By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – United Way of McLean County is again seeing a decline in direct contributions that help fund dozens of local social service agencies, but the organization said it’s impacting the community in other ways.
United Way has received a little more than $1 million so far this year, from $1.8 million for all of last year. Unfulfilled pledges continue to rise dramatically, although United Way President and CEO David Taylor said it’s unfair to blame that entirely on local job reductions at State Farm.
At a Wednesday news conference, Taylor said United Way is trying to make personal contact with individual donors by accumulating personal email addresses. In traditional workplace fundraising, United Way doesn’t know donors’ identities.
“There’s a lot of economic uncertainty in the community, a lot of people facing job losses, potential moves, etcetera, that still care a lot about our community, care a lot about United Way, (who) maybe willing to contribute, but may not have the opportunity to give through a workplace campaign anymore,” said Taylor.
United Way provides funding for 46 programs run by 27 social service agencies.
Taylor is promoting innovative ways of giving, for example this month’s “48 in 48” effort in which State Farm professionals and others volunteered to develop websites for 48 non-profits in 48 hours, using space provided by Rivian Automotive.
Volunteer initiatives like that had an overall community impact of $2.25 million dollars this year, up about $1 million from last year, according to United Way.
“That million dollar increase is significant, and I think to only report on outdated campaign metrics and allocations really does a disservice to the community and what they’re contributing both in a real dollar sense as well as their technical skills, their volunteer time, etcetera,” Taylor also said.
The organization also hired Normal Town Council member Kathleen Lorenz (LOR-enz) as a business consultant. She said the days of raising four million dollars a year are over, and United Way has to evolve into a new reality.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
