Case Study: United Way

An agreed set of public goals for our community is that as a whole group we do a lot of community service. For a couple of years my club would go to a nursing home and do different activities with the elderly. Whether it be making them sun catchers to hang in their windows or play board and card games with them. It

Each year, students orchestrate THON, a Penn State student-led philanthropic organization that raises money for Four Diamonds and Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital. Throughout the year, students coordinate fundraisers and a 46-hour dance marathon to cover costs that insurance companies will not cover and attain funding for pediatric cancer research. At Penn State, I intend to be a part of this phenomenal organization. Within THON, I plan to continue my leadership through becoming a committee member. Fundraising is an essential component in any kind philanthropic organization; therefore, participating in canning weekends, becoming a committee member, and raising money. All of the money raised through THON benefits Four Diamonds at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital for groundbreaking research in pediatric oncology and medical support for families battling this devastating disease. Over the past 40 years, THON has raised over $127 million dollars to find a cure for pediatric cancer, the leading cause of fatal disease in children, which will impact the lives of those dealing with the effects of cancer and improve the overall quality of life for the

The United Way of America and United Way International are part of a federation of nonprofit organizations formed by caring people to serve the needs of their communities. They bring neighborhoods together and facilitate measures toward making a difference to better the world. They have over 1,300 local United Ways in the United States and over 3,000 United Way organizations operating in 45 countries. They raise funds and distribute them to the most effective local service providers, build strong alliances, and coordinated volunteer support among charities. An obstacle that United Way needs to overcome is how many people want to have their donation used in a specific manner. Some people are not interested in giving their

I will use many strategies to meet our goal. I will ask major donors to make gifts to our organization. Friendraising activities are essential to any fundraising effort. As people become more involved, they become more committed and their donations will increase as their sense of belonging grows (Weinstein, 2009).

We mostly raised money by selling goods, but I was driven to be an example of giving back by providing a good attitude, lessons to inspire kindness, and implemented events. When I realized how much money my ideas made, I couldn't stop innovating new ways to promote our purpose. This drove me to do more which lead me to go speak on television and ask for donations during my chorus concert. As I thanked them, I reminded them how grateful we are to be a part of a community that's bonded together by love. When we reached our goal of $15,000, we used that money to buy a student glasses, send a child to the doctors, bought some clothes for someone in need, etc. Holiday Hope inspired me and taught me how one person could make a huge impact while bringing people

United Way is a nonprofit that assists low income families in Austin. United Way was established in Austin in 1924. United Way Austin is located in East Austin and is known for its “You’re My Butter Half’ mural. United Way tries to improve the living conditions for low income families and provide them with the opportunities they need to succeed. They focus on three main areas in its efforts to assist the community. These areas are education, income and health. They work to ensure children have the resources and they receive the education they deserve. They try to provide families with economic opportunities, and make sure the families they work with stay healthy. United Way works with companies in the community to provide families with the

As vice president of my school's NHS chapter, I am an advocate for good causes. Our service project this year is a substantial charitable endeavor. In 1996, a fellow NHS member and friend lost a sibling to SIDS. To assist his family's fight for a cure, our chapter initiated a fundraiser. Tee-shirt sales raised thousands of dollars; a ceremony at a football game advertised our cause to the community; our slogan “Big Steps for Baby Steps” galvanized the school; a partnership with the CJ Foundation for SIDS legitimized our efforts with sponsors. Each of the school's clubs and teams has dedicated itself to the cause. A 5k in May is our culminating event. Uniting an entire school and community behind such a worthy cause is gratifying. The other

Fundraising is a crucial element to being successful in any group, and usually fundraisers are more profitable when they have a unique element. Last year, my color guard team in high school wanted new uniforms. Our old uniforms were falling apart, but instead of just asking the school for the money to purchase the new uniforms, we as a team decided to fundraise for them. As the captain of the team, I decided that we should do a pie in the face contest. At a basketball game, we put out a table with jars on it. Each jar belonged to a member of the color guard team, and if their individual jar reached twenty five dollars, that member would get a pie in the face at the next basketball game. This was a unique, quirky way to raise money and get the

