Profiteering...
The United Way
Sightings from The Catbird Seat
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More examples of How To Pluck A Non-Profit...
United Way of America
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
United Way of America, based in Alexandria, Virginia, is a non-profit organization that works with nearly 1,300 local United Way offices throughout the country in a coalition of charitable organizations to pool efforts in fundraising and support.
The focus of United Way is identifying and resolving pressing community issues, as well as making measurable changes in the communities through partnerships with schools, government agencies, businesses, organized labor, financial institutions, community development corporations, voluntary and neighborhood associations, the faith community, and others. The issues United Way offices focus on are determined locally because of the diversity of the communities served.
History
The organization has roots in Denver, Colorado, where in 1887 church leaders began the Charity Organization Society which coordinated services and fund raising for 22 agencies. Many Community Chest organizations, which were founded in the first half of the twentieth century to jointly collect and allocate money, joined the American Association for Community Organizations in 1918. The first Community Chest was founded in 1913 in Cleveland, Ohio, after the example of the Jewish Federation in Cleveland -- which served as an exemplary model for "federated giving". The number of Community Chest organizations increased from 39 to 353 between 1919 and 1929, and surpassed 1,000 by 1948. In 1948, Walter C. Laidlaw merged the Community Chest and other Detroit charities to form the United Foundation. By 1963, and after several name changes, the term United Way was adopted, but not everyone chose to use it.
William Aramony became CEO of the national governing body, the United Community Funds and Council of America (UCFCA) in 1970 and the organization was renamed, United Way of America (UWA), and moved from New York City to Alexandria, Virginia in 1971.
Frances Wisebart Jacobs, known as Colorado's "Mother of Charities," was the driving force behind the concept of today's United Way. In 1887, she spearheaded the creation of the Charity Organization Society, which became a federation of charities that coordinated fundraising and other efforts and shared the proceeds. This was the model that led to the creation of today's United Way, which recognizes Jacobs as its founder. She brought together the Rev. Myron W. Reed, Msgr. William J. O'Ryan, Dean H. Martyn Hart and Rabbi William S. Friedman to put their heads together and plan the first united campaign for ten health and welfare agencies. They created an organization to serve as an agent to collect funds for local charities, as well as to coordinate relief services, counsel and refer clients to cooperating agencies, and make emergency assistance grants in cases which could not be referred.
That year, Denver raised $21,700 and created a movement that spread throughout the county to become the United Way. Over 118 years later, United Way is still in operation.
In the 2007 Philanthropy 400, United Way of America was again the largest charity in the United States, with 1,285 local United Ways reporting over $4.2 billion in contributions, a 2.2% increase over 2006....
National partnerships
The on-going partnership with the National Football League began in 1973 when the NFL and United Way of America came together to discuss the possibility of using the NFL’s network contract airtime to promote United Way during game telecasts. Commissioner Pete Rozelle recognized the partnership as a viable means of communicating the good works of United Ways while putting faces on a league of players hidden by helmets.
National partnerships with over 100 corporations are formalized through the National Corporate Leadership Program.
Since 1946, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and United Way of America have enjoyed a cooperative relationship
Leadership 18 a coalition which represents long-established charities, faith-based organizations, and social and health groups that support and promote the safety, health, well-being and social and economic development of people across America.
Criticism and scandals
The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved....
Reportedly, some workplaces with United Way collection programs do not follow commonly used ethical procedures when soliciting donations. Employees may be pressured into donating through peer pressure which is tolerated by management. United Way has made public that it does not support such measures. In some workplaces, the employees who may disagree with United Way's programs, ethics, and scandals are "strongly encouraged" to give.
Some local United Way chapters have faced criticism that their donation options are misleading. United Way allows individuals to specify that their donation go to a particular charity. However, if that charity is already a part of the United Way network, the money sent to that charity may not be affected by user requests unless the total amount of designations exceeds the amount otherwise budgeted for that charity. This rarely happens even for the most frequently designated charities, meaning that in practice individual designations have no effect on United Way funding.
