United Way of Lackawanna County: update on a five-part series.
United Way of Lackawanna County: A five-part Series.
PART III: Inefficient use of funds
Part V: Conclusions and further action
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ORIGINAL POSTER: WOLFRAM
@ HTTP://SCRANTONPOLITICALTIMES.COM
I. Organizational Structure
Recently the biased Scranton Times ran a page one article on how the state of Pennsylvania is reviewing the salaries of non-profit organization executives who administer PA taxpayer funds. The article featured Mr. Gary Drapek, President of the United Way of Lackawanna County, lamenting that he would lose a portion of his pay with the cuts in state programs.
I want the reader to understand that the United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties is structured as a non-profit entity and represented as a humanitarian organization. In reality, they are both a quasi-governmental agency and a non-profit marketing entity that gives a portion of their revenue to human services agency to help the disadvantaged. They are a quasi-governmental agency in that they are given tax payer funds to directly administer in social services programs. Further, they are mainly a marketing firm with highly paid marketing executives to create advertising and marketing initiatives to pull on the heart strings of the public so they can elicit money from your paycheck to help the poor, only a fraction of which makes it to help the needy. More about that in this five-part series.
Since the Scranton Times is in league with the non-profit organizations and the left-wing of the political spectrum, they failed to mention the specifics of Mr. Drapek's compensation. According to IRS 990 documents, Mr. Drapek received $95,000 in compensation in the 2010 reporting year as well as $7,600 in benefits for a total of $102,600. This is up from $101,034 in compensation and benefits reported in 2009. Mr. Jack Evans, Sr. Vice-President of Finance received a total of $70,578 in total compensation and benefits in 2010 up from $69,174 in 2009.
It would take 3,330 hourly employees in Northeastern PA to take $1 per week out of their checks for an entire year just to pay the salary and benefits of the top two people at United Way!!
Save your money and become an Active American. Donate food, toys, or clothing to the poor during the holiday season. Try to avoid using your hard-earned cash. Take direct control of your giving to ensure all of your funds make a difference for a needy person. 15% solution: It only takes a 15% cut in funds to topple or create major reform in an organization. In order for Northeastern Pennsylvania, especially Scranton, we need societal institutions and government that have the people's interests first and objective truthful media outlets. Until that time, our area will not improve socially or economically.
Part II: Deception Through Omission of Information
For a corporate entity or a non-profit entity, the two main financial documents are the balance sheet and the income statement. If you wanted to invest in Coca-Cola, Pepsi, UPS, General Motors, or other American corporations, you can go to their website and view their balance sheet and income statement for each quarter of the year very easily.
Non-profit entities are required to file Form 990, the income statement, each year with the Internal Revenue Service. By law the non-profit entity does not have to post it on their website, but must furnish you a copy upon your request as an individual. But that is a labor intensive process for an individual donor to do their due diligence on the efficiency and prudent fiscal management of an organization.
If you go to the website of the United Way of Lackawanna County you will find their balance sheet included in their 2011-2012 annual report. They very cleverly omit their income statement, Form 990, from their annual report or any part of their website so that you cannot see the high salaries of the executives and the large portion of donations they spend on salaries, benefits, and marketing, thus leaving an alarmingly small fraction for the poor. This is the clever deception of donors through omission of information.
If you look at the website of the United Way of Lehigh Valley, the Allentown area, the IRS FORM 990, the income statement, is clearly posted on their website for your review. They make it transparent to the donor where all funds are going and they make it easy for you to review this information.
Transparency of information leads to prudent decisions by donors to non-profits. Transparency in governmental institutions leads to sound spending, to an informed electorate, and to prevention of corruption. Look for transparency in all societal organizations you deal with including city governments, social groups, churches, and non-profit entities. When you do not find this, it should be a warning bell for you. In our next segment, we will examine the lack of efficiency of donated dollars to the poor. We will attempt to follow the money.
PART III: Inefficient use of funds
Only 49 cents of every donated dollar to the United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties makes it to the needy. As per IRS Form 990 for the 2010 tax year, they had revenue of $3,447,432 while only $2,290,386 was paid out to human services agencies. This means they have 33.6% of overhead and expenses, and 66.4% of funds were passed on to providers. Assuming 25% overhead at the actual service provider, you only get 49 cents of every donated dollar gets spent on the needy. Now I would really like to know if this bothers anybody else in this forum, because I think it is a damn shame.