One of the most important things you can do to ensure the success of our organization is to recruit the best people you can find to volunteer. This doesn’t mean they have to have the most impressive resume. Nor do you have to like them or share common interest. They are the people who will always give 100 percent because not only do they care about what they are doing, but they also know that even if the project at hand does not benefit them, it is still benefitting someone, somewhere. You might ask, why do we, as employees, need to know how to recruit volunteers, how is this task important to the United Way, and when should we recruit volunteers. Or more importantly, what are the steps involved in this process,

The presentation from United Way was very informing. This was my first time hearing about the concept of Alice. The presentation for me opens my eyes up to what is happen in the Orleans Parish. The fact that 40% of households in the parish are struggling is shocking. The presenter mention something as to almost 700,000 individuals are struggling, and those are just the stats of 2013. I feel like it may now have a significant increase. However, I feel like the governor of Louisiana have neglected the citizens in this state. Bobby Jindal had the chance to help many of the individuals that are struggling; however, he turned his back on them when they need him the most. For instance, the only thing that is growing is low wages jobs that are not even near most of the housing.

For instance, Joe’s Fish Taco Nights is one of the events my husband Guy and I participate in every year during lent. A month before the event I get to design to flyer to promote the event. The six Friday before Good Friday we help cook fish tacos for the community. It is a wonderful event that brings the community and families together. We start at 3pm cutting cabbage, onions, tomatoes, and cheese. The volunteers then break into groups depending on their assignment. Guy and I are responsible to collect the money for the meals. We never turn a person away, but we do keep track of the meal we give away. During the evening various attendees request to donate a meal for a less fortunate person. All food and soups are donated by participating groups. The money raised is to benefit the vocations. Another event we love to donate our time to is the annual Knights of Columbus Spaghetti dinner. Two months before the dinner I create any flyers, tickets, and promotional materials. My husband Guy and I are in charge of making all the garlic bread for the dinner every year. Last year we used more than 27 loaves of French bread. First we cut the loafs open, butter both sides, add garlic powder, and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. After that we slice the bread into smaller pieces, place them onto the backing sheets and place them in the kitchen until the cooks are ready to bake them. We also invite family and friends to join use for the spaghetti dinner. The food is served by teenagers in need of community service hours for their catechism. Money raised benefits the youth catechism

The inclusion of an independent and competent audit committee should be a standard requirement for large scale nonprofit organizations. In the case of the United Way of America Aramony’s actions could have been easily detected and maybe even prevented if the board would have had a functioning audit committee in place which operated under standard guidelines. An audit committee, or similar financial committee, has likely been established at most large nonprofits, even if they don’t conduct outside audits. The committee is responsible for overseeing the annual audit and dealing with financial issues. Members of the committee should be independent and financially literate. To prevent committee members from becoming over-familiar and lax,

Another important recommendation that GPD should implement is one point seven. This recommendation calls for departments to track the level of trust in their communities. This is a step for enhancing the public image of the police. Jake Horowitz, senior associate at the Pew Charitable Trusts, article in the national institute of justice stated “Departments might also consider tracking the level of satisfaction through community surveys. This feedback could be used to design police training and intervention programs (Horowitz. 2007. Pg. 10).” The chief of police in Greensboro expressed a want to get to the root cause of the problem and tracking trust they could have a better grip on what is causing problems.

Marketing has earned its place in the nonprofit organizations world. However, many business owners still don’t distinguish marketing and development, which leads to failure of the business. Since one term is directly related to money, and the other one deals with relationships, entrepreneurs usually focuses on the wrong strategies in order to increase people’s awareness of their product or service. March of Dimes is one of the nonprofit organizations that was able to figure out the distinguish and target the right market and appropriate time. They created their own blog, where they share different stories, as well as created videos on YouTube, and organized thousands of march of dimes walk throughout the country in order to connect with different

The second fundraiser caused a bump in the road. This fundraiser went through this company called Mixed Bags. Their bags are chic, but they aren't made well. I bought a bag for myself, and it looks nice, but the zipper broke off about two weeks after I received it. No one in my school wanted a bag. In all honesty, you can buy similar bags at Wal-Mart for half the price. I couldn't rely on the church for support, because it was still recovering from the chocolate sales. At first, this didn't work and my parent bought some bags to help me out. I then realized that I hadn't considered some major contributors to my cause, my extended family. The thought came at s most opportune time, because around this time my aunt had a cook