Breaking down the numbers from the 2005 campaign
By American staff
In the United Way of Greater St. Louis’s recently released itemized list of grants it has awarded to member agencies, organizations with a strong service base in the black community are very well represented.
For example, the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis was granted $1,255,950, Grace Hill Settlement House was granted $679,222, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri was granted $654,982, Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club of St. Louis was granted $525,543, Mathews-Dickey Boys’ and Girls’ Club was granted $476,081, Annie Malone Children and Family Service Center was granted $448,795, Employment Connection was granted $426,257, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri was granted $320,303.
The 200 United Way member agencies will receive $50,809,041; more than 50 of the funded agencies primarily serve the African-American community and will receive close to $15 million in total.
In 2005, David L. Steward became the first African American to serve as United Way campaign chair. He chaired the campaign that made these grants possible, as the United Way of Greater St. Louis surpassed its 2005 fundraising goal of $65.5 million.
In a year marked by a series of catastrophic natural disasters, accompanied by widespread reports of donor fatigue, United Way rallied the best efforts of companies, their employees and other individuals to raise $65,501,220 on behalf of the local community.
The nearly $1.5 million increase in United Way funds in 2005 means that more dollars will be available in 2006 to sustain United Way’s local system of 200 quality member agencies. Each year, these agencies help more than one million people in 16 Missouri and Illinois counties. In 2004, the network of United Way member agencies served 316,840 African-American clients.
Additional funding is available for community initiatives that identify long-term solutions to the bistate region’s social and economic challenges.
“We knew we had set an ambitious goal this year – and we couldn’t have imagined the challenges,” said Steward.
Citing the local impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Steward noted that the community and United Way-supported agencies helped more than 4,000 hurricane survivors in our area, while providing needed services to people who have lived and worked here for years.
“We all did our very best to help keep our community strong,” Steward added. “I can truthfully say, ‘We thrived in ’05!’”
Leadership givers played a key role in helping United Way to thrive. The Charmaine Chapman Society, United Way’s leadership giving initiative that recognizes African Americans who give $1,000 or more annually to the United Way campaign, raised $1.4 million. Its membership roster increased to 561, including 144 new members.
In 2005, the Charmaine Chapman Society raised 396,949 new dollars – more than 16 percent of the new dollars raised during the entire United Way campaign.
United Way’s board of directors approved the 2006 budget and allocation plan on Dec. 14, 2005. The amount allocated for health and human services is $56,229,220. Projected uncollectible pledges of $3,563,000 and a campaign and organizational expense budget of $5,709,000 account for the rest of the $65.5 million.
In return, each member agency measures itself against Quality Standards, the United Way-developed guidelines that define excellence in agency governance, program, finance and administration.
United Way also budgeted $3,988,000 for direct services it provides to the community, including Information and Referral, which assists callers in locating health and human services providers, and the Volunteer Center, which links people to regionwide volunteer opportunities.
