# Guess where some of your United Way contribution goes **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 28, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-where-some-of-your-united-way-contribution-goes/702794 "2014-10-28T20:41:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-where-some-of-your-united-way-contribution-goes/702794/21 "2014-10-29T22:46:58Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > I think you might be over-reacting. > > The United Way acts as a go-between for a lot of donations. If you want to do a payroll deduction, it often goes to United Way and is then flagged to end up at whatever charity you choose.Imagine a company that allows charitable payroll deductions having to send the contributions to a hundred different charities. They can avoid that hassle by sending all the money to the United Way and allowing UW to divvy it up. That’s what the Designation Code is for on that web page you linked to. > > For designated giving like this, the United Way is not choosing what money goes there, the people giving the donations are. Apparently it is more than that. NVIC is[a “member nonprofit”](http://www.unitedwaynca.org/pages/charities/P250) of United Way of the Capital Area. That gives it a leg up on seeking donations because it’s affiliated with a respectable organization. “United Way NCA member nonprofits are locally-focused nonprofit organizations, providing programs and services in the Greater Washington region. Members are represented in public and private sector workplace giving campaigns under the United Way of the National Capital Area federation, and are able to receive donor-designated gifts through these campaigns.” [http://www.unitedwaynca.org/pages/members](http://www.unitedwaynca.org/pages/members) Think of it as advertising for the group. Couldn’t be dodgy if it’s a United Way member, right? [Wrong](http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/ringing-in-2012-with-antivaccine-propaganda/). ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-where-some-of-your-united-way-contribution-goes/702794/22 "2014-10-29T22:54:09Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > …If you want to do a payroll deduction, it often goes to United Way and is then flagged to end up at whatever charity you choose.Imagine a company that allows charitable payroll deductions having to send the contributions to a hundred different charities. They can avoid that hassle by sending all the money to the United Way and allowing UW to divvy it up. That’s what the Designation Code is for on that web page you linked to. > > For designated giving like this, the United Way is not choosing what money goes there, the people giving the donations are. It’s not an endorsement by the United Way, or necessarily someone that would receive money from the UW’s general funds. Not true. The United Way has already decided that the Western Panhandlers’ Union will get $100k from them this year and the Diseased Yak Farmers Recovery Fund will get $50k. If you flag a $1k gift to go to the Western Panhandlers’ Union, they will just say, oh, that’s $1k we don’t have to spend out of our general funds to make our $100k gift to the WPU. The DYFRF still gets their $50k. [http://uncleandystruthemporium.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/dont-knuckle-under-to-the-united-way-shakedown-that-funds-abortion/](http://uncleandystruthemporium.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/dont-knuckle-under-to-the-united-way-shakedown-that-funds-abortion/) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-where-some-of-your-united-way-contribution-goes/702794/23 "2014-10-29T23:39:45Z")
My current and former companies stopped UW after the scandal [described here.](http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/09/us/united-way-faced-with-fewer-donors-is-giving-away-less.html) I spent plenty of time in other companies going to meetings and soliciting. Not getting bugged is quite a relief. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-where-some-of-your-united-way-contribution-goes/702794/24 "2014-10-30T02:06:21Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > My mother’s generation campaigned for the March of Dimes. This was official or close to it. It had the explicit backing of one of our most beloved Presidents. > [@](#): > > My generation campaigned for Greenpeace. This is a bit fringe, a bit nutty (they _say_ spiking trees isn’t supposed to kill loggers…), but not outright bonkers. (Bonkers greenies are the ALF and the Hard Greens.) > [@](#): > > My daughters are apparently supposed to drop the UNICEF boxes and pass out this shit instead. Anti-vax is fringe. It’s a laughingstock in most circles. Comedians get laughs by reminding people it exists. It’s only close to mainstream in a few regions. My point is, trying to use this to paint Broad Generational Pictures is dishonest. Not that the kinds of people who paint Broad Generational Pictures care much about honesty to begin with… ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-where-some-of-your-united-way-contribution-goes/702794/25 "2014-10-30T14:11:52Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > This was official or close to it. It had the explicit backing of one of our most beloved Presidents. > > This is a bit fringe, a bit nutty (they _say_ spiking trees isn’t supposed to kill loggers…), but not outright bonkers. (Bonkers greenies are the ALF and the Hard Greens.) > > Anti-vax is fringe. It’s a laughingstock in most circles. Comedians get laughs by reminding people it exists. It’s only close to mainstream in a few regions. > > My point is, trying to use this to paint Broad Generational Pictures is dishonest. Not that the kinds of people who paint Broad Generational Pictures care much about honesty to begin with… I’m not trying to paint a broad generational picture. My point was simply the irony of the anti-vaxxers campaigning for polio rather than against it. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-where-some-of-your-united-way-contribution-goes/702794/26 "2014-10-30T22:43:05Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Not true. > > The United Way has already decided that the Western Panhandlers’ Union will get $100k from them this year and the Diseased Yak Farmers Recovery Fund will get $50k. If you flag a $1k gift to go to the Western Panhandlers’ Union, they will just say, oh, that’s $1k we don’t have to spend out of our general funds to make our $100k gift to the WPU. The DYFRF still gets their $50k. > > [Private Site](http://uncleandystruthemporium.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/dont-knuckle-under-to-the-united-way-shakedown-that-funds-abortion/) True enough, but on the off-chance that funds were designated in excess of the allocation, they would pay the agency the full amount. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-where-some-of-your-united-way-contribution-goes/702794.md?page=1)