Donations via United Way.....

[SacredCow]

My company is looking into participating, and I'm on the fence about signing up. So how about it, DU'ers? Please post any pro and/or con positions, and any anecdotes that you may have.

Cheers!
:toast:

[madinmaryland]

1. I've only had it when I have been with large companies.

With the two large companies I worked for it was mandatory to contribute. You would get called into the boss's office if you did not. Basically if you didn't donate, they would kill any chance you had at promotion. Very heavy handed enforcement.

[SacredCow]

2. Yeah, that's one of the "cons" that is sticking in my mind....

But my company isn't requiring it, that I know of. The upper management is in discussions of whether they will match our donations, or give us comp time or somesuch incentive....

[J-Lo Biafra]

3. The $2 per paycheck never really killed me, but

the fact that anyone I ever worked for who sponsored United Way pretty much blackmailed their employees into making donations.

[malta blue]

4. I work for a large company and they don't mandate

giving, but what the heck, $25 a year won't kill me.

[madinmaryland]

6. The 25-50 or whatever was not the issue. The fact that you are

coerced into making the contribution is what bothered me. I will make donations to the charities of my choice.

[Connonym]

5. we had that when I worked for the PO

The nice part was that we could specify which charity it was to go to within the United Way and they provided information on how much of the contribution went to administrative costs and how much was actually used for charity. If I recall correctly, there were agencies that nearly 90% of their donations was spent on administrative costs. I don't think it's right to call that a charity personally.