Enough with the United Way!
Will I get tarred and feathered if I admit that I do not support the United Way? In fact, I am sick and tired of people trying to guilt me into giving to that organization.
At many workplaces around the region, employees are annually hectored into donating to the cause. Just today, the editorial page of the Democrat and Chronicle sternly tells its readership to “Donate to United Way of Greater Rochester now, when it counts.”
Undoubtedly, the United Way supports many worthy efforts across the region. It also supports organizations like Planned Parenthood.
I do not understand why an organization created to do good for an entire community would effectively take sides on a issue as contentious as abortion. It demonstrates that the leadership of the United Way either does not consider abortion to be a sensitive issue, or it does not care. Either way, I refuse to support them.
And before you write a poorly-spelled response about how I am an evil conservative and that only liberals really care about the less fortunate, remember that it is a demonstrated fact that conservatives are much more generous than liberals. In 2007, Arthur C. Brooks, a politically independent professor at Syracuse University, wrote a book called, “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism.” George F. Will recently provided a nice summary of Brooks’s findings:
•Although liberal families’ incomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative families, conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent more to charity than the average liberal-headed household ($1,600 per year vs. $1,227).
•Conservatives also donate more time and give more blood.
•Residents of the states that voted for John Kerry in 2004 gave smaller percentages of their incomes to charity than did residents of states that voted for George W. Bush.
•Bush carried 24 of the 25 states where charitable giving was above average.
•In the 10 reddest states, in which Bush got more than 60 percent majorities, the average percentage of personal income donated to charity was 3.5. Residents of the bluest states, which gave Bush less than 40 percent, donated just 1.9 percent.
•People who reject the idea that “government has a responsibility to reduce income inequality” give an average of four times more than people who accept that proposition.
To sum up, conservatives are generous people who genuinely care for the less fortunate and give more to charity than liberals.
And this conservative will not give to a charity like the United Way that funnels money to organizations that I vehemently oppose. SO STOP ASKING!
5 Responses to “Enough with the United Way!”
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Occam
A long time ago I stopped donating to the United Way. Yes I got chastised over it by liberal managers who’s main goal is to make their company look good at cocktail parties, so they can boast how much they give.
I will not support an organization who in turns supports abortions. No matter what the say about not supporting abortions, money from UW goes to planned parenthood.
My advice is to give more to your church or find a charity that you can donate directly to. When a homeless person on the streets of downtown asks you for some spare change, give them a dollar or two and don’t assume the worst about them.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the United Way decide that if you want to give to a specific organization of which you may have a personal interest (family member with the illness, etc. etc.) that they will make you pay a fee on top of your donation?
You don’t pay the fee though if you give your donation to their General Fund (name??), which allows them to distribute funding dollars how they want.
No offense to the UW, but why would you make it difficult for people to make donations? People are cash-strapped these days, so their effort to give should be made as simple and supportive as possible.
If you designate your donation, a fee is assessed because it costs the United Way to distribute those funds to your preferred organization. It’s a more efficient use of your resources and the United Way’s time if you give directly to an organization that you support.
Second, Planned Parenthood is not one of the organizations within the General Fund portfolio. They do not receive general fund monies. Still, if you want to send a message, you may negative designate any organization, to show that you do not want your donation to fund their programs. But in Planned Parenthood’s case, it’s a moot point, since they’re not funded.
Finally, Planned Parenthood provides a variety of reproductive health services including low and no cost birth control (contributing to a lowered rate of abortion), screening for reproductive system cancers, and the only contact that many poor Americans have with a health care provider. Not all Planned Parenthoods provide abortion, but all Planned Parenthoods provide education that protects men and women against illness and sexual assault.
Twobluelights:
According to the United Way of Greater Rochester 2008 Field Guilde:
“Planned Parenthood receives funding through United Way’s Donor Choice program - so essentially, you can designate to Planned Parenthood.” (p. 13).
It sounds like they receive funding through the United Way.
And as for Planned Parenthood’s various activities, I really do not care that they may perform some valuable services. They also kill fetuses. That kind of taints everything that they do in my mind. Making that argument is like defending Mussolini because he made the trains run on time.
I want to make sure everyone knows who started Planned Parenthood and what the goal was.
Their founder was a person name Maragret Sanger. Sanger was an avowed racists and eugenics supporter. One of her main goals was to get rid of “socially undesirable people”