United Way Worldwide, a global nonprofit fundraising giant that was started more than 130 years ago by faith leaders in Denver, aims to regain its presence in Santa Fe County after a local branch focused on early childhood services broke away last year.
United Way of Central New Mexico plans to expand into Santa Fe by mid-2022 and vows to take a different approach — and with different priorities — than in Albuquerque, the city where it is based.
The expansion also calls for going beyond United Way’s traditional business model, which emphasizes yearly fundraising campaigns to aid nonprofits. There will be conversations with nonprofits, businesses, government leaders and residents about where charitable efforts are most needed in Santa Fe and how they can be more effective, one official said.
“This is not your grandfather’s or even your father’s United Way,” said Rodney Prunty, president and CEO of United Way of Central New Mexico. “We’re all about community engagement.”
News of the regional United Way’s plans to set up shop in Santa Fe met with some skepticism, however, including from officials at the former local chapter that changed its name to Growing Up New Mexico to reflect its increased focus on early childhood care.
Stacy Quinn, board member emeritus for Growing up New Mexico: The Early Childhood Partnership, questioned whether United Way was really needed in a county with savvy fundraisers and donors.
“The nonprofits in Santa Fe are really good at fundraising, and they know their constituencies way better than someone from Albuquerque,” Quinn said. “We already have a very, very robust philanthropic community.”
What appeals to Santa Fe residents differs from the causes people in Albuquerque would support, Quinn said, adding, “We are the City Different for a reason.”
A new approach
The Central New Mexico chapter is among 1,300 local affiliates under the United Way Worldwide umbrella. For decades, United Way has billed itself as a middleman that can ensure donations will go to charitable causes that most benefit the underserved in a community — things that individual donors acting alone may not be capable of doing.
Local chapters are given a fair amount of autonomy as long as they comply with the organization’s overarching principles and meet fundraising obligations.
This leeway is what enabled the former Santa Fe chapter to narrow its focus several years ago to early childhood services, said Katherine Freeman, executive director of Growing Up New Mexico.
It also will allow the Central New Mexico branch to draft a new blueprint for Santa Fe, Prunty said.
Still, the parent organization has flexed its muscles over the years. United Way became known for campaigns that encouraged employers, with the promise of good public relations, to persuade their workers to donate.
Prunty seemed intent on distancing his chapter not only from United Way’s reputation for high-pressure tactics but from the emphasis on fundraising.
A task force was formed to talk to Santa Feans, research the services most needed in the area and to get a feel for the culture.
It conducted a “listening tour” that involved talking mostly with local government and school officials and a few charitable foundations, Prunty said.
This initial phase was for reconnaissance to determine whether it was feasible to expand into Santa Fe and whether there was a need for United Way, Prunty said.
The team was told some nonprofits are struggling and could use United Way’s support, he said.
Prunty said he’s well aware Santa Fe is much different from Albuquerque and demands a different strategy.
Trying to force-fit Albuquerque’s charity system into Santa Fe won’t work, he said, adding there is much he and his teams must learn. “We’re not going into Santa Fe with any predisposed notions.”
A Santa Fe director will be hired, preferably from the area, to act as a liaison.
The task force has identified some areas of need in Santa Fe, including senior services, affordable housing, behavioral health, broadband access and middle school support, Prunty said.
The goal is to get the new Santa Fe branch operating by summer 2022. To kick-start local grant awards, the regional chapter will use part of the $10 million donation it received from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.
The next step is to talk to more nonprofits and businesses to hear their concerns and priorities, Prunty said.
If local nonprofits are already covering certain areas well, such as homelessness, United Way will instead concentrate on the needs not being met.
“We come to the community with a mindset of humility and to really focus on how can we address the most significant issues in Santa Fe County,” Prunty said.
Is it needed?
Quinn expressed doubts that the Albuquerque-based chapter will revamp its template enough to fit Santa Fe.
“The interactions I’ve had over the last 25 years with Central New Mexico is that they are a pretty standard United Way format,” Quinn said.
She added the parent company allows some autonomy but remains set in its ways with its basic mission of raising funds and awarding grants.
Its rigidity was partly why the former Santa Fe chapter split from United Way. The chapter was allowed to concentrate more on early childhood care, a mission that began in 2003, and grew to include operating prekindergarten classrooms and home visiting programs, and helping to guide policy decisions on services for New Mexico’s youngest children. But the worldwide office was displeased about the lack of fundraising for what it deemed other high priorities such as health care, Quinn said.
Officials insisted the Santa Fe team raise money for the organization’s other favored causes, she said. The fundraising pressure, coupled with increasingly onerous dues, became too much to take.
“It was sort of the last straw,” Quinn said.
Although the parting was amicable, the conflicts were irreconcilable and spoke to United Way only being able to bend so much, she added.
For that reason, she finds it unlikely the Central New Mexico chapter can change enough to really serve Santa Fe. Aside from finding service gaps, it must navigate Santa Fe’s complex politics and culture.
“I’m very skeptical that this large of an organization can make this kind of a pivot,” Quinn said.
United Way is becoming an outdated business model, she said. These days, people can donate money online themselves and research the nonprofits and causes they want to fund, so there’s no call for a middleman that takes a cut and dispenses the money.
Sherry Hooper, executive director of The Food Depot, shared some of Quinn’s concerns and questioned whether United Way was really needed in the area.
“I’m not seeing what I want to see to make it successful,” Hooper said of United Way’s Santa Fe plan.
Hooper said she’d like assurance the donations United Way collects in Santa Fe will stay in the community and not get tossed into a regional fund for Albuquerque to tap.
She noted the Santa Fe Community Foundation already works with local organizations to create charitable plans and to train them in fundraising and financial oversight.
So if United Way has nothing fresh to offer and can’t find new philanthropic gaps, it will compete with existing nonprofits for funding, Hooper said.
“They could be a competitor,” she said.
But Prunty said in Albuquerque, United Way aligned with community foundations that were potential competitors. The key is having a conversation about shared goals and the greater impact they can have working together, he said.
“We don’t come to Santa Fe in the spirit of competition but more with the spirit of collaboration,” Prunty said. “Our mindset is collaboration, listening and learning.”
Edward Archuleta, executive director of St. Elizabeth Shelters and Supportive Housing, said he would welcome United Way’s revival in Santa Fe, even if it didn’t assist St. Elizabeth.
United Way helped keep St. Elizabeth afloat in the first years after it was founded in 1986, Archuleta said.
“We would not be here,” he said. “They kept us alive; they kept us going. For that, we are greatly indebted.”
Whatever issues United Way works on would bring greater attention and help to those problems because it so well-known nationally, Archuleta said.
Prunty said United Way wants to strengthen the area’s charitable work by becoming an active part of the community, creating partnerships that go beyond asking employers to donate in the fall.
“We don’t want to be the October visitor,” Prunty said. “We want to be able to help solve those critical issues.”
"that" - Google News
August 08, 2021 at 10:00AM
https://ift.tt/3jAQwu0
United Way to replace Santa Fe chapter that split off - Santa Fe New Mexican
"that" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3d8Dlvv
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar