# Den of Thieves- Unite Way Execs caught stealing AGAIN! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 12, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627 "2003-08-12T13:03:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/1 "2003-08-12T13:03:35Z")
For the love of fucking Pete: After the Aramony family scandel you would think the United Way would tighten up their financials. Nope, in fact the thieving continued unabated at the D.C. United Way. All that money that should have gone to the needy is gone. Time to shut them down IMHO. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46677-2003Aug11.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46677-2003Aug11.html) > [@](#): > > The longtime head of the local United Way received more than $1.5 million in apparently improper or questionable payments from the organization during his 27-year tenure, according to a 200-page independent investigative audit to be released today. The audit, more than seven months in the making, gives a scathing review, depicting the charity as a place where top managers were permitted to dip into the millions of dollars in public donations with little or no oversight. > > The report names five other current or former employees of the United Way of the National Capital Area as having racked up an additional $69,500 in expenses lacking adequate documentation in recent years, some of it seemingly for personal reasons. $1.5 million- astounding. More on the Enron of the Non-Profit world (although profitable for the aptly named Orel Suer). > [@](#): > > The audit concludes that many details of the organization’s finances are incomplete because Suer and some other former staff members declined to cooperate. Boxes of documents are missing, too. > > His last day on the job, Suer was seen driving away with “several station wagon loads” of files, the report says, citing an employee. The auditors added that they do not know what the documents contained or where they are. And here is list of thieving: > [@](#): > > For example, he received $694,000 for 28 years’ worth of unused sick leave and vacation time, despite evidence that he was often away on personal business, auditors found. In addition, he took more than $400,000 in cash advances and $180,000 in extra deferred compensation to which he was not entitled, and between 1997 and 2001, he charged more than $85,000 in purchases without turning in receipts, auditors said. Many of those charges, auditors said, appear to have been personal. Some of the charges were for meals and weekend hotel stays in cities where his children were attending college, auditors concluded. > > In one example from 1991, Suer claimed $543 in expenses for a United Way conference in Tampa on the weekend the Super Bowl was taking place there. Auditors concluded there was no United Way conference there at the time. > > In all, auditors calculated that Suer received $2.4 million from the local United Way in excess of his salary and repaid $961,000. > > The report also says Suer reimbursed himself from United Way funds for more than $20,000 he pledged to the annual fund drives. > > Also, as first reported in The Post last August, Suer took $230,000 in additional retirement benefits that were not authorized by the pension’s rules. If you ever are tempted to give to the United Way, especially in the DC area. DON’T. Read the article. Think of all the money stolen in the past. Do give directly to your local charities instead. Read the article, if you have a strong stomach. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Swampwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Swampwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swampwolf)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/2 "2003-08-12T13:21:53Z")
VERY nice…here in Tallahassee, the United Way has drastically cut funding for the Urban League, which helps out small business and people who are having a rough time making ends meet. Drastic to the tune of 54%. Fuck the United Way. I’d sooner donate to George Costanza’s _Human Fund._ ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/3 "2003-08-12T13:48:26Z")
Very depressing. In addition to the 1.5 mil or so this guy took, his actions will likely dry up many times that amount in fiture donations that could have gone to deserving families. Were an armed robber to steal this amount, he’d do 20 years. What you want to bet this SOB doesn’t do squat? ---
**Author:** ![DogMom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@DogMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DogMom)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/4 "2003-08-12T14:02:57Z")
Ok, wait a minute. The article says he “received” **$694,000** for _unused sick leave and vacation time?_ I don’t for a second believe he was entitled to all of it, even if he had gone 28 years without any time off. Because, well, let’s do the math. 694,000 / 28 years = $24,785.71 per year. _Just for his **time off** _. I know people who don’t make that much TOTAL. Anyway. Assuming 4 weeks of paid vacation, and 2 weeks of paid sick leave (total: 6 weeks off) we have: $24,785.71 / 30 days = $826.19 per day divide by 8 hours per day = $103.27 _per hour_ Even if he gets _twice_ that amount of vacation & sick leave, that still breaks down to a salary of over $50 per hour. Un-frigging-believeable. And people wonder why I prefer to give my money to the local Lions club instead of UW. ---
**Author:** ![jlzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jlzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlzania)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/5 "2003-08-12T14:28:03Z")
[quote] And people wonder why I prefer to give my money to the local Lions club…\*\* I used to donate to a Lion’s club in Austin as well until I did a little investigating via the BBB on how my donation was spent. As that particular club used a telemarketing firm to raise funds, only .15 of every dollar actually got to the blind girl with diabetes. The remaining .85 went to the telemarketers. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/6 "2003-08-12T14:58:34Z")
