Way drives. A change would need board approval. It should get it.
Most donors probably didn't realize that the numbers touted as campaign totals included millions that didn't go to United Way human services agencies. Some donors were allowed to designate money to nonprofits such as Charlotte Country Day School or local Catholic schools. Of the $31 million headlined as having been raised in last year's United Way campaign, nearly $6 million was designated for agencies that aren't United Way agencies. Another $4 million was money given by employees at some of the city's largest employers that wasn't collected through the United Way's payroll deduction apparatus, and the United Way doesn't know which nonprofits – United Way or not – got the money.
When you take that touted total, $31 million, and strip away money to non-United Way agencies, non-local United Ways, administrative costs and unmet pledges, only 48 percent went to the local Community Care Fund, which distributes money to about 90 local agencies.
United Way agency officials told the Observer's Mark Price this week that donations to non-United Way agencies would still be accepted during corporate campaigns. But the idea would be to focus the campaign goal on giving to help local charities meet urgent human needs.
That's as it should be. When most people see a United Way campaign total, they assume the bulk of it supports agencies such as Crisis Assistance Ministry or A Child's Place, which works with homeless kids – groups serving our neediest people. Why should the United Way be helping collect money for well-heeled private schools such as Charlotte Latin School or Davidson Day School? That's not the best use of United Way resources.
The local United Way campaign – both in its goals and its reported donations – should be clear about local human services needs and about the total truly raised to support our United Way agencies.
Was having a big sum to congratulate ourselves on more important than being forthright about how much local United Way agencies were actually getting? If so, that was boosterism run amok.
