A new philosophy by the United Way of Douglas County has caused 2012 funding amounts for several local social service agencies to swing wildly, with some agencies seeing funding changes of about $100,000.
Officials with the United Way recently announced their 2012 funding allocations, and now several agencies are making midyear budget adjustments to reflect new funding realities.
“It is a big change for several organizations,” said Erika Dvorske, executive director of the local United Way. “We’ve asked our volunteers to really look through a whole new lens when it comes to allocating funding.”
Dvorske said the United Way board was asked to not consider past amounts an organization received in funding, but rather to make all allocation decisions based on how an organization’s programs fit into one of three community goals: improving education, self-sufficiency and health.
The new process produced some dramatic changes for organizations. The Ballard Center saw the largest decline in funding, losing about $102,000 in United Way funding compared with 2011. Dianne Ensminger, president and CEO of Ballard, said the loss of funding most greatly will affect the agency’s emergency utility and rent assistance program.
“We know the United Way is working to do what is most appropriate with its new funding model, but it is still disappointing to experience a significant decrease in funding,” Ensminger said.
She said the United Way funding accounted for about half of the emergency rent and utility assistance program. She said the economy has caused demand for such assistance to increase.
“We are seeing more and more families that are ending up at the lake or living out of cars because they can’t get the assistance they need,” Ensminger said.
Ensminger said the Ballard Center is working to conduct more fundraising and will hope Douglas County commissioners can provide an increase in funding for the organization in 2013.
The Lawrence-based Success by 6 Coalition received the largest funding increase, receiving approximately $138,000 more than it did in 2011. Rich Minder, projects coordinator for Success by 6, said the new funding will allow the organization to greatly expand the training and assistance it provides to early childhood education centers in Douglas County.
Minder estimated the organization would be able to provide assistance — everything from direct grants for child-care centers to coaching programs for teachers — to 11 additional early-childhood education centers in 2012.
“In 10 years, I really do believe that anybody in Douglas County who has children zero to 6 years old, and who needs child care in order to work, can be guaranteed high-quality, affordable child care,” Minder said. “We really can get there, and this is a step in that direction.”
But Dvorske said she recognizes the new funding model may mean difficulties for some agencies. Several “safety net” type of organizations saw funding declines, including a $41,000 cut to the The Salvation Army, a $24,000 cut to the American Red Cross and a $23,000 cut to Headquarters Counseling Center. But Dvorske said the United Way was still committed to funding safety net programs. She pointed to a $60,000 increase for the Just Food program, which provides food to people in need.
Dvorske said the new funding system by United Way ultimately will help local nonprofits work together and will allow the community to better track the progress of important community goals. But she also said United Way board members recognize the funding program will leave gaps in important community services.
“We absolutely have a concern that all the needs in the community are not being met,” Dvorske said. “That was true before this change and will be true after it. But we believe how we address those unmet needs are through coordination, planning and setting some goals.”
Comments
srj 1 year, 1 month ago
Basically the more your charity has to do with kids, the more you got?
cato_the_elder 1 year, 1 month ago
I've contributed generously to the United Way for many years, but this may be the last. There is no organization in Lawrence that more directly benefits the needy than the Ballard Center, which was established by Petey Cerf four decades ago. Who gets how much United Way funding has in recent years been greatly affected by the current fad of measuring "outcomes" (which can't be measured in the first place), and the age-old proposition of who knows who on the United Way board. As a result, I'm ready to cut loose.
ramp 1 year, 1 month ago
I agree.
Jane 1 year, 1 month ago
I've always given directly to the agencies of my choice.
oxymoron 1 year, 1 month ago
I totally agree and do.
fanofKU 1 year, 1 month ago
And, should! It would be interesting to see how much of the United Way donations are used for administrative expenses. Did this allocation committee REALLY know what they were doing? Everyone who gave to the United Way because they fund so many organizations should quit giving and give their money directly to the organization. There is NO need for the middle man. Not only did the organizations get ripped off, the donor did as well.
The United Way should be ashamed!!!
ECM 1 year, 1 month ago
You can find out how almost any charity spends your money by looking at Charity Navigator.com The national office of UW reports that 90.6% of every dollar goes to the charity, while the KC UW office reports that 88.7%.
I prefer that 100% of my donation reach my charities of choice which is why I give directly vs. a organization like UW
chucklehead 1 year, 1 month ago
Me too. I have worked directly with UW and it was a disappointment. I have worked with several agencies that have directly benefited from UW funds and some have been great, some worked the politics and were terrible at running their agencies but were well-funded. I am sick to death of their campaign, and how they manipulate so many employers into bullying their employees to give to UW too. Sorry to hear that Ballard will struggle more from this. They do some great work.
thinkagain 1 year, 1 month ago
I hope the social service agencies and the families who need these services recognize that this is an opportunity to help realign thinking on the financial assistance. It would be much better if families paid their rent and utilities FIRST and the agencies helped with things like gas vouchers, car repair and micro loans with much lower interest rates than payday loans which suck the life out of working poor families.
sourpuss 1 year, 1 month ago
The United Way is a charitable middle man and they must necessarily take a cut of your donation before passing it on. Donate directly to causes you support and try to divide your donation between local, state, and national/global charities. You can also volunteer your TIME.
sciencegeek 1 year, 1 month ago
So you donate to the United Way, and THEN they decide that THEY will change where they put YOUR money? Yeah, right. One more reason not to give to the United Way. Donate direct to the charity of your choice and skip the officious, overpaid middleman.
youngjayhawk 1 year, 1 month ago
I agree with many of the above posts. I stopped giving to the United Way years ago; mainly, because I resented being told by my employer that I had to give. I give to community charities of my choice throughout the year and feel much better about it.
