United Way strikes a reasonable balance

Change doesn’t come easily for any organization, but when the organization is a 68 year-old United Way, it can be especially difficult. When my grandfather helped to found the United Way (then called the Bangor-Brewer Community Chest) in 1937, they wanted to help deserving and needy non-profits with a community-wide fund-raising campaign similar to those under way in other communities across the country.

For many years, the role of raising dollars and providing them to a limited list of local agencies made sense, and, undoubtedly, it is still how many people think of the United Way. However, as early as 1968 (and, perhaps before then) when I was a United Way board member and campaign chair, we were looking for ways for United Way to build upon its experience as a funder of programs and do more for the community. In our case, that “do more” was joining in an effort to conduct regional health planning to help coordinate services in our part of Maine. United Way has participated in, or led, a variety of initiatives since then.

Not surprisingly, there has always been a fair amount of tug and pull between those who want United Way to “do more” and those who want it to be strictly a funder of established non-profits. While I think there is little disagreement about the goal of ensuring that maximum dollars reach the community programs United Way supports, I believe that United Way’s board has always been aware that there is some untapped potential that has never been fully realized. With thousands and thousands of donors, strong relationships throughout the community, and a host of non-profit partners, there clearly has been an opportunity to “do more,” if all those resources could just be directed in the right way.

Recently, the United Way board of directors has renewed its efforts to bring more resources to the community-to do more. What they have described as “surrounding issues” presents the community with a promising model. The idea is that if the entire community, as well as state and federal resources, can be marshaled to “surround” an issue of importance, the potential for delivering real change-real results-is much more likely than if funding is the only strategy.

There are two important “ifs” in that model: If the community will rally together to work on these issues and if United Way can deliver results beyond the programs it funds. So it was with more than a little trepidation that I agreed to join one of the volunteer “impact councils” to make funding decisions and to work on surrounding an issue. In my case, I joined approximately a dozen other community members, agency directors, and topic experts as a member of the council working to address the issues facing seniors in eastern Maine.

Led by Nelson Durgin, executive director of Phillips-Strickland House, we spent a year and a half getting to know the issues, the needs and the available services. It was an extraordinary learning experience for all of us. In our case, we identified two “community outcomes” (or goals) for our work with seniors:

. Seniors age in place through access to home-based care and care giver supports

. Seniors live productive, active, healthy lifestyles by contributing to and benefiting from community resources

These community outcomes were then used to guide our funding decisions. As the programs were reviewed by the three councils, it was no longer OK to fund “good programs” or those that had been funded in the past. With limited dollars, and overall requests that exceeded available dollars my more than $1.1 million, making funding decisions based upon prior history wasn’t good enough. Programs needed to show us they were the best possible match with the community outcomes, that they had the ability to deliver measurable results, and that there was a clear financial need for United Way’s support.

Having been involved in organizations and civic groups that have made grants, I know that giving away money is more difficult than most people might imagine. While it is easy to make numerous small grants to all the deserving applicants, this approach can result in diluting the impact of the available dollars. Much harder is focusing the funding decisions so as to make grants that have the greatest impact.

I believe that United Way has struck a reasonable balance. Of the 81 programs that applied, 66 were funded (a decrease from 72 last year), resulting in larger grants for some but not all. And while there were some programs that received United Way funding for the first time, there were also those previously funded programs that did not receive any funds. Few, if any, of these decisions were easy ones, but in the end we funded some very good programs that hold great promise for delivering real community impact.

As for “surrounding issues,” or “doing more,” that is where the community impact councils will be focusing our attention next. We have made our funding commitments for the next three years, and now it is time to see whether we can identify issues to surround with community resources-not just United Way dollars. To be successful will require a level of collaboration unlike anything the community has experienced in recent years. And while change is rarely easy, the kind of change that is possible if we all work together holds enormous promise for the community, the region and for Maine.

Clif Eames is a resident of Bangor and a volunteer with numerous organizations, including the United Way of Eastern Maine.