> [@](#): > > The report also says Suer reimbursed himself from United Way funds for more than $20,000 he pledged to the annual fund drives. Oh man. This is so low. Honestly, how scummy can you get? ---
**Author:** ![DaToad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@DaToad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaToad)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/7 "2003-08-12T15:07:44Z")
United Way and the Red Cross are both on my shit list. Stories like this are the reason I give directly to local charities. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/8 "2003-08-12T15:14:09Z")
The United Way has effectively made itself indispensable as an umbrella organization that disburses agglomerated contributions to many smaller groups. It is only by doing this that they have assured their survival. The Armony scandal would have shut down lesser operations, as should be the case. I donated to The United Way once. It was after an intensive corporate presentation which was tantamount to coercion. Soon thereafter I began paying close attention to whenever that name appeared in the news. The repeated scandals that have issued forth from that accursed cesspool of ethics have persuaded me to never again donate even one bent penny for their cause. I think it is time for a regulatory body to take over control of The United Way until safeguards are put in place to assure no further wrongdoing on the scale we have repeatedly seen. People are literally dying on the streets as these administrative bastards sip wine in Superbowl skyboxes. When combined with the malfeasance, their absence of conscience demonstrates a profound disregard for human suffering. What I really want to know is why an ex-employee was allowed to remove substantial amounts of records with him upon departure. This should have set off massive alarms all over the place. Given the immediate evidence of misallocation of funds (the Superbowl incident) this person should be indicted as of now. If The United Way is unwilling to pursue extensive legal prosecution for this criminal conduct, then they should be shut down. I could give a rat’s ass if a well publicized court case will damage their donation rates or overall image. There is a glaring track record of The United Way sweeping such embezzlement beneath what can only be a rug that is now assuming Everest-like proportions from the felonious residue piled beneath it. Either they make all-out efforts to jail these scum bags or face extinction. There needs to be a clean sweep of their boardroom and executive suites. Their accounting staff should follow closely thereafter. I have worked with the needy and will repeat what I said above. These thieving swine are literally stealing the food out of the mouths of the needy. People are dying in the streets as these rotten fucks nibble on their ill-gotten caviar. Such parasites must be squashed between the thumbnails of honorable society. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/9 "2003-08-12T15:45:33Z")
My company has not only used extreme coersion for forcing us to donate to the United Way, they give us “donation envelopes” which we are _required_ to return, even if empty, which have our name and other identifying information on it. I have personally heard managers at my company say “every person who doesn’t donate the minimum of $5 goes on a list…and how much you donate is considered when the layoff decisions are made”. I never got anything in writing that said that, although I have tried (and will continue to try). I asked an upper-level manager once when we were traveling together and he had had a few drinks why the envelopes had our names, locations, and employee numbers on them if they were supposed to be “anonymous” (as they claim they are in the corporate announcements), and the response was an enigmatic “What do YOU think? Don’t be stupid, Una. Just stuff $5 in there and be happy you keep your job.” :mad: Surely this has to be illegal…right? What sort of fucking hold does UW have over my company to get them to act this way? Do they have pictures of the CEO with a donkey? ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/10 "2003-08-12T17:02:48Z")
Oral Suer? _ **Oral Suer??** _ I’d possibly be driven to a life of crime too, were I named that. What were his parents thinking? ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/11 "2003-08-12T18:11:41Z")
**Anthracite** , thank you for making crystal clear what was left unspoken but quite tacitly implied at the company I worked for. All that was missing from the presentation I attended were the truncheons and rubber hoses. ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/12 "2003-08-12T18:19:21Z")
I too have got the stink eye for dodging the United Way crap. My impression was this was some form of goofy one-upmanship between golf-playing executives who run these companies that force you to give. Bastards. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/13 "2003-08-14T05:58:24Z")
I think that 10 replies and 374 views are way too few for something this important. It’s not often I bump a thread, but I’m sending this one back to the top in the hopes that a few more potential donors can be steered away from contributing to this bunch of con artists posing as a charity. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/14 "2003-08-14T06:50:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zenster \* > \*\* I donated to The United Way once. It was after an intensive corporate presentation which was tantamount to coercion. . \*\* This is similar to the way my company does it. Oh sure, it’s _voluntary_. (it is actually, they just look down their snoots at you if you don’t contribute) I told them I’d sooner quit than give them any money. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/15 "2003-08-14T07:10:49Z")
