The NonProfit Times - December 15, 2008 - (Page 17) Originally published 6/1/08 United Way Refocusing On Programs, Reducing Affiliates tion, income and health, with the idea of cutting high school dropout rates in half, reducing by half the number of financial unstable working families, and increasing by a third the number of youth and adults who are healthy and avoid risky behavior. According to the report, three indicators are getting worse: working families spending 40 percent or more of their income on housing; low birth weight babies, and healthy and risk-avoiding adults older than 18. Four indicators show little to no improvement: working families that remain low-income; lower-income families with checking or savings accounts and a balance of at least $300; homeownership among lower-income working families, and healthy and risk-avoiding youth.There were five indicators that showed some improvement, but slow progress: kindergarten readiness, fourth-grade reading proficiency, on-time high school graduation, productivity among young adults, and children’s health insurance. To accelerate change, Gallagher pointed to three challenges for the $4-billion nonprofit: determining the national goals, UWA’s Live United campaign (www.liveu- Brian Gallagher BY MARK HRYWNA he next evolution of the United Way of America (UWA) will sharpen the focus of the $4-billion organization while “driving a stake in the ground” on the definition of program success and reducing a 1,300-affiliate structure. T UWA President and CEO Brian Gallagher said consistent metrics is a challenge faced by most systems. “This is the next evolution of us, from a fundraising mission to a community change mission, and this is really getting focused and declaring our commitment to national, long-term, very concrete goals that will then drive strategies that get created locally and nationally,” Gallagher said. “We believe that if real change is going to happen, we’ve got to commit ourselves to these goals.” “Goals for the Common Good: The United Way Challenge to America,”released at the United Way of America’s annual conference May 15, is a culmination of 18 months of focus groups, market research and work with content experts. UWA’s report points to three primary goals by the year 2018, targeting educa- Donors are increasingly giving to specific issues, and not designating through UWA to an official charity, after 13 years of the opposite. nited.org), and creating a more seamless organizational structure that puts resources toward achieving those goals.“We’re probably going to have to redesign ourselves, which probably means fewer United Ways,” he said. UWA and its affiliates have committed to the redesign by the end of this year, Gallagher said, while executing that new structure in 2009. “We find it true, not just within United Way but across the country. United Ways were working broadly on these issues but they didn’t necessarily have the same focus,” Gallagher said. For instance, 66 percent of all local United Ways say they’re working in educational areas, he said, but some define school readiness differently, basing it on improving vocabulary rates or cognitive skills, or looking at academic achievement as third grade versus fourth grade. Instead of defining success as increasing a local United Way after school program by 50 slots, Gallagher said, the organization will look for ways of how the activity is reducing the dropout rate, or how it partners with other nonprofits achieve that. “We might have many of the same partners, but the expectation and definitions of success may be much different,” said Gallagher, adding that UWA already is “locking arms”with national corporations, large private foundations and other groups, like America’s Promise. “Ultimate accountability is results and, ‘Are you actually achieving results against your mission,’” Gallagher said. Research shows clearly that what drives trust and confidence in the nonprofit sector, he said, is to get results about the things people care about. “This will have an impact hopefully at the sector level that will be the impetus to drive us all together, and work on strategies that will actually move the needle in theses areas.” In the past five years, Gallagher said the trend has been that donors are increasingly giving to specific issues, and not designating through UWA to an official charity, after 13 years of the opposite. It’s a trend he expects will, and wants, to continue.“We want donors to know that they can invest their time and money, or just lend their voice, against these issues.” “That’s what the American people said to us, in terms of that’s how we think you can advance the common good, to work on these things, and give us a chance to be involved in that. I think we’ll see an acceleration of donors’ investments into these areas.” NPT ATLANTA LURING MAJOR CHARITIES Any major move requires a detailed economic analysis. Nunn with Points of Light & Hands On Network said her group’s analysis projected a savings of $1 million to $4 million during the next five years by moving to Atlanta. “It was a tough choice,” she said. “Washington represents an important set of stakeholders. But we feel we can still maintain a presence there without having our entire operations based there.” When Habitat for Humanity made the decision to move from its longtime home base in Americus, Ga., to Atlanta, it had much to do with the significant cost savings of headquartering in a metropolitan city versus in a town three hours away from a major airport. But although the nonprofit now has 161 employees in its Atlanta headquarters, it still has 281 employees located in Americus (with another 335 in offices around the world). While some staff members were relocated from Americus to Atlanta, mostly vacant and new positions were moved to the city headquarters, Bates said. FINANCIAL INCENTIVES Typical with any major corporate relocation are financial incentives offered by the city and state. These are also fairly typical with large nonprofits, though not on as grand of a scale. All of the major nonprofits in Atlanta received an economic incentive during the relocation. The American Cancer Society was given a city variance to construct a six-story building on a plot of land designated for only a five-story building. Habitat for Humanity received $250,000 from the city of Atlanta’s Economic Opportunity Fund. But much like in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the powerful foundation that helped make the city into a Mecca for evangelical organizations, a similar situation can be said about Atlanta’s nonprofit boom. In the Colorado Springs case, local foundation El Pomar donated $4 million in 1991 to help build a new headquarters for Focus on the Family. That move opened the floodgates for other Christian-related nonprofits. More than half of the city’s 50 largest Christian organizations followed the Focus move. In Atlanta, many of the larger nonprofits have received private foundation grants to complete their moves. The major force behind these higherprofile moves has been the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, the foundation of the former leader of the Coca-Cola Company. Foundation President Russ Hardin said the group has no agenda to attract national nonprofit headquarters to Atlanta. He said each funding case has been individual and based on the organization’s mission. In the recent past, The Woodruff Foundation has helped several organizations with relocation costs, including the Boys & Girls Club of America (which has had a long-standing relationship with the foundation), CARE, the American Cancer Society (the foundation had an interest in luring the health services nonprofits to Atlanta’s “epicenter” of global health, granting each organization large “moving” grants) and Habitat for Humanity, a Georgia-grown nonprofit that the foundation leaders admired. In 2006 when Habitat made its move, the Woodruff Foundation provided a $2.5-million grant to help cover moving costs. Large donations were also given by individuals Richard Bowers and J. Ronald Terwilliger. This month, the Woodruff Foundation is expected to vote on a grant that will support the Points of Light & Hands On Network with capital improvements to its new Atlanta headquarters. Hardin emphasized that all of this support has nothing to do with an official mission to lure nonprofits to the city.“We’re not just willy-nilly trying to attract headquarters to Atlanta,” Hardin said.“There’s been a reason for all of our relocation support.” NPT DECEMBER 15, 2008 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.nptimes.com http://www.liveunited.org http://www.liveunited.org http://www.nptimes.com
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