Chenango United Way

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by: Jessica Lewis

Over the past three years, the Chenango United Way has completely changed the way it operates, in an attempt to be more of a community impact organization rather than a fund raising organization, and as its leaders look ahead, it looks as if more changes could be on the way.

By developing a needs assessment of Chenango County and trying to focus funding on programs that fall into the four focus areas, the United Way has been working to address the biggest needs of the community, but according to Executive Director Elizabeth Monaco, further study of the community needs may be necessary.

“We’re looking at updating our needs assessment in the coming year,” Monaco said. The 2005 to 2008 needs assessment identified several areas of need in Chenango County, but now that the time line for the assessment is running out, different areas may be examined.

Currently the United Way funds programs that fall into one of the four focus areas, which include opportunities for children and youth, the aging population, access to healthcare and poverty issues of housing and hunger. “We may be adjusting our focus areas based on feedback from some of our partnering agencies,” Monaco said. While no final decision has been made, Monaco explained family stability may be incorporated into the needs assessment in the coming years.

The way allocation amounts are divided among the need areas may also be changed before 2009. Currently, all funding requests are scored and funds are given based on the scores. While this formula will still apply, Monaco explained that the United Way will be looking at the possibility of allocating larger percentages of funds to the focus areas with the most requests. “Each year the opportunities for youth area receives the most applications and the most donor designations. We may decide to use a formula based on the percentages. If 50 percent of the applications are for a specific area, then we could give 50 percent of the funding to that area,” Monaco explained, pointing out that the percentages could change over time.

In the past year, the organization has taken many steps toward involving more people in the annual campaign. One step that had a major impact this year was the Day of Caring campaign kick-off event. In an effort to educate the public on the role of the Chenango United Way and what is done with the money raised during the annual campaign, the United Way held the Day of Caring event. Ninety-five volunteers were sent to locations throughout Chenango County to perform acts of community service. “The Day of Caring event was doubly important, because it encouraged people to increase giving to the United Way, and it educated people on the importance of United Way funded programs. Because we were all over the county, people could see, in their own communities, what the United Way is doing,” Monaco explained. The Day of Caring event helped to publicize the United Way campaign and increase donations. Monaco said the event will continue in the coming year.

Another change that took place in the past year was the addition of a campaign director. Victoria Mitchell, who has been volunteered at the United Way in past years, took on the position of campaign director in 2007. Mitchell was able to perform training sessions, presentations, organize some events and meet with businesses. The change allowed Monaco to spend more time on community impact things, such as mid-year and end-of-year reports and site visits at funded agencies. According to one of the two community co-chairs Charlie McMullen, the added personnel made a difference in this year’s campaign. “Volunteers are important, but to run a campaign you need to have a full paid staff. With a campaign director, we had someone who was there every day, who was able to make those follow-ups,” McMullen said.

Fellow Community Co-Chair Bruce Beadle Jr. said even more changes can be expected in the coming year. Beadle, who will be a co-chair again next year, along with Amber Harrison of Norwich Pharmaceuticals, explained that one of his goals for the 2009 campaign is to publicize the campaign more. This year, Beadle suggested a live radio broadcast from NBT Bank’s main branch, with on the spot updates being announced on the air as donations came in. While the weather put a minor damper on the event this year, many donations came in the following days. _“I just think people don’t understand what we do. We need to get out there to the community what is going on. People don’t understand the ramifications of the dollars they give,” Beadle said.

While the United Way saw improvements in some areas this year, they hope other areas will improve for the 2009 campaign. Small business donations were down 44 percent from the 2008 campaign. McMullen identified some of the problems with the small business campaign, including difficulty connecting with the person you need to talk to.

Residential donations also dropped by 9 percent. It was suggested that perhaps rising fuel and living costs might have been a cause.

To address the problems encountered this year, the United Way will be forming a Campaign Cabinet for the 2009 campaign. McMullen explained that the cabinet will be made up of the campaign director, board members, community partners and volunteers from small businesses and industries. “This cabinet will be made up of experienced people who understand about community impact and Chenango United Way. This committee will plan a more effective campaign strategy for the upcoming year,” McMullen said.

While the United Way is constantly looking for ways to improve their campaign, Monaco noted that the next few years, the organization will probably see more and more money requested, and the only way to meet the needs of the community is to keep raising more money.

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