For 1% of our campaign revenue, United Way Worldwide (UWW) provides a wealth of knowledge, training and assistance for operating our local United Way. Additionally, the ability to carry the United Way brand brings with it international name recognition and credibility. Many large companies such as AT&T, Fed Ex, Huntington Bank, Kellogg, and UPS only allow United Way to conduct employee payroll deduct fund raising campaigns in their companies. Without our payment of 1% to UWW, the national system would not be able to maintain the quality of relationship that leads to this type of brand faithfulness. Additionally, we would not be allowed to conduct fund raising campaigns in these large companies. The result would be a loss of several hundred thousand dollars in charitable contributions each year to our local community. In addition, our local staff has the opportunity to take advantage of free training opportunities, sponsored by UWW, that would otherwise cost several thousand dollars each year.
The valuable partnership between our local United Way and United Way Worldwide should not be confused with a controlling relationship. UWW requires us to adhere to a set of membership requirements that pertain to brand compliance, financial accountability and ethical governance. They cannot and do not make decisions at the local level regarding fund raising, fund distribution, community work or employment. Our local United Way is governed by a local board of volunteer directors that have ultimate authority for the operations of our organization. They maintain responsibility for adhering to the UWW Membership Requirements and could choose to end that affiliation at anytime, with all assets being retained by the local organization in our local community. The board of directors also hires the local Executive Director to help manage many of these duties.
To download a copy of the UWW Membership Requirements, click here.
Much of the value in our relationship with UWW relates to their support of our work at the local level. In addition to face-to-face training, we receive constant information and support via the web that makes our work at the local level more effective and efficient. Specifically, we are striving to do a better job of serving our community by working toward a set of standards developed by UWW called the Standards of Excellence. The UWW Membership Requirements are a set of standards that we must adhere to in order to be a United Way. The Standards of Excellence are a set of guidelines that we may aspire to in order to be the best United Way that we can be and serve our community as effectively as possible.
To download a copy of the Standards of Excellence, click here.
Return to Local Investment of Funds
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