Why Won't UPS Take Care Of It's Own?

[iceman]

The volunteer fire department will not even get your $840. Each charity has an allotment. For exmaple if the VFD allotment is $2000, they would get the $2000 not $2840. The only way they could get more is if a bunch of people desiginated over $2,000, i.e. $2500. Then the VFD would get $2500. This concept that your money would go to your favorite organization is the United Way's big lie. I am told that in the history of our local United Way that there has never been an organization that has received more than their allotted amount because of designation.

 

[local804]

There are lots of charitable organizations that give 100% of the contributions to the charitable source. For instance the have a heart foundation give 100% of the money donated.I also would rather the whole $1000.00 donated to the right person instead of the $840.00. Its all about doing the correct math. I also would rather give to another foundation because I dont have a supervisor trying to force me to donate to his picked organization so he can meet his quota.Its just like everything else at UPS just a damn numbers game.If you tell your supervisor you are going to mail a check directly to the united way, and you want it to have nothing to do with a UPS donation, He would have a COW.I know there are going to be alot of comments to me about my post, but guess what, Its my money and I will give it where I want to and when I want to.......

 

[nevadapaul]

Local804, I doubt very much that you have ever given a dime to a charity on your own. Your a number to UPS because thats what you wish to be.

 

[local804]

Yea.....Ok...... I also see that you are also retired and have been out of the system for a little too long.Both parts of your post are a lie. You must have been in Management.......Birds of a feather flock together...

 

[tieguy]

"There are lots of charitable organizations that give 100% of the contributions to the charitable source."

Again only if they have someone else like a united way doing the fund raising for them.

 

[dannyboy]

Tie

You are missing the point. TAke the fire department as an example. They DO raise funds, and very actively. The united way is only a small portion of the whole budget.

The difference is that the people doing the fundraising are all volunteers. There is very minimal costs involved with it, not near the 16%. But let us assume, for the sake of your discussion, that it is 16% also. That would then make the effective united way contribution of $1000 only 680 actually going to the cause you want to help. So which is better? You say 680 is better than 840, I just disagree.

There are also other issues that are agenda focused that I dissagree with. The person that holds the purse strings also decides the policy. So all things considered, I choose not to support them.

All that being said they DO provide many organizations with help that MIGHT not get to them. But just as very wealthy individuals in the comunity, they are asked to help many different agencies because they DO have a large amount of cash available.

I know that you do support the United Way, and why. And I respect your choice. I choose not to, but instead support the agencies that I choose. End result is same, just method is different.

d

 

[tieguy]

Most charities are not as fortunate as a fire department that usually also benifits from government funding. Many have more work to do than they do volunteers. If you did not have the united way agency collecting funds for those oganizations they would have to committ more of their limited resources towards fund raising. Chances are many of these would never reach a UPS and its employees individually. Look at all the agencies supported by the united way and imagine all of them individually trying to solicit support from UPS and its people. It would be very difficult for them to do so. Now apply the same concept to all the corporations that are part of the United Way and imagine all those agencies trying to reach those corporations on an individual basis to gather the support they gather from all through the united way. It does not take much imagination to realize those agencies would have a very difficult time gathering this support on its own. At the same time the corporations would be bombarded by these agencies calling them on an individual basis. The united way works and there is a cost associated with their fund raising efforts. Unless every single uw person is willing to walk everywhere they go , not eat anything while they are working , not use any electricity , phones or water, no office supplies etc while working there will be a cost.

 

[dannyboy]

Our volunteer fire departments in our area are 100% funded by donations. Just in the last year they have been charging the insurances for responding to calls.

Dont get me wrong Tie, I think that the UW has its place and for a lot of people, it is the way to give. But like anything else, its not for everyone.

d

 

[tieguy]

Agreed.

 

[rd0127]

You can designate your donation with United Way!! Our daughter has a rare disease called, Rett Syndrome. We designate 100% of our donation to the International Rett Syndrome Association. Their main mission is research for the disease, support for families and public awareness.

Also, UPS is not the only corporation who put pressure on their employees to donate to UW. It is extremely common in the work force. I personally know several people who work at different corporations and are "encouraged" to give a certain percentage of their income. I admit that I was very resentful of the push until I discovered we could designate the money. All it takes is a little research on your part. Call your favorite charity or local United Way and get your charities United Way Agency Code. If they are a UW recipient they will have either a national or local one. Get a United Way Designated Agency Form from your UW rep. and fill it out. It really is that easy.

 

[interested]

Ups does a little more than "encourage" one to donate- they pressure you.

My first year in Management I had no idea what to expect. I was only with the company for two or three months when the United Way drive reared it's head. After I explained that I had already been giving to Muscular Dystrophy for the past ten years, and I was happy with that organization, I politely handed back my card with no donation. I was called in the next day and told in no uncertain terms that I was expected to donate to United Way. I was told that nobody really likes to give away their hard earned monies-but that's part of being in management. I was also told it could adversely affect my career if I were to turn them down. Incredulous, I asked how my career might suffer in the absence of a donation, and I was told it was a major factor when it came to the promotion process.

Stunned, I filled out the card donating $10.00 a month. I was then told that that would pass for this year, but next year I would be expected to step up several levels-representative of a full time supervisor.

After several months I was comfortable enough with some of my peers to inquire about the process and found that it was just part of the territory and they had come to expect the annual procedures.

