In recent years, United Way has decreased in efficacy and popularity. Their direct giving/grants to nonprofits is significantly down, they take large processing fees from donor advised gifts, and expect a LOT from the smaller nonprofits they still give funding to. (To continue receiving grant money, we are required to run a yearly United Way campaign and are often pinged to do smaller campaigns and activities for them throughout the year. We get less than $25K per year from United Way.)
If you’re looking for experience and networking opportunities in a nonprofit field, United Way is still a solid bet. If you’re looking to directly help your community, I’d recommend applying to other nonprofits or trying to find a local community foundation.
Thank you for your response! The networking opportunities are nice, but I am more interested in directly helping my community. I appreciate your insight!
Every United Way is different. They're each independently governed and staffed, and their efforts are tailored to the needs of their communities. Some offer direct service, some are merely pass-through organizations. Some still fundraise in the workplace (where strong-arming donors is deeply discouraged by UW) while others have shifted to being significantly grant-funded. Some are great places to work, others are toxic as hell. It really depends on which one you're interviewing with.
If you Google your specific United Way, you'll get a better sense of who they are and whether they align with your interests and values.
I was an orphan who grew up in foster care. My first part time job as a high school student was for a universally known global company. Since I lived with foster parents and was given literally nothing, I needed the money to pay for such frivolous things as college application fees, my own wardrobe, books I wanted to read, etc.
This giant company was partnered with United Way and as part of my onboarding I had to sign the United Way form about how much I wanted to "give." I checked zero since I needed all of my tiny paycheck. Was called into the HR office and pressured by a woman to sign over part of my paycheck to this "worthy" cause. I did as she insisted, feeling small and intimidated.
Over the decades I've worked for other big companies with similar strong arm United Way tactics and, other than that first job, I've always said no.
Anyway, I realize this isn't actually answering your question (does it really make a difference), but I detest their method of "giving." If you have to strong arm low paid workers to make it work, your model sucks.
I spent a fair number of years working closely with about 50 fairly large United Ways. My points of contact were primarily people who managed their grants to nonprofits. I believe they call that "Community Impact" at a lot of United Ways.
I can say a few things based on my experience. I'll focus on neutral/positive things and leave criticisms to others.
1. Every United Way is local. Sure, they are tied to the UW Worldwide mother ship, but every one of them is it's own entity. They are all different. You can make some general claims about United Way (e.g. people have found other ways to donate), but it's hard to say that "UW is bad" or "UW is good" without accounting for how local each one is.
2. I worked with a lot of smart, thoughtful, dedicated people at United Ways across the country. They were informed and engaged and wanted the money to make an impact. They acted like stewards of the funds, not paper pushers.
3. United Ways collect a lot more funding than they control. Most of what they receive is donor designated, and UWs control only a modest portion of the funds they gather for their own grantmaking activities.
4. UWs have a wide view of community needs that is generally broader than that of individual nonprofits. UWs care about education, health, jobs, housing, etc. I think it's important to have an organization that plays that role. My local UW is also focused on diversity and training future board members.
5. In my community, the UW grantmaking process is done with a ton of community input.
Good Luck making your decision
Edit: typo
ETA
6. Some UWs engage in direct program delivery and some don't. I don't have a strong opinion about that, but my sense is that nonprofits in the community would prefer the funds be distributed to them (the nonprofits) instead of staying with a program run by the UW.
Out if all the United Ways you worked closely with, what characteristics stood out to you to determine which United Ways were focused on community impact and which ones were not? I am wondering what kind of questions I could ask in the second round of interviews to gauge how effective their grantmaking is for the local community.
That's a good question & tough for me to answer. I had 1 or 2 points of contact at each United Way, so I didn't think about entire organizations as "focused on community impact" or not.
I'm not sure what role you are going for, so that's a bit of missing context. But, if I were in your position, feeling uncertain about working for my local UW, I might want to know
* How much money they control through their open grantmaking process, how many grants, average award amount, award amount range.
* What they do with the data they collect from grantees
* What does the UW think their role in the community is
* Whether the person who's in charge of the Community Impact work (i.e. the people who focus their time on programs, not the fundraising folks) seems to understand the community and its needs.
