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Improving quality of life through nonprofits
Fort Collins Coloradoan
September 14, 2002
Columns

With the plethora of existing charities, how do you decide which one to support? In fact, how do you decide if you want to give anything in the first place?

Larimer County is, by many people’s standards, a great place to live. One of the things that makes it great is its network of services to help a wide range of people, from the young to the elderly, the disabled to the abused. It’s easy to feel proud living here.

However, if we want, and expect, a high quality of life in our county, we can’t expect the community to give it to us without us giving something back. Even if we may never need help ourselves, by contributing we help make the community stronger.

But how do we choose the best place to make our donations? There’s a simple answer: United Way.

United Way is an umbrella organization that looks at the overall needs of the community. It aims to improve the quality of life for as many as possible in the following ways:

Whole person: Many people needing help require the services of more than one program. For example, Crossroads helps a battered woman and her children get shelter in the short term. However, this woman will probably need assistance from other organizations, such as Neighbor to Neighbor for housing and Colorado Legal Services for assistance with a divorce, or counseling for her children from Hope Counseling Center. United Way funds all of these programs, providing a safety net to help her get back on her feet.

Whole community: While some programs are excellent at promoting themselves, smaller ones playing vital roles can be overlooked. United Way oversees the entire community’s needs and evaluates agencies according to their community value. Furthermore, your donations remain local: contributions to United Way of Larimer County stay in Larimer County.

Accountability: United Way is a trusted agency. It is volunteer-driven by well known, respected community leaders. Volunteers help raise money. Volunteers research the most pressing community needs. They decide where to place funding, making sure the programs are producing results. Volunteers monitor both the individual programs and United Way itself, ensuring the donor’s investment is well managed.

Efficiency: Donors get a high return on investment with United Way. Whereas the average non-profit agency operates at 25% overhead, your local United Way operates at 12.5%. The two United Way operating in Larimer County (Fort Collins and Loveland-Estes Park-Berthoud) work closely to make savings from economy of scale – sharing materials, costs etc.

Ease: United Way is a one-stop shop. One donation to the United Way Community Safety Net supports over 40 different programs in Larimer County – and helps maintain that safety net for people in need. During the Fall you may have the opportunity to contribute through our annual fund raising campaign at your workplace; payroll deductions make it easy to maximize your contribution.

United Way is working hard to make your donations improve the quality of life of everyone in Larimer County. Thank you for your generosity, and please keep giving – for your community and for yourself.

-By Meg Brown a.k.a.: Sophie Waghorn

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