It was a couple of years before I felt secure enough to abstain from the United Way altogether. Now, in addition to donating to Muscular dystrophy for almost twenty years, I have begun to donate to the United Way again. Only I refuse to do it through Ups. In addition, I have had to witness the same pressures I was exposed to ten years ago-esp. with new young management. I have even been asked over the years to keep quiet about my choices, as I am sure management feared that I would subvert their guerilla tactics to intimidate people out of their money.

I spent ten years in the professional workforce with two fortune 500 companies before I came to UPS. One of them, Tenneco, was also a large contributor to United Way. I clearly remember the donation drives from those days and they were NOTHING like Ups. In fact they were so cognizant of personal choice in the matter of a donation that they were careful to use that exact terminology when it was time to give. Also, the information that we received on the United Way was much more extensive and the process was not nearly as rushed.

When you promote most of your management from within, it is much harder to find a barometer to measure internal processes against. The experience of being in management for a different company for several years gives one a reference point for such activities. It is often just dimissed at Ups that "it is what it is" But that is all you know when you work in the vacuum like environment that is Ups. Many of Ups processes, especially when it comes to how they treat their employees, would never fly in the rest of corporate America

I wish I would have had the guts ten years ago to go to human resources and report my colleagues tactics for extorting UW funds.

 

[rd0127]

I'm sorry Iceman, but I disagree with your comment. The part about each organization being alloted a certain amount to begin with is true. But, it does add up when people donate and org's do get more than their alloted money. IRSA (the organization that I mentioned in my first post), every year ask all of it's members to be sure to designate their UW donations. Why on earth would they waste their time unless it was going to make a difference. I'm sure there are a lot of org's that do not make any more, but to say that none do and that it is just propaganda is simply not true.

 

[rd0127]

My mother was a cleaning lady at a local hospital and was heavily pressured into giving to UW. I still say, a lot of companies do "encourage" or heavily pressure the UW donations. Yes, UPS is a player in this game, especially with their management. But, to say they are the only ones who pressure this strongly, well, I'm sorry, but I disagree.

 

[iceman]

RD127
You can disagree with my statement but that is the way it is. Organizations can use their special requests in their presentations to up their allotment the following year. For example the VFD could say $1800 of our two thousand allotment was designated, therefore the united way needs to raise our basic allotment to $3000/

 

[dannyboy]

Let me clear the smoke a bit on how the system works.

Lets use some simple numbers so we can understand.

Say our united way takes in 500,000 dollars and has 100 agencies that they support, all equally ( I know in reality that is not so, but for the sake of discussion.....)

That is $5,000 each.

Dannyboy contributes $2,500 per year to the UW. That is 5% of the budget.

Going through the UW, if I want all the $2,500 to go to the fire department, $5,000 is still all they get, unless others designate more than $5,000 in total to them. Uderstand also that they will get your donation less the 16%, or $400. So in reality, even though you gave 2500, and wanted the fire department to get all of it, they would in reality get 2100 of your donation.

Not the interesting part. Take my 5% away from the united way and reduce the total to the fire department by 5% or $250. So now they are getting $4,750 from the united way. I, instead of going through the UW give it directly to the fire department. Now they have my $2,500 plus the $4,750 from the UW making a total of $7,250.

Now this example is not taking into account the 16% that comes off the top, in this case they would have to raise 580,000 to distribute $500,000.

So if you are wanting all you money to go directly to a specific organization, how do you figure it helps them more letting the UW handle the money?

Now there are some agencies that do not have a 501C3 standing and money given to them is not tax deductable, where giving it to the US would make it so. But out side of that one blip, I dont see how, IF you are going to give anyway to a cause, whey letting the UW handle it and take 16% of your donation off the top.

But on the other hand, the UW is a great money raiser from people that would not normally give to any charity.

CLear as mud?

d And they think I dont understand the numbers!


(Message edited by dannyboy on October 01, 2003)

 

[tieguy]

I never thought I would see such a lively debate about giving to charity. Danny your point is a good option though for most people it does not work because they do not plan and budget thier finances as well as you apparently do. For most the payroll deduction is the easiest, less painfull way to go. The important point here whether you give to UW or not is do something. Volunteer your time, stick a few bucks in the street corner collection bucket , give to something. Take your UPS compensation, your time and your energy and make the world a better place to live.

 

[dannyboy]

Tie

You are correct. IT is a lively debate and it seems that we are in complete aggreement.

And what is really nice is even though there are conflicting views, it seems to have stayed civil, with each "side" presenting their views without sniping.

I just wish that all situations in our company could be handled this way.

d

 

[toonertoo]

it is another numbers game. UPS doesnt care if you pledge 50 cents a week, as long as you pledge something so they can show that 100 % of their workforce contributes.
My answer is I need to give money to my own favorite places. Like to people inside my own family who have conditions no organization helps with. Parkinsons and phenylketonuria (PKU) to name two of them.

 

[proups]

I disagree with the statement that the United Way has a "cap" on what they give to a certain organization.

I've gone to several United Way websites, and see that they all have allocation committees (volunteers). These allocation committees decide how much from the general fund goes to an organization based on that organization's request to the United Way.

If you designate to a certain agency, then those dollars do not go into the general fund that the United Way uses to determine how much each agency that applies will get. So your designation essentially goes to the organization before the allocation committees decide where the general funds go.

Make sense?