►
United Way
by ALL
Released October 5, 2005
For years, American Life League has been concerned with local units of the United Way campaign that partner with anti-life organizations. Dozens of community activists have successfully outsted "bad apples" from local United Way funding.
Background
It helps to think of United Way as a franchise operation. Just like fast food firms, the national headquarters prepares and arranges for national advertising and celebrity spokespersons, and provides logos, printed materials, training manuals and programs for all areas of local operation from volunteer time management to finance and accounting.
In exchange, each local United Way pays dues to the national heaquarters. In most cases, this has been around one percent of total fundraising.
Local United Way campaigns are managed by their own local boards, which direct both fundraising and fund distribution for their geographic areas. So each local United Way is different in terms of potential support for anti-life organizations.
See who's on the receiving end
Each local United Way determines the participating groups that receive funding. In many communities, blatantly anti-life groups such as Planned Parenthood are receiving funds. In other cases, you have to dig below the surface to see what is being funding. We have found "crisis hotlines" over the years. The name and mission may sound benign, but often these hotlines will encourage abortion or give advice that is contrary to Christian teachings. In still other communities, the local United Way program does not support any anti-life organizations.
If you need to start a battle
First of all, the initial step is researching the local United Way and its operations. Getting information can take time, as each United Way has its own governing board and rules of operation.
- Start by calling the local agency and ask that they show you their books. Ask for audited statements.
- If you meet resistance, call the consumer reporters at local media outlets and tell them about it.
- Write a letter to the editor of the newspaper and call in to radio talk shows. Ask that the public closely examine the operations of the local United Way.
- Go to each of the social agencies receiving United Way funds and ask the same questions. Again, be aware of indirect support, such as agencies that refer people to Planned Parenthood or other abortion facilities.
- If you find a group that supports anti-life activities, challenge the suitability of the group's programs to your community. Seek media attention for what you've learned.
- It may even be necessary to form a citizens' committee to clean up the local United Way. The more broadly based your group is, the more successful you are likely to be in removing the offending agency from the list of United Way recipients.
Final thought
The United Way is perceived as a community "good guy" that helps many people in need. It can be tough to attack such an icon. But if people of good will are being duped into giving money to an agency that directly or indirectly supports pro-abortion groups in town, action is required.
As Paul Manikowski wrote in the Human Life Review, "Donations to charity are not compulsary. They are free acts, deliberate choices, for which we must accept moral responsibility - because, after all, we become the people we are, for better or for worse, through our morally significant free choices. When we freely choose to fund abortionists, we have freely joined ourselves to their iniquity. It's unsettling, but true: morally speaking, you become what you pay for."
|
