These funds could be available for immediate use. The donors could be asked to make funds available at the beginning of each year as firm cash contributions with no spending restrictions. These monies are more certain each year rather than relying on a United Way pledge of support that would come sometime throughout the year and may be less certain for budgetary purposes.
If a disaster were to occur and additional funding in a specific area were needed over the period of the donors commitment, the United Way can offer some flexibility in the amount of allocation during those years of higher needs.
The agency would sign an agreement with the United Way that once the donor’s monies cease they would go back on pledged support from the United Way.
This program forges a long lasting relationship between the agencies and the local United Way, especially since the funds that would have been spent on the agency from United Way pledged support are now available for the United Way to use in the local community that might also go toward causes the agency is interested in. In other words, the donor’s contributions are leveraged to provide the community with funds freed up by not having to provide the agency support.
The United Way is doing additional fundraising for the agencies.
Many United Ways have “First Dollars” from donors that say which agency they are designating monies to. This might cause funds to be diverted away from the local community to the national offices of the agency instead of the local area.
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