In 1995, William Aramony, CEO of the national organization, and in 2004, Oral Suer, CEO of the Washington, D.C. chapter, were convicted of misuse of donations. Norman O. Taylor, Oral Suer's replacement, was never charged with misconduct, but was forced to resign.
In 2001, Vassar College decided to end its annual support of United Way due to United Way's giving to the Boy Scouts of America.
Across the country many individuals and groups have withdrawn their support from the organization because of United Way’s decision not to fund the Boy Scouts of America.
Others have withdrawn their support from the United Way because of its support for Planned Parenthood and other groups that support abortion.
In April 2006, the New York City United Way revealed misappropriation of assets by Ralph Dickerson, Jr., the retired CEO of that chapter. The appropriation of resources occurred over a three year period, ending in 2005. Mr. Dickerson agreed to reimburse the organization for around $37,000 in personal expenses and approximately $190,000 worth of points that Mr. Dickerson had redeemed for hotel lodging. The points had been donated to the organization and were administered by Dickerson's office; therefore, they had not been officially accounted for.
In May 2006, Kim Tran the former CFO of United Way of the National Capital Area (Washington, D.C.) resigned, claiming many issues remain.
In August 2008, Gloria Pace King was asked to resign from her position as CEO of United Way of Central Carolina after being paid more than $1.2 million dollars in 2007....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Way_of_America
April 9, 2005
Boycott United Way!
by Hans Zeiger
I've finally had it with the United Way. This week, yet another United Way chapter cut off funding to the Boy Scouts of America. United Way of Northwestern Michigan in Traverse City, Michigan will entirely remove the Scenic Trails Boy Scouts Council from its charitable giving campaign.
This is preposterous, as are the over five dozen other decisions by United Way chapters around the country to exclude the Boy Scouts from fundraising efforts. Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the Scouts have the right to exclude homosexuals from leadership and membership, the anti-Scout backlash has been most vicious at the hands of the United Way.
In Northwestern Michigan, fourteen counties and several thousand Boy Scouts are affected by the United Way decision to deny funding. The Scouts' application for $30,000 was rejected on the basis that the application was "not compelling." That's a simple way of saying that the Scout Oath and Law are not good enough qualifiers for financial support.
United Way of Northwestern Michigan isn't the only United Way to declare war on the Boy Scouts in recent weeks. So too have the United Way of Austin, Texas and the United Way of Central Ohio.
The largest United Ways in the largest cities have all broken ties to Scouting. San Francisco was the first to exclude the Scouts in 1992, followed by cities like Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Madison, Sacramento, Hartford, Seattle, Dallas, Tucson, Providence, Santa Fe, Miami, Portland, Maine, and Portland, Oregon.
It's time for Americans who care about the Boy Scouts to stop giving to anti-Scout United Ways. Even if it's convenient to make contributions through your workplace or if you've always supported the United Way, discontinue giving to the United Way if it no longer gives to the Scouts. Until we stop supporting anti-Scout United Way chapters, the United Way will increasingly de-fund the Boy Scouts in cities and towns across the country.
It is difficult for me to recommend a boycott of an organization that has done so much for America since 1918. I have personally benefited from the United Way as the recipient of a United Way college scholarship, and I participated in a local United Way youth advisory council.
But I realize the desperate moral situation we face. As an Eagle Scout, I see the forces of the Left arrayed against the Boy Scouts of America, and I have no choice but to fight back. United Way has increasingly allied itself with the radical homosexual movement at the expense of its once-close association with Scouting.
Today, more and more, the United Way is ditching the Boy Scouts, abandoning honor, utterly despising America's finest youth organization....
http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article3309.html
August 29, 2003
ANOTHER UNITED WAY SCANDAL
DISILLUSIONMENT WITH THE WELFARE STATE
By: Ted Lang
Information concerning a major accounting and fiscal scandal at the United Way of the National Capital Area continues to trickle out. An ongoing criminal investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alexandria, Virginia. Several investigative elements of the federal government have been involved at varying stages of this ongoing investigation, including the U.S. Department of Labor auditors, the FBI, and auditors from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Charitable organizations identified as providing "human services," the latter including services which assist in the physical, emotional and sometimes spiritual growth and development of individuals, families, groups and communities, are defined as "nongovernmental organizations" [NGO], and are identified also as the "third sector" of civilized society. A study was published by Margaret Gibelman, DSW, and Sheldon R. Gelman, Ph.D., and presented to the International Society for Third Sector Research on July 7, 2000, at the Society’s Fourth International Conference held in Dublin, Ireland.
