United way and abortion

[Maxply]

Ishii: I think you did the right thing.

I think a good case can be made that the United Way is valuable, even if it costs something in administrative expenses. It beats the bushes in places many smaller nonprofits can’t get into, coordinates fund drives to maximize returns, and so forth.

I was with an employer that kinda pressured employees to give, so they co do the chest-thumping about Good Citizenship. OF COURSE, it wasn’t THEIR money, however, going, but that of the private individuals that were employed there. It’s the private individual’s money, and they liked to take credit.

I didn’t give due to the PP issue. Somewhere along the line, one would hope that United Way would get a team of economists to generate models about charitable giving, and discover the extent to which the PP connection poisons the organization.

 

[ishii]

thanks for the reply Maxply. Since the UW experience I have found some Catholic charities that I can give to without having to worry about indirectly supporting something as horrendous as PP. Ishii

 

[elts1956]

Hello, you might call me a “newbie” in that I am rather new to internet chat rooms and forums. What brings me to this forum is my dilemma at work related to our yearly United Way campaign. Twenty years ago I refused to give to the United Way during my company’s annual campaign on the grounds that the United Way recognized Planned Parenthood as a worthy charity. After hearing that the United Way gave in to pro-life pressure and dropped Planned Parenthood as a charity, I decided to “reward” them and start giving a little each paycheck, designating Catholic Community Services as the charity. However, today I noticed Planned Parenthood as one of the charities for United Way. My gut feeling is that I shouldn’t have anything to do with a charity that would recognize an abortion provider as a legitimate charity, even if I can still designate Catholic Community Services as the recipient of my donation. Question: am I off base here? Is it moral to give to Catholic Community Services (or another worthy charity) knowing that the umbrella organization (United Way) supports Planned Parenthood? There is a big push at work to get everybody to give to the United Way this year and I have reason to believe that my non-participation this year might keep me from getting promoted. Thanks for any advice you can give.

Hello. I haven’t contributed to United Way since hearingway back when of their support of Planned Parenthood. If you want to donate to Catholic Community Charities, do so directly. Your donation doesn’t have to go through United Way.

 

[elts1956]

Hello, you might call me a “newbie” in that I am rather new to internet chat rooms and forums. What brings me to this forum is my dilemma at work related to our yearly United Way campaign. Twenty years ago I refused to give to the United Way during my company’s annual campaign on the grounds that the United Way recognized Planned Parenthood as a worthy charity. After hearing that the United Way gave in to pro-life pressure and dropped Planned Parenthood as a charity, I decided to “reward” them and start giving a little each paycheck, designating Catholic Community Services as the charity. However, today I noticed Planned Parenthood as one of the charities for United Way. My gut feeling is that I shouldn’t have anything to do with a charity that would recognize an abortion provider as a legitimate charity, even if I can still designate Catholic Community Services as the recipient of my donation. Question: am I off base here? Is it moral to give to Catholic Community Services (or another worthy charity) knowing that the umbrella organization (United Way) supports Planned Parenthood? There is a big push at work to get everybody to give to the United Way this year and I have reason to believe that my non-participation this year might keep me from getting promoted. Thanks for any advice you can give.

I haven’t given a contribution to United Way since I found out they support Planned Parenthood. If you want to support Catholic Community Services do so directly.

 

[ishii]

Its two years later, and the issue that prompted me to join this forum (glad I did that) rears its ugly head. This time I not only am under pressure to give to UW, I (now in management) have to get others under me to do so. The prevailing zeitgiest at work is such that I doubt anyone would understand my reluctance to give to UW. I am sure most would roll their eyes. As I mentioned in a recent post elsewhere, I will do my job of giving the information on UW to other employees, but I will not overtly incourage or discourage them from giving. Of course, my company does this every year as a way as giving back to the community that it profits from. Also, they get to show how socially responsible they are. If UW would just dump PP I would become their biggest fan. I want to give to them, but my conscience tells me otherwise. Ishii

 

[quasimodo]

Its two years later, and the issue that prompted me to join this forum (glad I did that) rears its ugly head. This time I not only am under pressure to give to UW, I (now in management) have to get others under me to do so. The prevailing zeitgiest at work is such that I doubt anyone would understand my reluctance to give to UW. I am sure most would roll their eyes. As I mentioned in a recent post elsewhere, I will do my job of giving the information on UW to other employees, but I will not overtly incourage or discourage them from giving. Of course, my company does this every year as a way as giving back to the community that it profits from. Also, they get to show how socially responsible they are. If UW would just dump PP I would become their biggest fan. I want to give to them, but my conscience tells me otherwise. Ishii

Two years ago we were informed that

The coercion and “out-right threats” to which you refer are unfailingly generated by corporate employers who want to be able to boast that they have ___ % employee participation in the annual UW drive so they can tout their community service as part of their advertising. It makes them look like good corporate citizens to have their entire organization on-board and giving back to the community–particularly if the corporation/business is also profiting from the community. This is NOT the doing of the UW. Please keep the stories and the actors straigh

So apparently, UW knows nothing about these strong arm tactics and does nothing to promote them - even though the UW’s Board of Directors is populated by the same corporate employers who coerce their employees? According to this post from two years ago, Ishii, you have no worries on this issue.

On thing to explore … not every UW chapter supports the same list of Charities. The last time I checked, PP was not supported by our local UW chapter. That does not make them innocent of being a thug organization, however.

