Case Study: United Way

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

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

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

Social Services: On 02/17/2017, Ms. Hair and her son Aaron met with the family assigned Case Manager for the family ILP Document Review. Ms. Hair is expected to meet with her assigned Case Manager bi-weekly. Ms. Hair’s next ILP appointment is on 02/02/2017. Case Manager asked Ms. Hair if she is aware that she is not in-compliance with the terms of her ILP, Ms. Hair stated yes. Case Manager asked Ms. Hair if is aware that failed to attend her ILP meetings since 01/23/2017, Ms. Hair stated that she was aware. Ms. Hair last ILP was conducted on 01/23/2017. Ms. Hair stated that the reason that she has not attended her ILP meetings is due to her work scheduled. Case Manager explained to Ms. Hair that it’s understandable that she is working and she

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

I would use the personalized mailing after making initial contact with the prospective donor in order to provide them with information after they have made a commitment to make a donation so that we are not losing as much funding by sending out to everyone that is referred to us. The social gatherings and informational gatherings would be to provide additional information to the donors as needs and changes arise so that they are aware of the increasing demands that the organization may have. The final activity would be to provide breakfast and lunches periodically for the donors in order to honor them and in appreciation for their donations. By using these activities, I have the expectation that it will cause the donors and the amounts to increase. In order to measure the successfulness of the strategy I would preset the amount that is required for the year and then break them down into quarters so that every quarter we attempt to achieve and surpass that given amount. In doing this, it would make the amount smaller during the quarter so that it would be a more feasible goal than the actual yearly

AmeriCorps is the first opportunity that I’ve encountered that will allows me to incorporate both my community services volunteering experiences and my career passions. I have experiences in community outreach and engagement by being a program coordinator and I have healthcare experiences through my services in the hospital playroom. Yet, my career passion is to combine the two and work with the community on health issues and concerns that underserved and underrepresented populations have in regards to community health. With the AmeriCorps program, I am able used the skills and knowledge that I’ve gained from my experiences and turn them into a real setting and make an impact on the lives of the community.

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,

United Way is having a competition among college age marketing groups for support of a movement to spread awareness and raise money for the cause. United Way is an organization that works with over 80 charity and not-for-profit organizations. Some examples of the organizations that United Way works with are the boys and girls club, food bank, and many others. The mission of the organization is to fight for health, education, and financial stability. United Way gave all of the groups the same hashtag to create unity among the campaigns: #LiveunitedWCA

For Initiative 3, I believe this portion of the project went well. However, we were unsuccessful with achieving our original goal as a team of four. When I first chose this part of the project, I thought we could raise 200 dollars as a team. Then, after my team and I developed a direct idea for this fundraiser, we began to realize that a 100-dollar goal would be more realistic. By constructing a 50/50 raffle each member had over a week to sell 25 tickets. This intended goal was achieved! Thanks to my team members, we raised 75 dollars. One person from my team was fired, so my team was short on the goal by 25 dollars. However, the amount of money achieved was still a success for our team because it reflects the participation of 3 members instead of 4. It also shows that we did not give up on our goal, even during times of trouble.

The United Way is a long established company that is known for helping build stronger communities. Many people may have first been introduced to this organization through their successful commercials featured during professional football games. The ads made many viewers aware of the needs experienced through different areas, and how football players were volunteering to make a difference. This was a great introduction to the United Way, but the organization is much more than what viewers observed.

Securing major gifts is important to almost every organization (Hodge, n.d., p.1). These gifts assist organizations in ensuring the success of both annual and capital campaigns (Hodge, n.d., p.1). They not only account for most of the donation to a campaign, but they can also serve as a lead gift, which gets other people interested in donating to the cause. Without major gifts, organizations would be doomed, therefore organizations need to ensure that they have the staff, resources, and training in place to allow for successful solicitations.

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