Gibelman and Gelman’s study, entitled "Very Public Scandals: An Analysis of How and Why Nongovernmental Organizations Get in Trouble – A Working Paper," serves to explain the very type of administrative breakdowns now evident at the United Way of the National Capital Area [UWNCA].
Gibelman and Gelman offer some informative background in their study, stating that, "The third sector has become a more significant economic and social force throughout the world and its growth substantially exceeds the other economic sectors. The burgeoning growth and development of NGOs in the last quarter of the 20th century relates, in part, to the world-wide quest to find alternatives to government in the provision of human services, a quest largely borne out of a disillusionment with government’s handling of the welfare state."
The Gibelman-Gelman study continues, "NGOs occupy different roles and functions within their respective host countries. Throughout the 1990s, articles about NGO wrongdoings began to appear in the U.S. press. Our review of instances of wrongdoing on the part of NGOs reveals that all have involved money and are opportunistic in nature. The incidents are motivated by self-interest (greed), perceived entitlement, or sexual fulfillment. Most have occurred over a lengthy period of time, are not precipitous, reflect a lack of board oversight, and have long term impacts on the organization."
All of these basic attributes are applicable to the current UWNCA scandal. In fact, the study cites a previous United Way of America case dating back to 1992. In that incident, United Way’s chief executive was at the center of the scandal. The study offers, "A ground-setting case involved the United Way of America (UWA), one of the nation’s largest and most esteemed fund raising arms for third sector services. The United Way is a network of over 2,000 local organizations that raises over $3 billion a year for charity."
"This case is instructive because it shows the longevity of scandals afflicting NGOs and the long-term salience of wrongdoing in the public’s mind. In 1992, in response to concerns expressed by local UWA affiliates, the United Way Board of Governors set up an independent investigation of the allegations against the chief executive officer, William Aramony, who had served in his position for 22 years. The resulting report concluded that Mr. Aramony’s ‘haphazard’ management style resulted in a breach of trust placed in him by the United Way’s Board and the public," relate Gibelman and Gelman.
The study summarizes the criminal charges filed against Aramony: "After a two year investigation, Mr. Aramony was indicted by a federal grand jury of conspiring to defraud the United Way, filing false tax returns and falsifying records to hide the diversion of money, [and] following a lengthy and well-publicized trial, Mr. Aramony was found guilty of 25 felony charges and was sentenced to seven years in prison."
The most startling similarity between the Aramony case, and the current case of former United Way Executive Vice President, Oral Suer, is that the misappropriation of funds, advances against salary, and non-business expenditures, along with a lack of accounting records and documents, occurred over a great span of time.
The Washington Post in an August 17th article entitled "Dealings of Charity Executive Concealed," by staff writers Peter Whoriskey and Jacqueline L. Salmon, points out that, "The financial dealings of Oral Suer, the former United Way chief accused in an audit last week of taking more than $1.5 million in questionable payments from the local charity, were first flagged by auditors more than 15 years ago but remained a closely held secret among a handful of prominent board members even as the losses mounted over time, audits and interviews show."
Some of the glaring infractions listed in the audit report uncovered by the auditors from PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, engaged by the law firm hired by the new UWNCA Board of Directors to represent them, were: "…apparently unreimbursed and/or potentially questioned payments total[ing] approximately $786,000, for the period 1974 to 2002, and this amount excludes the approximately $1,747, 500 in regularly authorized payroll also made payable to him in the same period. These payments took the form of:
1. Unreimbursed advances
2. Potentially questionable vacation/sick leave cash payments
3. Apparently excess deferred compensation paid."
The August 7th PricewaterhouseCoopers report was sent to the law firm of Covington & Burling. The report indicates that $230,407 was also paid to Mr. Suer borrowing against his pension fund, which he never repaid....