 

[AlegreFe]

Hello, you might call me a “newbie” in that I am rather new to internet chat rooms and forums. What brings me to this forum is my dilemma at work related to our yearly United Way campaign. Twenty years ago I refused to give to the United Way during my company’s annual campaign on the grounds that the United Way recognized Planned Parenthood as a worthy charity. After hearing that the United Way gave in to pro-life pressure and dropped Planned Parenthood as a charity, I decided to “reward” them and start giving a little each paycheck, designating Catholic Community Services as the charity. However, today I noticed Planned Parenthood as one of the charities for United Way. My gut feeling is that I shouldn’t have anything to do with a charity that would recognize an abortion provider as a legitimate charity, even if I can still designate Catholic Community Services as the recipient of my donation. Question: am I off base here? Is it moral to give to Catholic Community Services (or another worthy charity) knowing that the umbrella organization (United Way) supports Planned Parenthood? There is a big push at work to get everybody to give to the United Way this year and I have reason to believe that my non-participation this year might keep me from getting promoted. Thanks for any advice you can give.

I stopped giving to United Way many years ago when I found out they gave to Planned Parenthood. I do not think you are off base in not wanting to give to them. Perhaps you can let your company know that UW gives to PP and that PP kills babies. Perhaps your company will then drop UW as one of their charities. Perhaps your company is not aware that UW gives to PP. Enlighten them if this is the case. And if they already know, why would you want to work for a company that is very aware of this fact?

 

[Ruthie]

Better yet, why not suggest to the company that they would get better participation by not limiting themselves to UW, but adding a couple of pro-life organizations as an alternative choice? Then they might be able to brag about 100 per cent employee giving to charity!

Ruthie

 

[mcs7474]

This irritates me, I have already pledged $3 a pay period to them for a year. I knew I should have researched them before giving them anything. :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

 

[AlegreFe]

This irritates me, I have already pledged $3 a pay period to them for a year. I knew I should have researched them before giving them anything. :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

I’m sure you can change that. Talk to someone in Human Resources. And if you’re worried about repercussions just be honest with them by telling them you do not want to add to their contributions to Planned Parenthood.

 

[manualman]

Your information is vague at best, inaccurate and misleading at worst.

The United Way is currently one of the most efficient vehicles by which to deliver charitable funds into the community. According to a report by the BBB, UWA delivers 88% of funds raised to its programs and spends just over 10% for administrative expenses.

I may be confused, but your own figures seem rather damning to UW. IIRC, UW doesn’t conduct ANY direct charity assistance to people in need. Rather, they fund other organizations which do so. So if I donate $100 to, say Catholic Relief Services, CRS gets $100. If I donate $100 to UW and “designate” CRS, CRS gets $88. Right?

So if I skip UW, I eliminate the middle man and avoid them skimming out $12 before my money gets to where it wants to go.

I’m sure they try very hard to be efficient. Kudos to them for getting money out of people who otherwise might not give anything. But if you ARE planning on giving, eliminate the middle man and give directly to the agency, NGO or charity you want funded. Seems self-evident to me.

 

[Mea_Culpa]

Brian Gallagher, President and CEO of United Way, was paid $432,709 in salary and benefits in fiscal 2003.

More recently, regional CEO’s have gotten raises. Now, the highest-paid regional executive is Ralph Dickerson Jr., president of the United Way of New York City, who earned $420,000 in salary alone.

Almost half a million dollars a year seems like a lot of money to me - but then again, I don’t make anywhere near that. But they do want me to give them some every paycheck. And some of what I contribute would go to people making half a million dollars a year. No thanks.

 

[Qwikness]

Okay having read all these opinions and facts, the question is: Can I justify not giving to my local United Way if my local United Way does support the Boy Scouts and does not support Planned Parenthood?

Personally, I don’t want to because I don’t like being asked. I don’t like feeling guilted into doing it. I don’t like them not having other charities that I care about. I don’t like anybody knowing how much I’m giving. Plus it seems the UW is in existance to keep itself in existance.

 

[manualman]

Of course you can say no.

If pressured, simply trot out my math and tell whoever is interested that you’d rather see 100% of your donation go to the charity of your choice than 88% of it. Therefore, you are giving directly.

Case closed.

 

[The_Rock]

$100 to UW
-$12 expenses for UW($400,000 salaries etc.)
=$88 distributed to charities
-$3 or so in additional costs incurred by the charities to keep additional records and other administrative costs etc. in order to qualify for UW funding.
=**$85 **available to the charities.

UW figures out how much each charity should be given. So if your favorite charity is fully funded (according to their opinion), designating your contributions to them will yield them **$0 **extra dollars. Your money will then go to Planned Parenthood or whoever they decide needs it.

Even if your local UW does not give to PP there are probably other objectionable charities on their list. Even if this is not so, a portion of your $ goes to the national organization who pulls funding for groups like the boy scouts because they won’t place active homosexuals in charge of your kids.

A good portion of your money will go to charities that are not Christian. So the people receiving help will not be drawn to Christ the way they might if the help came from a Christian organization.

I have been called into the office several times and have been “worked on” because I refuse to give to UW.

 

[The_Rock]

I just checked our Local UW site. Planned Parenthood is not listed as a recipient of funds but numerous organizations that refer young women to PP are funded. One even listed on their site that they could tell the teen how to get around our state law requiring parental notification!