United Way Retools!

D.C.-Area Nonprofits Fear Loss of Funding as United Way Retools
The recent announcement that the United Way of America will refocus its giving on education, income, and health has stirred anxieties among Washington, D.C.-area arts organizations and other nonprofits that their funding could be cut, the Washington Post reports.
While the United Way of the National Capital Area already allocates much of its discretionary funding to the areas recently targeted by the United Way of America, it also distributes gifts to arts organizations and other nonprofits that may fall outside the new core areas. Most of the money raised by UWNCA through workplace campaigns and private donations is earmarked by donors for specific nonprofits — a practice the organization plans to continue as it works to increase the amount it raises through unrestricted gifts.
Jennifer Cover Payne, president of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington, said the new national initiative could cause problems for arts groups that have relied on local United Way affiliates. "The first thing that usually is dismissed are the arts when there are any new funding initiatives or when there is a challenge with funding initiatives," said Payne. "People are not educated to understand...the reach of the arts in the community."
While the national United Way sets the agenda for its thirteen hundred affiliates, the local organizations set their own giving priorities and have promised to work with donors and nonprofits to ease the transition. Charles W. Anderson, president and CEO of UWNCA, said his agency will move slowly and carefully toward fully supporting the new priority areas. "You can't pull the rug out from under agencies that are doing good work in other areas," he said. "[But] as time progresses, more and more dollars will go in those [priority] areas as we are able to share with people measurable outcomes to show people that their investments in United Way are working."
Rucker, Philip. “D.C. Area Nonprofits Fear Loss of Funding As United Way Retools.” Washington Post 5/16/08.