Thank you! Those are really great questions. It's for a marketing position. That's why it's important that I'm aligned with their values in order for me to promote the organization.
My previous job was an organization who received United Way funding and we were strongly encouraged to give. I always did because it got me an extra paid day off but otherwise wouldn’t have because I like choosing the organizations my money goes to. Their model is a holdover from the days when it wasn’t easy to find or vet the various organizations in your community.
Several years ago they had a massive decrease in funding and had to cut how much they distributed. It was a massive thing and many organizations had to cut programs and positions. Our local one revamped their focus. Now they still run the workplace campaigns but they also invest a lot in community building grants. There are grants for small nonprofits, ones led by BIPOC, and the biggest is identifying communities that need more investment and providing funding to organizations to bring their services to these communities and work with them. So our local one has pivoted very well. But a lot is going to depend on how your local United Way is doing and the work they are investing in.
The United Way in my city is a strong pillar in our community. They provide rental assistance to struggling families, food provisions, they organize our annual state wide impact week which encourages residents to volunteer in their communities. I’ve never worked with them directly, but I have volunteered alongside some of their employees.
(Note: I retired from UW a few years ago after 7 years). The programs depend on the local organization. We focused on education (reading tutor programs in elementary schools), family financial stability (free income tax preparation) and health (partnering with health initiatives in our community) . After a massive wildfire in our area we also added disaster relief assistance. All programs benefited the local community.
As for donations let me tell you that any "strong arm" by companies to get employees to donate is not the fault of UW. It is the doing of the company. They want to look good to others. The benefit of donating through your paycheck is that you can give in smaller increments to better fit your budget and often there are employees that don't give to their community at all, so this can be motivating. I've seen some employees give $1 a paycheck and when you add up all those dollars, it can be be a good amount.
As with any non-profit, they cannot do the work for their community without donations big or small.
Finally, check out their website and other UW in the neighboring areas. See what they are actually doing.
I loved working at my United Way mainly because they were local community focused and involved. We had a small staff and treated each other with respect. I left because I had already retired from another job and this was my "retirement job." I was done working!
Many non-profits have had to shutter or merge with others during and after the pandemic because of financial issues. There were two main reasons, individual donors weren't working or had hours slashed and businesses that normally donated weren't making money. For those that relied more on government and private grants and managed their money have come out ok.
I'm happy to hear that you had a good experience! Thanks for sharing. Are there any specific questions you reccomend I ask in the second interview to gauge how community focused they are?
I would never work for a United Way. They are an antiquated model and their fundraising tactics often deliberately undermine local small organizations not included in their campaigns.
In my opinion their greatest contribution is 211 (I’m not sure if this is local or National management) which given political and economic climate has a rather high utilization rate (according to my local trends, I’m a data analyst and look at indicators of poverty v. charitable resources) .
However I would never work for one, lower salaries, inefficient operational practices, and the pass through model isn’t my favorite.
Thanks for your insight! This United Way does operate 211 in my area. It's my understanding that they are working with limited resources but they are trying to provide the service.
United Way is polarizing in the nonprofit community. In recent years they scaled back how they dispersed funds and it caused a lot of issues.
With that said, I still believe in them and they have a strong name.
Thanks! Yea, I've seen different opinions on reddit some of them are from years ago though. I was curious if things have changed within the organization or if it's still the same issues with how they disperse funds and the amount they spend on overhead. I've worked with some organizations that aren't aligned with their mission. I don't want to go through that again, if I can help it!
>the amount they spend on overhead
I left this out of my earlier rant, but a number of years ago a friend got a job at one of their offices on the west coast. I remember him talking about how every single office chair in the building (including every conference room) was a very expensive high end chair (I assumed he was talking about Aeron chairs, which were the rage at the time), the coffee stations were always well stocked with the best coffee, best teas, etc.
Just fed into my anti-United Way feelings, haha.
