New Challenges for United Way

There is change everywhere the United Way leadership looks. There is change in who needs help in Southern California and there is change in why they need it. So the region’s largest private charity organization is changing, too--from the top down.

To learn just how fast the region is changing and in what directions, the United Way has a new survey of its service area of Los Angeles County and parts of San Bernardino and Kern counties. The five-month-long assessment of major economic and social trends will be the base for new strategic planning.

The survey shows a rapidly increasing racial and ethnic diversity. The broader mix of cultures will require a new mix of charitable services. It tells United Way that a major need among immigrants will be help in resettling, English lessons and, in some cases, basic education. It says the agency must add bilingual staff members. Increasing diversity also means competition for funds from minority-run philanthropies that are pressing for payroll deductions similar to those made for United Way.

Other changes include an increase in single-parent families, in working mothers and immigrant families with no relatives in the area, making child care an even greater necessity.

The survey also shows that because the Southern California economy depends more and more on many smaller companies rather than a few large ones, the United Way must look beyond the corporate community for donations and leadership.

Internal change includes the election of Herbert L. Carter, vice chancellor of the California State University system, as the first black chairman to head United Way’s board. He is also the first chairman from the public sector. The charity’s major committees also reflect changing times: nine of the 17 standing committees are headed by minorities or women.

A major concern for the future is that giving has not kept pace with inflation, even though new and additional demands keep appearing. Dozens of programs that address AIDS, illiteracy, delinquency, child care, mental health, refugee resettlement and the near-homeless are scheduled for funding from a $1.8-million discretionary fund.

The United Way raised $88.5 million during its last campaign to help nearly 3 million people in its region. Its traditional role was to offer help in a social setting that did not change much from year to year. Now the United Way not only must operate in times of major change, it must become a catalyst for change.