Does your place of employment support United Way?

[Ozy_Flame]

I work for a municipal government and I promote their causes internally. I've done my part, even if it is part of my job.

Also, not sure why left-wing or right-wing would really matter to people. The United Way supports various community campaigns and issues, and even the best of us know that communities need the on-going support.

[metallicat]

My place of employment automatically takes charitable contributions off, for a total of 91.37 so far this year. No idea where that money goes.

[GGG]

I don't like the united way as it is just a fundraising agency. Effectively it is the middleman who then gives money to other charities. So the united way spends 10%-20% of the donations of overhead/fundraising and then give the money to another charity who spends 10% to 20% on overhead.

I perfer to give directly to a charity of my choosing (which the company also matches). I also don't like the whole campaign at my company. It is very agressive and if you decide not to participate the people doing the collecting definately are judging you.

I also don't like that the charity's they give to are local ones. Our tax dollars should be supporting neccessary programs to help out society where required. I feel that the whole non-profit industry is self-perpetuating. We could bulid more shelters and they would just fill up with more homeless because calgary would become an easier place to be homeless. We need to de-incentivise homelessness and the charities supported by the united way don't do this

I perfer to support groups that work on sustainable water projects in third world countries. If there is one thing that we can do to get the biggest bang for our development / charitable dollar it is providing clean water to people without it.

[KevanGuy]

Originally Posted by dirk diggler

just out of curiousity, what does the big shots at United Way currently make?

I don't know. Call and ask them.

[Bownesian]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

Yes, do explain please. I may double my contribution.

The last United Way television ad campaign was the Caught Red Handed ad. One of the things that one of the people was caught red handed doing was "supporting social progress in her community" at the ballot box. This does not mean voting for a right wing party and to my mind means the same as vote NDP if they might win, Liberal if they can't.

[La Flames Fan]

Did you know?

You can dictate which charity you want your money to go to through the United Way as long as they have a charity number in Canada.

EDIT: You don't need the charity number either, if you go through they're website, they will most likely have it on file or will find the number for you.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Bownesian

The last United Way television ad campaign was the Caught Red Handed ad. One of the things that one of the people was caught red handed doing was "supporting social progress in her community" at the ballot box. This does not mean voting for a right wing party and to my mind means the same as vote NDP if they might win, Liberal if they can't.

Was that a serious post?

[Bownesian]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Was that a serious post?

Yes.

"Progress" and "progressive" is a politically loaded term and the image was of a woman voting for an implied progressive political party. If the ad had said "supporting free market solutions to social problems" at the ballot box, it wouldn't have meant supporting the NDP - it would have meant it was a good thing to vote Conservative.

I understand that the United Way has always social policy advocacy as part of its charter but now that they have crossed the line to supporting certain political parties over others in a national ad campaign, I will not support them.

I believe that "progressive" policies do more to entrench poverty than they do to fight it because they decrease total wealth in society and economies. I will not support a charity that is acting to undermine something that I believe.

[KevanGuy]

Originally Posted by Bownesian

I understand that the United Way has always social policy advocacy as part of its charter but now that they have crossed the line to supporting certain political parties over others in a national ad campaign, I will not support them.

That is a local campaign, not a national one.

[JerzeeGirl]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Was that a serious post?

I had the same question....

The UW is the big drive at my office and I've worked on setting up our campaigns ever since I started here (the last 6 or 7yrs).

From their FAQ:

- of every dollar raised, 89cents is re-invested into the community while 11cents is used on overhead
- the UW doesn't fund religious/political projects - only human services & programs that benefit and are accessible to all members of the community
- you can choose specific types of charities to donate to or the actual charities themselves to avoid donating to something you may not want to support

Not to preach about it, but I'm glad to donate towards making the community a better place for people who aren't as lucky as I am to have a job/home etc. The UW, to me, is an ideal way to direct my charitable donations to a specific purpose and to know that the money will get there.

[Bownesian]

Originally Posted by KevanGuy

That is a local campaign, not a national one.

I assumed it was national because of this:
http://www.unitedwaysouthniagara.ca/...6/Default.aspx

It could be that the local organisations decide their own campaigns and these two choose to run the same name in their ads.

JerZeeGirl - Also from the FAQ:

Why is United Way involved in advocacy work?

While the majority of our work is partnering with many organizations to address immediate needs and to get at the root cause of social issues to prevent them from happening in the first place, we have also learned that there are some barriers in municipal, provincial and federal social policy. By advocating change around these social policies, we can make a more significant impact in our community.

The Calgary campaign has taken this advocacy to the point of choosing to support one brand of politics over another, in my opinion. They have decided that the "barriers" are the parties in power. That's their choice but not one that I have to support.

I realise that this seems a bit obtuse but that part of that ad rubbed me the wrong way and changed my opinion about what their goals are. In my mind, they went from a great charity that met lots of peoples' needs to one that advocates something that I really disagree with. My local charity money will go to the Mustard Seed instead.

[Coach]