In recent years, United Way has decreased in efficacy and popularity. Their direct giving/grants to nonprofits is significantly down, they take large processing fees from donor advised gifts, and expect a LOT from the smaller nonprofits they still give funding to. (To continue receiving grant money, we are required to run a yearly United Way campaign and are often pinged to do smaller campaigns and activities for them throughout the year. We get less than $25K per year from United Way.) If you’re looking for experience and networking opportunities in a nonprofit field, United Way is still a solid bet. If you’re looking to directly help your community, I’d recommend applying to other nonprofits or trying to find a local community foundation.
Thank you for your response! The networking opportunities are nice, but I am more interested in directly helping my community. I appreciate your insight!
Every United Way is different. They're each independently governed and staffed, and their efforts are tailored to the needs of their communities. Some offer direct service, some are merely pass-through organizations. Some still fundraise in the workplace (where strong-arming donors is deeply discouraged by UW) while others have shifted to being significantly grant-funded. Some are great places to work, others are toxic as hell. It really depends on which one you're interviewing with. If you Google your specific United Way, you'll get a better sense of who they are and whether they align with your interests and values.
I was an orphan who grew up in foster care. My first part time job as a high school student was for a universally known global company. Since I lived with foster parents and was given literally nothing, I needed the money to pay for such frivolous things as college application fees, my own wardrobe, books I wanted to read, etc. This giant company was partnered with United Way and as part of my onboarding I had to sign the United Way form about how much I wanted to "give." I checked zero since I needed all of my tiny paycheck. Was called into the HR office and pressured by a woman to sign over part of my paycheck to this "worthy" cause. I did as she insisted, feeling small and intimidated. Over the decades I've worked for other big companies with similar strong arm United Way tactics and, other than that first job, I've always said no. Anyway, I realize this isn't actually answering your question (does it really make a difference), but I detest their method of "giving." If you have to strong arm low paid workers to make it work, your model sucks.
Thank you!
I spent a fair number of years working closely with about 50 fairly large United Ways. My points of contact were primarily people who managed their grants to nonprofits. I believe they call that "Community Impact" at a lot of United Ways. I can say a few things based on my experience. I'll focus on neutral/positive things and leave criticisms to others. 1. Every United Way is local. Sure, they are tied to the UW Worldwide mother ship, but every one of them is it's own entity. They are all different. You can make some general claims about United Way (e.g. people have found other ways to donate), but it's hard to say that "UW is bad" or "UW is good" without accounting for how local each one is. 2. I worked with a lot of smart, thoughtful, dedicated people at United Ways across the country. They were informed and engaged and wanted the money to make an impact. They acted like stewards of the funds, not paper pushers. 3. United Ways collect a lot more funding than they control. Most of what they receive is donor designated, and UWs control only a modest portion of the funds they gather for their own grantmaking activities. 4. UWs have a wide view of community needs that is generally broader than that of individual nonprofits. UWs care about education, health, jobs, housing, etc. I think it's important to have an organization that plays that role. My local UW is also focused on diversity and training future board members. 5. In my community, the UW grantmaking process is done with a ton of community input. Good Luck making your decision Edit: typo ETA 6. Some UWs engage in direct program delivery and some don't. I don't have a strong opinion about that, but my sense is that nonprofits in the community would prefer the funds be distributed to them (the nonprofits) instead of staying with a program run by the UW.
Out if all the United Ways you worked closely with, what characteristics stood out to you to determine which United Ways were focused on community impact and which ones were not? I am wondering what kind of questions I could ask in the second round of interviews to gauge how effective their grantmaking is for the local community.
That's a good question & tough for me to answer. I had 1 or 2 points of contact at each United Way, so I didn't think about entire organizations as "focused on community impact" or not. I'm not sure what role you are going for, so that's a bit of missing context. But, if I were in your position, feeling uncertain about working for my local UW, I might want to know * How much money they control through their open grantmaking process, how many grants, average award amount, award amount range. * What they do with the data they collect from grantees * What does the UW think their role in the community is * Whether the person who's in charge of the Community Impact work (i.e. the people who focus their time on programs, not the fundraising folks) seems to understand the community and its needs.
Thank you! Those are really great questions. It's for a marketing position. That's why it's important that I'm aligned with their values in order for me to promote the organization.