Ragingbear 1 year, 1 month ago
Crop Circle!
Bigdog66046 1 year, 1 month ago
Doesnt anybody else feel that we have WAY to many charities? Wouldn't things be much more efficent if when someone needed help or welfare they all went to ONE place. That way we only have one set of staff, one large building and dont have people abusing all the charities? ALOT of people take "help" and abuse the many diffrent groups. We need ONE place and ONE set of administrators for all "charity", would save alot of money and get help to those who truly need it! Not 15 groups that all have rent/ payroll etc. for the same thing!
none2 1 year, 1 month ago
I was under the impression that was kind of how churches used to function. However, not everybody goes to church, and those that do, do not necessarily go to the same church. Thus secular non-profits and the government have more taken over that role.
toe 1 year, 1 month ago
The United Way is a terrible relic of the past when the wealthy business owners were often looked to to "guide" the community. This plantation mentality still exists at the UW. Make your own decisions, give generously, and make it public. When you get pressure at work to give, show them the support you are already giving to the community and mention who you work for when you do give. Encourage your employer to match your gift. There are better ways to give. The United Way is so yesterday.
chucklehead 1 year, 1 month ago
Hey LJ World, any chance you can get your hands on all the cuts and increases to share with us? Or point us to a URL that will tell us? I am curious about what agencies are considered to promote improving education, self-sufficiency and health. And how are they measuring "self-sufficiency"?
Romans832 1 year, 1 month ago
I can't find a way to provide a link, but if you can get into the Green ed. (or find a print copy), look on page 2, bottom left. There is a list of each agency and how much they lost or gained, in terms of dollars.
Catalano 1 year, 1 month ago
The list was in the hard copy of today's paper, but it didn't indicate which of the three areas each group fell into.
chucklehead 1 year, 1 month ago
Thanks for the info :)
ivalueamerica 1 year, 1 month ago
you got my vote for the most ignorant, ill formed and just plain silly post of the day.
You are great...as a joke.
RETICENT_IRREVERENT 1 year, 1 month ago
I feel that Chad Lawhorn has done a great disservice to the Lawrence community by not providing complete information and properly researching UnitedWay funding allocations.
This current new approach to funding programs that have the biggest community impact by the UnitedWay was started in 2010.
Rather than just throwing money at issues that have immediate impact, but no long lasting community effect, they focused on how to create the biggest community impact by funding programs that provide lasting effects that are measurable and continue to improve lives of the program participants and the whole community, not just temporarily helping the direct program participants. The three pronged approach of Education, Health and Self Sufficiency begins by funding the Education Goal in 2012 through 2014, then funding the Health goal in 2013 through 2015, and then finally the Self Sufficiency goal in 2014 through 2016. This approach gives the most bang for the buck and is results driven and has measurable effects.
These are the factors that the funding decisions were based on: Limited funds for more programs. Requests for Health and Self Sufficiency program funding were double the available dollars, due in part to additional agencies applying for funds. Volunteers were looking to make the dollars go as far as possible while covering a wide range of needs and requests. 2. Goals. Programs that illustrated progress towards the goals received priority funding. Decisions were not based on historical funding. 3. Collaboration.. Programs that reflect intense programmatic collaboration received priority funding. The demand is far greater than we can address and we seek more and better ways to identify collaborative efforts that engage all kinds of support. 4. Leveraging Dollars. Programs that use United Way dollars to match or bring in additional dollars received priority funding. Again, volunteers viewed this as a great way to stretch our available funds. 5. Emergency Services. The United Way remains committed to emergency services such as food, shelter, rent, utility assistance and crisis response as they impact progress on the goals.
All this information is available on the UnitedWay's website.
The reporter failed to mention that part of the funding for Successby6 that is going to the Ballard Center for programs that serve the education goal. Ballard center has the opportunity to apply for funding by collaborating with other community programs and writing measurable goals that will have the greatest community impact toward the Health and Self Sufficiency goals.
I would guess that Dianne Ensminger, president and CEO of Ballard Center does not want people to stop helping the UnitedWay meet these goals, as this could jeopardize funding for the Ballard Center even more.
Ljames 1 year, 1 month ago
Dianne and ballard do a great job. Ballard has other agiencies under their umbrella Penn House and a day care program from edgewood she does a great job keeping all things running she is also a great fundraiser herself. I hate to see the utility and rent assistance programs cut because the low income in lawrence is the ones that will be affected. Keep up the good work guys.
Loretta James, Retired volunteer of 16 years at Penn House
deec 1 year, 1 month ago
The success by 6 website is a joke. The "current news" is a press release from 2008. I wonder which will have a greater impact on a child's school success: having some educator come to the home and teach parents how to parent; or having a roof over their head and food in their belly? The mission statement is typical educationalese, lots of meaningless phrases all strung together to sound important. And it won;t matter if the children are ready for success when they get to school since the schools are being defunded, and jobs are leaving the country. From the press release aka current news from four years ago "Finally the block grant funds a program to support the development of “soft skills” that our future workforce will need to be productive in the workplace. " In other words, the grant funds brainwashing children to be good little workers and consumers.
Katara 1 year, 1 month ago
Just realize that Rich Minder is involved and that should explain why it is such a joke.
I had a conversation with him when full day Kindergarten was being introduced.He was convinced that it would reduce childcare expenses for working families. That man could not be more wrong. It just increases the need for before and after school childcare which is difficult to obtain. And in many cases, the cost for part-time daycare is not less than full-time daycare.
He just didn't understand that many working families have to leave the home to get to work way before the school bell and that many are not home until well after school.
thinkagain 1 year, 1 month ago
The money given to Boys and Girls should benefit families such as yours who need more programs that provide before and after school care and not than full day Kindergarten.
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