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FAQs cont.
7. I don’t work for a large corporation – why should I participate in United Way? Even the largest corporate campaign is simply a collection of individuals striving to make a difference. And that is the point of United Way – collectively, we make a much greater impact when we each play a role. Everyone can make a difference, regardless of whether you’re participating in the largest campaign, the smallest one, or making a one-time contribution online today. 8. Are you shifting to a year-round campaign? What does that mean? Yes, one of the changes we’re making is the shift to a year-round fundraising model. In essence, we’re doing so because we want to keep you informed about the impact that you’re making all year long, rather than just communicating with you when it’s time to ask for money. On a campaign level, there will still be a beginning and an end to most corporate campaigns, as determined by each company. 9. What other changes have you made? As part of our reinvention, we’ve made dozens of changes at the strategic, tactical, and financial level. Some have fundamentally altered how we do business, such as creating a streamlined, 22-member board, the majority of whom are new and all of whom are very hands-on and focused on accountability. Some changes will have major ramifications going forward, such as a region-wide needs assessment that is now underway with UNCC’s Urban Institute, as well as a thorough review of pledge processing, a service that North Highland is now performing on a pro bono basis, to make donor contributions easier and more efficient. Other changes were more simple, yet still have the immediate outcome of getting more donor dollars to the agencies, from cutting the executive director’s salary in half, to adjusting our employee healthcare benefits ($45,000 annual savings). We continue to examine everything with a critical eye and are far from content – we are committed to ongoing improvement. 10. Speaking of changes, how do you produce “lasting change”? We could not do so without donors and volunteers like you, and without the 90 agencies that we partner with. Lasting change comes about through our annual Citizen Review Process, which has the dual effect of holding agencies accountable and helping us allocate more money to the agencies and programs that have the greatest impact on our community. 11. Do you process donations to nonprofits unaffiliated with the local United Way, such as my alma mater? We do, mainly donations to other United Ways and to other health and human services 501(c)(3) nonprofits, but we no longer count such donations toward our campaign goal. Including those dollars in past campaign totals gave an impression that vast sums of money were being raised for this community’s needs, when in fact, large amounts of the total were not funding local health and human services issues. As a result, starting in 2009, we shifted our focus to the Community Care Fund. 12. Is my contribution tax-deductible?
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