Suer, with no authority other than his own signature, "borrowed" $3 million from the CFC fund without explanation, and although the money was repaid in a month, interest for that month in the amount of $13,273.91 was credited as a liability to the CFC, but never paid. This situation brought on an audit by the Government’s Office of Personnel Management, the agency responsible for the CFC.... Another custodian for the D.C. area has been selected for this year’s effort.
The Gibelman-Gelman study explained that NGO fraud occurs over extended periods of time, and pointed to a "haphazard management style" best exemplified by a total lack of accounting and reporting disciplines. When combined with a lack of governing board oversight, and further compounded by allowing exposed questionable practices to continue unabated in the hopes of dealing with the situation "privately" some time in the future, an environment is created that can easily be capitalized upon by greed.
It appears that only government intervention in the form of increased regulatory standards for charitable organizations, organizations created "out of disillusionment with government’s handling of the welfare state," will be required to inject the integrity absent these days in both the public and private sectors.
"Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact."
http://www.etherzone.com/2003/lang082903.shtml
November 28, 2001
Bill O’Reilly: Talking Points
More on The United Way
I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thank you for watching us tonight....
I hope you saw last night's Factor as something very extraordinary happened. That's the subject of this evening's "Talking Points" memo. As you may know, we have been investigating the United Way September 11 Fund, which controls more than $300 million that you donated to help the 9/11 families.
The Fund's CEO, Joshua Gotbaum, appeared on The Factor and dropped a bombshell. There are now two September 11 Funds. One to help the families and another to help organizations that the United Way likes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'REILLY: How many September 11 Funds do you have? How many?
JOSHUA GOTBAUM, SEPTEMBER 11 FUND CEO: There are two.
O'REILLY: There are two. All right, it's the first I'm hearing about this. There's the September 11 Telethon Fund. Is that right?
GOTBAUM: Right, that's right.
O'REILLY: And then, there's the September 11 what fund?
GOTBAUM: There is the general September 11 Fund.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'REILLY: But on the United Way website, we could only find one September 11 Fund mentioned until late this afternoon, when magically, mention of a second fund popped up.
Now the importance of the story is not that the United Way is screwing up. It is. But that it's allowed to continue to operate without an oversight. Why are your charitable donations not worth the time and interest of the authorities? There's obviously chaos and possibly fraud in all of this.
With Congress set to take off Christmas, it looks like the 160 charities involved with the terror attack will continue to operate without challenge. This is truly a scandal. And outside of us, very few in the media give a damn.
The New York Islanders hockey team, for example, recently collected $170,000 from their own players, their salary, they donated today's salary in order to help the 9/11 families. But the Islanders have to sit on the money because they don't know where to send it.
Now I put them in touch with some grassroots charities I trust, but the State of New York should be doing this, not some media guy. It is a cliche, but actions speak louder than words. All those politicians and celebrities you saw on TV sympathizing with the attack victims certainly were very convincing. When it gets down to the hard part, when it gets down to actually helping people, most of those people simply have not stepped up. And that is a depressing disgrace.
Once again, Talking Points is asking Governor Pataki of New York and members of Congress to begin overseeing this charity business. And Points continues to encourage celebrities to use their clout to pressure the charities to get organized.
If the powerful people in America really want to help all of those affected by the terror attack, they could. But at this point, most of the powerful sit on the sidelines. And that's the memo...
www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,39608,00.htm
MORE TO COME
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THE EAGLE HOODED: THE 9-11 COVERUPS
DIRTY MONEY, DIRTY POLITICS & BISHOP ESTATE
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Originally posted April 21, 2006
CHRONOLGY
April 21, 2006: Originally posted on www.the-catbird-seat.net .
March 13, 2007: The U.S. Dept of Justice obtains Order from Judge David A. Ezra to shut down website.
November 16, 2008: Latest update on new site www.kycbs.net
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