I have been given the duty of advocating for United Way at my place of work. And I’ll do my best to increase participation among my colleagues. However, in attending some of the preparatory meetings, I asked a question about contributing to specific charities instead of making an un-designated contribution to United Way. I am careful to avoid agencies which are funded (in part or whole) by United Way which promote or provide services which are contrary to my beliefs (for example, those that may refer to Planned Parenthood or similar.) What I found was that if you make a designated contribution (say to a Catholic charity) it does not increase the amount of money that that charity will receive. In other words, my designated contribution doesn’t do a damn thing to change how the “pie” is divided. So my designated donation just “frees up” funds that are then redirected to other agencies (including those I am trying to avoid funding.)
Look carefully at the agencies that your local United Way funds. Let them know about those that are unacceptable.
How have I responded? I’ve given to designated charities through UW, but I’ve given a lot less this year and will send the balance directly to worthy charities thus minimize indirectly funding or supporting those that would say… puncture children’s heads and suck their brains out.
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I think this is a valuable topic. It's been a few years since I was asked to help with United Way, although as it turns out, I happen to be wearing a United Way T-shirt from a former employer right now. UWay used to say that if the agency to which you donate received designated donations totalling more than that agency would otherwise have received, then UWay would still give the agency the total designated donations. In other words, your chosen recipient would get to keep the extra designated donations. So in those years, designating your donations seemed better to me than not designating. Even if this practice applies today, it still doesn't eliminate UWay general funds from supporting agencies that go against Church teaching. So if you are involved in fundraising, encouraging people to choose a specific agency can be helpful in that it reduces the general fund. I wouldn't push any particular agency, but I would encourage the donor to choose an agency that would be meaningful to him. We often had a representative from a local agency come talk at our site, and so I might mention that particular agency if the donor didn't have one in mind. I have not given to UWay in recent years. There was some concern over the percent of the donations that went to fundraising versus agencies, and so I began giving more outside UWay at that time. But my previous employer strongly encouraged participation and publicized statistics on which work groups had 100% participation. So in those years, I gave a one-time check designated to a specific agency. This wasn't better than designating a larger amount to a specific agency, but it fit my concerns at the time. I still suggest not supporting the UWay general fund because I am suspicious of UWay phrases such as "avoiding risky behaviors… teen pregnancies,… are preventable factors that can be addressed at the community level."
I had the same dilemma a couple years ago. Our United Way supported Planned Parenthood and some organizations that under the title of AIDS care actually promoted the homosexual lifestyle among youth and distributed contraception. I chose not to participate.It got harder the next year when the company began to match contributions 50%.Last year we were able to give to cirtually any charity of our choosing, United Way was just an option. But this year, all of the pro-life organizations, and even the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, have been removed from the list. I don't know if that was due to low or zero participation, or some other agenda.
Here is a series of emails I exchanged with the Illinois Right to Life Foundation regarding UW and pressures in the workplace:___________________________________Dear IRLC,My husband is being pressured at work to participate in a United Way campaign. I have heard that UW, while supporting Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Chicago, also supports Planned Parenthood. I also discovered that even if you designate where you want your contribution to go, the likelihood of that happening is next to nothing because designated contributions only go to the desired charity if their present funding level is already met.Can you advise me on whether contributing to United Way is appropriate under a pro-life stance?Thanks.___________________________________Your concerns about United Way are correct. While it is true that designated contributions do not work because of budgetary constraints as you describe, there is one way to bypass that constraint — give to an organization that is not within the official sponsored list.Illinois Right to Life Committee (IRLC) has a number of supporters who were pressured about United Way. They discovered they could designate their donation for IRLC. This option is not made visible, but does exist because we still get checks from United Way, and we are definitely not a sponsored agency of their fundraising.We have placed the following statement on the IRLC web site under "How Can I Help?" to give people a chance to learn about this hidden option:Did you know that you can designate your United Way donations to Illinois Right to Life? This will allow you to make sure that your donation does not go to an organization that promotes or refers for abortion. When asked to contribute, just ask for the form that allows you to designate the recipient of your donation.Of course, this strategy would work with any charity of your choice that is not a sponsored agency of United Way's fundraising. We hope you will consider IRLC.Thanks._________________________________Dear IRLC,I read this article which made me think designating money did not work. But if you are getting checks from them, that makes me feel better about it, although I question the idea of even taking money from an organization that also funds abortion. It can be so confusing with all the mixed signals.http://www2.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=166446Thanks for your quick response.___________________________________I agree. As described in the article, the designation would not work for any agency that receives allocated money from United Way. For organizations like IRLC that are not "within the club", any designated money must be sent to IRLC because nothing was budgeted for IRLC by United Way. Of course, the article points out that Untied Way takes a 12% administrative cut so a direct donation to IRLC will still produce more money for us. We certainly prefer direct donations. We do think that when job pressures for donating are too great to ignore, this safety valve at least ensures that none of the donation will reach a pro-abortion organization. IRLC is not seeking to become an affiliate of United Way nor encouraging donations through United Way except when political pressures at work cannot be ignored. Thanks for sending the article you referenced. That article confirms we understood the basic process, but give us more details on that process.Thanks.___________________________________My conclusion:Personally, I would not give to United Way. Even if they say the money you contribute goes to a certain place, I would not trust them to even do that. So what if it is low participation. It won't cover the cost of a stamp to send a check? It is so insidious. We must be vigilant.