Sunday, March 7, 2010

Live United


We are stalwart supporters of United Way. Our division business manager Rhonda Carlile serves on Durham’s Program Accountability Committee and I’m on the Durham County Cabinet.

Most folks only see the fund raising side of United Way, but there’s considerable work behind-the-scenes to analyze community needs, allocate funds accordingly and hold human service agencies accountable for the money they receive through United Way.

75% of the $17 million raised last year by the United Way of the Greater Triangle came directly from employees contributing to workplace campaigns. That’s hard-earned money from people with generous hearts. I can assure you from personal experience that United Way is most serious about its responsibility to donors.


Speaking of the ’09 campaign, Capitol Broadcasting received a pair of awards for its promotional support at the Durham Performing Arts Center on February 25th.

Rhonda Carlile accepts on behalf of the Durham Bulls.

Loretta Harper-Arnold and Chris Downey receive the award for Capitol Broadcasting Company.
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Baseball fans love stats and comparisons. Let me apply that to United Way…

As I mentioned, the 2009 Triangle campaign raised $17 million. The same amount was contributed in 2008, but holding your own in a recession is pretty darned good. The Chronicle of Philanthropy predicted that charitable giving would be down 9% last year, so United Way supporters in our community bucked the trend!

How does the Triangle compare to peer communities, ie, Nashville, Austin, Jacksonville? More stats in my next post…