Chenango United Way needs record amount to meet community needs

CHENANGO COUNTY – In recent years, the Chenango United Way has changed they way they run a campaign. One of the most pronounced changes has been doing away with the tradition of setting an arbitrary goal and instead telling the community exactly what the needs of the community are.

This year, the CUW began its campaign estimating that the needs of the community would be approximately $700,000. They compiled the figure by examining the amount requested in recent years and compiling a figure. Last year the actual needs of the community totaled $665,000, this year the number is $921,737.

Executive Director of the CUW Elizabeth Monaco pointed out that the number did not indicate that there were more programs requesting funding, but that the programs need more help than in years past to continue serving the community.

The CUW has now received all of its funding requests for the 2008 year. According to Monaco, the applications are assigned to review panels, made up of CUW board members and community members who are not intimately involved with the United Way. Each member of the review panel scores the application based on a rubric supplied by the CUW, and then convenes to determine a final score.

“We decided to use this method because we thought it was a more objective process. Most of the points in the scores come from the outcomes the program can demonstrate, and there are no surprises, because all of the information, including the grading rubric is available on our web site,” Monaco said.