Further for 2010, 21% of all United Way of Lackawanna County Revenue was spent on salaries and benefits. What I would like the reader to take away from this is that these people are not the selfless nuns, priests, pastors, and rabbis of your youth, who help the poor and the needy out of their commitment to God or humanity. They are large corporate entities who only help the poor after they extract their pound of flesh. As with other local institutions, like Scranton City Government, Scranton Teachers, Lackawanna County Goverment, the needs of the people who run the local societal institutions come first. Once the member of the local government and non-profit agencies take care of themselves and their families lavishly, then they throw the scraps to the remainder of society. I am interested in your comments.
Part IV: Lack of Anti Coercion Policy.
The United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties does not have an anti coercion policy on their website, even though the national headquarters has issued an anti-coercion policy. I will paste it below for reader information. This should be common practice but they fail to observe it. For example, the United Way of Chester County posts the National Headquarters Anit Coercion Policy right on their website. The United Way of Lehigh Valley addresses the anti-coercion policy under their frequently asked questions area.
I would like to hear from readers on this topic. Now it is well known in this area, that managers and department heads at local large office companies where the United Way shirts during work like a Gary Drapek gestapo. This changes the dynamic to coercion, from "Do you wish to give to United Way? to "Are you loyal to your boss and company?" So you will donate if you know what is good for you. The policy from national headquarters clearly states that solicitation by managers in corporations is to be avoided. While in college many years ago, I worked for a large retail grocery store, they forced me to give so they would have 100% participation. I hear that this still goes on today. The policy is printed below as stated:
UNITED WAY POLICY AGAINST COERCION
United Ways understand that fund-raising success depends on how much potential donors
know and understand the organizations seeking support. Fund-raising should always be
conducted in a voluntary manner; coercion creates animosity, hinders communication and
understanding and eventually leads to decreased support.
For years United Ways have been concerned about the use of undue pressure in
fund-raising and are opposed to any type of coercion. Any semblance of pressure - whether
real, implied or perceived - is contradictory to the operating standards of United Way.
United Ways continually try to prevent the use of coercion in their campaigns by
encouraging peer solicitation, rather than solicitation of employees by managers. In
addition, United Ways conduct training programs for fund-raisers that stress information
and education, and discourage the practice of seeking 100 percent participation in a
campaign, as that may inadvertently encourage coercion.
To underscore their conviction about this policy, United Way of Americas Board of
Governors adopted the following policy statement:
The Board of Governors of United Way of America believes that the most
responsive contributors are those who have the opportunity to become
informed and involved. A well-planned campaign with an effective
communications program, conducted by committed volunteers, will ensure
responsive contributors. While we have always been unalterably opposed to
coercion, we do recognize a responsibility to state our beliefs formally, as
freedom of choice is a basic tenet of our democratic society.
Giving is a personal matter and decision; no form of coercion is acceptable.
__________________
Part V: Conclusions and further action
Based upon all of my findings, I am going to approach members of the Board of Directors of the United Way of Lackawanna County and ask them to publish the national anti-coercion policy of the United Way organization and press them to publish all of present and past IRS 990 forms so that people who are inclined to give have transparent information on the quality of this organization. Each donor can then make their own judgments.
My own opinion is that charitable giving should be a private family decision and not a workplace decision, so I personally do not like their whole model of doing things. I would ask others to consider becoming an "Active American." Make conscious decisions about helping and charity in your home, and then take all precaution and action to ensure that your funds, toys, and food make it into the proper hands. Local charities where you can physically walk up with your donations and you can visually see people being helped offers the best peace of mind like food banks, local libraries, soup kitchens, Toys for Tots, and so forth.
If you do not have resources, help a neighbor in need by giving a ride, cutting the lawn, or taking a person to the store. Being neighborly, kind, and a good steward of resources will ensure that people will get help without enriching all of the bureaucrats.
ORIGINAL POSTER: WOLFRAM
@ HTTP://SCRANTONPOLITICALTIMES.COM
TOPIC: United Way of Lackawanna County: A five-part Series.: United Way of Lackawanna County: A five-part Serie...
TOPIC: United Way of Lackawanna County: A five-part Series.: United Way of Lackawanna County: A five-part Series. I. Organizational Structure Recently the biased Scranton Times ran a page...
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