United Way Drive Raises Record $95 Million

United Way of Los Angeles has raised nearly $95 million in its annual fund-raising campaign--the largest amount in its history, officials announced Thursday.

It marked the second year in a row that the umbrella charity has had a record-breaking campaign. This year’s total is 8% above the last campaign, in which donations totaled $88.3 million.

“This is a bellwether for the 1990s that indicates our United Way is on the road to success unparalleled at any time in its history,” Executive Director Leo Cornelius said. “The importance of all this means we will be able to do more to help people.”

The donations help fund 360 social service and health organizations in the region.

Corporate giving was up 6% this year, Cornelius said, while employee contributions, which usually represent about two-thirds of campaign receipts, increased by 9 %.

Donations by Los Angeles County government employees reached $1.9 million, up $25,000 despite a court order that limited the county’s ability to raise funds for United Way and another charity, the Brotherhood Crusade.

United Way executives were especially thrilled by the figures, they said, because it showed that the new campaign strategies are working.

Traditionally, United Way looked to the workplace for most of its contributions, with the largest companies and their employees providing most of the donations. However, in recent years, layoffs, corporate takeovers and mergers and labor problems eroded that donor base, they said.

As a result, United Way began targeting smaller companies and professional groups, including hospitals, universities, the entertainment industry and ethnic businesses. Officials said they started campaigns in nearly 5,000 new businesses.