I’d add, too, that some UW programs are a bit questionable, so long as there are folks to be sheltered, doctored, and fed … a few too many after-school programs in rich neighborhoods for my taste. But really, why not just give directly to organizations you believe in? And what’s up with the ubiquitous employer rah-rah-rah for United Way? Do they get a tax break or something? Or is it really just golfcourse boasting? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/16 "2003-08-14T09:59:13Z")
A company I once worked for pushed hard for 100% participation in United Way donations. I chose not to donate, and my manager’s superior had a little “talk” with me, asking why. I gave my reasons and thought that was it. Soon there was another “talk” asking if I could bring myself to put a minimum $2 donation in the envelope, or, failing that, the manager would pay it _for_ me. It was all about competition between the various departments, and the rivalry between businesses. Which business will be the biggest contributor? I still refused, but later it was announced that our department had had 100% participation, so I can only assume my name was forged. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/17 "2003-08-14T12:40:28Z")
The company I work at used to give to United Way. Luckily, the higher ups are fairly active politically. One year they gave the company the hairy eyeball, didn’t like what they saw and ran those bastards out on a rail. Even when I did work for companies that did donate, I didn’t give them a single red cent. There was something very…unctuous…about their presentations that kept me from giving them money. ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/18 "2003-08-14T13:17:57Z")
I worked for our local United Way for about a year and was also a member of the Board of Directors once I stopped working there (was awarded “Volunteer of the Year”). Then the Boy Scouts fiasco came up, our Board wouldn’t even consider cutting their funding, and I resigned. And then one of the Board members responded with a flurry of emails explaining why homosexuals shouldn’t be allowed to take care of children (I’m not making this up). This is a really conservative community - I do know of other United Ways that did cease Boy Scout funding. United Way was started at the behest of, IIRC, Henry Ford, who was tired of having his assembly lines shut down every time a charity came in to ask for money. He agreed to permit one presentation per year. They are managed very locally, to the point where your United Way and the one in the next community over can be doing things quite differently even though they are a part of the same “metropolitan district”. There are even some United Ways who operate independently of their metropolitan districts and just do things on their own. Our United Way was really frugal and didn’t pay me much ($8/hr to start, then $12 when the Director left & I had to take over all of the work). This is in suburban Chicago, where typical retail jobs pay $10/hr. Their overhead was incredibly low, we had free office space in a converted high school and old leftover furniture, plus a copier that belonged in the Smithsonian. When the new Director came in they paid her $20k/yr to work 3/4 time. OTOH, it did strike me as an excuse for people to act fancy. Their big fundraising event was a golf outing at a country club which normally wouldn’t have permitted any of us within its gates. I sort of felt like they were reverse-slumming by letting us use their precious grass. I’ll also tell you that their bookkeeping “system” was extremely strange. Reporting our figures to our district always left me perplexed, and I’ve done a lot of bookkeeping in various environments. Frankly in this day and age, the charities for whom we raised funds have become quite savvy about seeking funding on their own. Most of them do their own web advertising, their own golf outings, their own events. The ones I knew of really didn’t rely on United Way for more than a small part of their budgets. The payroll deduction is probably the only “convenience” (or extortion, depending on where you work) United Way still has to offer. And I do know of some United Ways that will let you designate exactly which charities get your $1.50 - others just put all the dough in their pool & divide it out. I can tell you for a fact, though, that when the United Way rep comes in to make their pitch & says your company has 100% participation, there’s a good chance that’s total BS. I know that from way back when I was doing payroll for a company & knew for a fact not everyone was contributing, despite the rep’s claims. At this point, I just give money directly to the charities & skip United Way. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/19 "2003-08-14T13:26:47Z")
After reading this, I feel like a serious chump.:mad: For years, I have been donating to the United Way - semi-coerced at work, true, but I had no particular objections, figuring that the money would do good. Is my money being used to fund someone’s luxurious lifestyle? Is this nothing but a scam? I can’t say how hopping mad I am. Next year, they can stuff that envelope up their collective ass. :mad: :mad: :mad: P.S., does anyone know of any charities which are _accountable_ and are verifyably _not_ scams? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627/20 "2003-08-14T13:44:18Z")
[http://www.charitynavigator.org/](http://www.charitynavigator.org/) - Use it, live it, love it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/den-of-thieves-unite-way-execs-caught-stealing-again/194627.md?page=2)