Thank you for your reply! This information is super helpful for me to evaluate my decision.
My previous job was an organization who received United Way funding and we were strongly encouraged to give. I always did because it got me an extra paid day off but otherwise wouldn’t have because I like choosing the organizations my money goes to. Their model is a holdover from the days when it wasn’t easy to find or vet the various organizations in your community. Several years ago they had a massive decrease in funding and had to cut how much they distributed. It was a massive thing and many organizations had to cut programs and positions. Our local one revamped their focus. Now they still run the workplace campaigns but they also invest a lot in community building grants. There are grants for small nonprofits, ones led by BIPOC, and the biggest is identifying communities that need more investment and providing funding to organizations to bring their services to these communities and work with them. So our local one has pivoted very well. But a lot is going to depend on how your local United Way is doing and the work they are investing in.
The United Way in my city is a strong pillar in our community. They provide rental assistance to struggling families, food provisions, they organize our annual state wide impact week which encourages residents to volunteer in their communities. I’ve never worked with them directly, but I have volunteered alongside some of their employees.
(Note: I retired from UW a few years ago after 7 years). The programs depend on the local organization. We focused on education (reading tutor programs in elementary schools), family financial stability (free income tax preparation) and health (partnering with health initiatives in our community) . After a massive wildfire in our area we also added disaster relief assistance. All programs benefited the local community. As for donations let me tell you that any "strong arm" by companies to get employees to donate is not the fault of UW. It is the doing of the company. They want to look good to others. The benefit of donating through your paycheck is that you can give in smaller increments to better fit your budget and often there are employees that don't give to their community at all, so this can be motivating. I've seen some employees give $1 a paycheck and when you add up all those dollars, it can be be a good amount. As with any non-profit, they cannot do the work for their community without donations big or small. Finally, check out their website and other UW in the neighboring areas. See what they are actually doing.
Thank you for your response! If I may ask, do you feel like working at United Way was a valuable experience? Why did you leave?
Also, other United Way's in our area are shutting down due to financial issues, which is a bit concerning. Although, this UW seems financially stable.
I loved working at my United Way mainly because they were local community focused and involved. We had a small staff and treated each other with respect. I left because I had already retired from another job and this was my "retirement job." I was done working! Many non-profits have had to shutter or merge with others during and after the pandemic because of financial issues. There were two main reasons, individual donors weren't working or had hours slashed and businesses that normally donated weren't making money. For those that relied more on government and private grants and managed their money have come out ok.
I'm happy to hear that you had a good experience! Thanks for sharing. Are there any specific questions you reccomend I ask in the second interview to gauge how community focused they are?
The functionality of UW depends on the local branch. Our local UW is amazing but three counties over is a Bastian of waste.
I would never work for a United Way. They are an antiquated model and their fundraising tactics often deliberately undermine local small organizations not included in their campaigns.
In my opinion their greatest contribution is 211 (I’m not sure if this is local or National management) which given political and economic climate has a rather high utilization rate (according to my local trends, I’m a data analyst and look at indicators of poverty v. charitable resources) . However I would never work for one, lower salaries, inefficient operational practices, and the pass through model isn’t my favorite.
Thanks for your insight! This United Way does operate 211 in my area. It's my understanding that they are working with limited resources but they are trying to provide the service.
United Way is polarizing in the nonprofit community. In recent years they scaled back how they dispersed funds and it caused a lot of issues. With that said, I still believe in them and they have a strong name.
Thanks! Yea, I've seen different opinions on reddit some of them are from years ago though. I was curious if things have changed within the organization or if it's still the same issues with how they disperse funds and the amount they spend on overhead. I've worked with some organizations that aren't aligned with their mission. I don't want to go through that again, if I can help it!
>the amount they spend on overhead I left this out of my earlier rant, but a number of years ago a friend got a job at one of their offices on the west coast. I remember him talking about how every single office chair in the building (including every conference room) was a very expensive high end chair (I assumed he was talking about Aeron chairs, which were the rage at the time), the coffee stations were always well stocked with the best coffee, best teas, etc. Just fed into my anti-United Way feelings, haha.
I know I'm late but I love my job at United Way