logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Good News and Bad News at Greater Twin Cities United Way

Ruth McCambridge
April 17, 2017
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
By Davumaya [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

April 15, 2017; West Central Tribune (Willmar, MN)

Greater Twin Cities United Way is the largest of the United Way’s 1200 U.S. outposts, but something may be slipping there.

The good news is that Greater Twin Cities United Way exceeded its own fundraising goal for last year by more than $2 million, raising $87.6 million. The bad news is that the year before, it had raised $98.6 million and $101.9 million the year before that. In fact, this made 2016 the lowest netting year in the last seven. In response, it has cut staff, frozen salaries, and reduced the money flowing to United Way–funded initiatives.

This may be because more donors are directing where their grants are to go. Last year, that change turned into $6 million less for United Way–directed initiatives.

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

CEO Sarah Caruso is saying that the drop last year was anticipated; 2015 was its centennial year, which naturally drew attention to the organization that wouldn’t be repeated in the year that followed. Still, that does not explain the drop from the previous year. She also suggests that the organization will be updating its engagement and online strategies. But, will this be sufficient to end the trend?

In October of last year, NPQ wrote about possible reasons for the crossing trajectories of donor-advised funds and United Ways as vehicles for funding.

United Ways see part of their value-add in directing the donor dollar, even going so far as establishing their own priorities for local giving. This is a high-touch method of intermediation, one whose receipts have declined by a third over the past 25 years. That’s no surprise, considering the ease with which nonprofits can be researched and gifts given these days, along with the workplace and corporate changes affecting the success of the United Way model. The organization has attempted to block this decline in various ways over that period by reinventing itself—creating funding agendas for communities and increasing its focus on large donors—but it is leaking for reasons probably more associated with an epochal shift than with focus or capacity.

The decline may be a solvable problem, but we are yet to be convinced.—Ruth McCambridge

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
About the author
Ruth McCambridge

Ruth is Editor Emerita of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits, primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent involvement.

More about: fundraising campaignsFundraisingNonprofit NewsUnited Way

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

Spring-2023-sidebar-subscribe
You might also like
Lightning in a Bottle
Jeanne Bell
Sometimes a Lender or a Borrower Be: The Dos and Don’ts of PRIs
Peter Goldberg and John MacIntosh
Funding the Impossible Dream: The Movement for Japanese American Redress
Rona Fernandez and Stan Yogi
Asking the Right Person for the Right Amount
Kim Klein
Fundraising Like a Community: Peoria’s Great Idea
Ruth McCambridge
Did Giving Tuesday’s High Results Miss You or Include You?
Ruth McCambridge

NPQ Webinars

April 27th, 2 pm ET

Liberatory Decision-Making

How to Facilitate and Engage in Healthy Decision-making Processes

Register Now
You might also like
AOC’s “Tax the Rich” Dress Dazzles Met Gala, while...
Anastasia Reesa Tomkin
Foundation Giving Numbers for 2020 Show 15 Percent Increase
Steve Dubb
Strike MoMA Imagines Art Museums without Billionaires
Tessa Crisman

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

NPQ-Spring-2023-cover

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.