Charity Spotlight: The United Way

This is part two in a multi-part series designed to shed some light on the charities we have all heard of, but which most of us have no clue about. The first chapter of the United Way was founded in Denver Colorado in 1887 by church leaders that started an organization known as the "Charity Organization Society". The organization coordinated services for 22 different charitable fund raising agencies. Leaders understood that the overhead involved in 22 organizations attempting to raise money could be lowered for all, if the organizations joined forces when raising funds. They found that uniting their fundraising efforts increased the bottom line for all of the organizations.

Over the next several years, 39 such organizations began working together in various spots around the country, calling themselves "Community Chest". In 1918, the thirty nine organizations joined a network of organizations and named it the "American Association for Community Organizations. Unifying further increased the bottom line and gave the organization newfound clout that resulted in the number of Community Chest groups increasing from 39 to 353 by 1929. By 1948, that number had jumped to more than 1000. In 1963 the organization, which went through a number of interim name changes, finally settled on the name "The United Way".

Each Chapter of the United Way decides for itself which charities its donations will go to serve. The most common way of collecting money has been through voluntary payroll deductions. Have you ever wondered what the box on your payroll slip was that asked about "other deductions"? That is for just this sort of thing. If you were giving through payroll deduction, the amount would be listed with the words "United Way" beside it.

The United Way has been partnered with the NFL since 1973 and partners with over 100 of America's top corporations. Since 1946, the organization has enjoys a co-operative relationship with the AFL-CIO. They also partner with a group known as "Leadership 18", an organization which represents long-established charities, faith-based organizations, and social and health groups that support and promote the safety, health, well-being and social and economic development of people across America.

If you have ever wanted to give back to society, but were unsure which charity was most deserving or needing your money, the United Way has proven to be a good answer. Let those in the know decide where it should go. In the end, giving to charity is more often about our willingness to reach out to something bigger than ourselves, proven to be as good or better for the giver than for the recipient. The United Way increases the bottom line for countless charities though the simple principle of lowered overhead for all.