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United Way volunteers
review distribution of funds
The Stuart News
By Valerie Nienberg, staff writer
March 29, 2006
Reprinted with permission from The Stuart News.
STUART -- The volunteers who make up the United Way of
Martin County's citizen review panels are charged with
making some big decisions.
The 60 men and women from throughout the county -- some
longtime donors, some new faces -- are collectively spending
about 600 hours visiting the United Way's various agencies
and splitting up the money raised during this year's
campaign, which ends Thursday.
It's a task that's both rewarding and difficult, said Britt
Frank of Stuart, a 14-year veteran of the review panels.
"It always seems that the dollars we have to distribute are
not sufficient to meet the needs of the community," Frank
said. "They do a wonderful job in most cases, and you want
to fully fund those programs."
Volunteers began site visits to the organizations on Tuesday
and will continue through April 6. After that, they will
reconvene to take a look at each grant request and how much
can be accommodated.
United Way executives hope to distribute $2.25 million this
year, but said they are still about $59,000 short of that
goal.
"(The groups) are all extremely excited about their programs
and the good things they do in the community, and they want
to educate the panel members," Frank said. "It's up to the
organization to explain how their charity works, what they
do, and their results -- not only do we do good things, but
our program is effective."
Volunteers are usually a mix of veterans, such as Frank, and
newcomers. Most are working members of the community, said
Jim Vojcsik, United Way executive director, and many take
personal or vacation time to volunteer because they feel it
is so important.
"It's the absolute worst time of the year for me to devote
time to it," said Frank, an accountant whose workload picks
up as tax time approaches. "I've continued to do it for 14
years, so I see a big benefit."
For many of the volunteers who are also donors to the United
Way, serving on the panel is a chance to see first-hand how
their contributions help.
"It's an eye-opening experience," Vojcsik said. "Maybe the
best part about the program is that it's lead directly
to people either increasing their gift, or making a
first-time gift."
Because the volunteers spend so much time with the agencies,
Vojcsik said their recommendations are almost always final.
And even when those decisions mean an allocation far short
of what an agency has requested, Vojcsik said it isn't an
agency's last hope.
"United Way is on average 10 to 15 percent of an agency's
overall budget," he said. "We're an important piece of the
program, but we're generally not making life or death
decisions about a program."
Money raised in the current campaign will be distributed on
July 1.
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