REGIONAL REPORT : Charities Look for Another Way : Social services: To cope with cutbacks in support from troubled United Way, many agencies pursue funding on their own.

In the small Anaheim barrio of Colonia Independencia, Armida Deck breathed easy. Another weekend had gone by without any fistfights or gunfire at the community center she recently opened to groups seeking a dance hall to rent.

For Sister Armida, a Roman Catholic nun, the decision to lease her social services center for weekend events--including spirited celebrations that sometimes get out of hand--evolved from a quest to raise badly needed funds.

“It’s a risk, but we need the income,” Deck said, adding that the $500 rental fee helps make up for a decrease in funding this year from United Way.

These are risky times, not only for the barrio’s community center but also for dozens of other small organizations in Southern California that depend on United Way, which is funneling less money to its member agencies as it struggles with the effects of the recession and a highly publicized scandal at its national headquarters.

And in the wake of recent disasters such as the gas explosions that left hundreds homeless in Guadalajara and the Los Angeles riots, many donors are bypassing United Way altogether and giving money, clothing or food directly to churches or local groups coordinating volunteer efforts--again leaving the umbrella organization with less money to give its member agencies.

With money so tight, directors of social service centers foresee reduced services and extreme competition for a smaller pool of money. In a twist, some private, nonprofit groups plan to approach smaller companies in their communities to make a pitch for contributors to give to their agencies directly, rather than through United Way.

Throughout Southern California, many United Way branches have alerted their member agencies to expect less this year. In Ventura County, funding will be reduced by 27%; in Orange County, cuts at some agencies were 21%, and in San Diego County, United Way anticipates a median funding cut of 2.4%.

Consequently, agencies are weighing whether to reduce staff or cut back operating hours--or both. Several agency directors say they are cringing at the prospect of having to turn their attention from providing services to holding fund-raisers.

“It’s been a tough year. It’s going to get tougher,” said Gene Louden, spokesman for United Way of San Diego County.

The tough year started with disclosures in February that United Way of America President William Aramony, based at the organization’s headquarters in Alexandria, Va., used charitable contributions to finance a lavish lifestyle that included Concorde jet flights to Europe and limousine services. Aramony resigned as a result of the scandal.

“This United Way business at the national chapter could not have come at a worst time,” said Raymond Humphrey, president of United Way of the Inland Valleys in Riverside County, which was one of the few chapters in Southern California that nearly met its annual goal of $3.2 million, an increase of 5% from the previous year.

Said Sally Urenda, executive director of the Gary Community Center in La Habra, which receives money from the United Way:

“We have nothing to do with the scandal, but a lot of people don’t want to donate to United Way. Even my own family--I have a niece in Washington, D. C., and she told me she didn’t want to give because of the funny business. United Way directors have had to field complaints from angry contributors, which is a clear sign that they’re in trouble.”

Anthony DeCristofaro, a United Way spokesman in Alexandria, acknowledged that the donations spurred by the Los Angeles riots, along with other disastrous events, may have left those who contributed to local relief efforts feeling less like giving at the office through United Way.

“I believe the public has a general altruistic sense to help, versus skepticism they may be feeling about us,” DeCristofaro said. “As the news media cover the problems of South-Central Los Angeles and the explosions in Guadalajara, there’s also a greater awareness of what the need is.”

United Way of America authorizes about 2,200 regional chapters to use its logo and name for fund raising; in 1990, the system raised $3.1 billion in the United States, much of it through direct withdrawal of contributions from donors’ paychecks.

Funding varies from chapter to chapter and agency to agency, based on need as determined by United Way officials who evaluate proposals submitted by each agency. For example, a San Diego center to prevent child abuse gets less than 10% of its budget from United Way while a Los Angeles counseling center receives about 40% of its money from the organization.

Some executive directors at local social service agencies said they intend to reduce the number of appeals they make to employee groups on behalf of United Way. One said she made about 15 presentations last year. “I’ll only do five this year,” she said. “And I’ll ask them to designate their contributions to my agency.”

Even with money tagged for a particular agency, United Way keeps a 10% service fee, she said, adding that “I may just ask contributors to bypass United Way altogether.”

“The pie is getting larger in terms of needs and the money coming in is shrinking. People are frightened and holding on to their money,” said Frank Paradise, vice president in charge of Los Angeles County services for Lutheran Social Services of Southern California.

With the stakes so high, United Way marketing officials have asked agencies to create new fund-raising strategies.

Sandra Manning, a spokeswoman for the United Way chapter in Los Angeles County, said United Way staff members have joined with volunteers to visit the agencies and help them find ways to “manage themselves.”

“We teach them how to do fund raising and marketing,” Manning said. Staffers also provide technical assistance on writing grant proposals.

Several community centers funded by United Way in Orange County have reduced hours of operation while others--including El Modena in Orange, Delhi in Santa Ana and Abrazar in Westminster--are considering cutting staff or closing one day a week.

In San Diego, Laura Spiegel, executive director of Home Start Inc., which aids child abuse victims and their families, became concerned after United Way officials there announced they fell nearly $2 million short of their $32-million campaign goal.

The announcement came shortly after the release of employment figures showing that 22,000 jobs had been lost in San Diego County in the last 18 months--a trend United Way officials said will negatively affect their next campaign in September.

Meanwhile, Home Start’s expenses tend to rise as the center helps more of those jobless families. “It’s been a flat year in terms of revenue . . . our new budget is bare bones. There’s no room for dreaming,” Spiegel said.

United Way of Ventura County has announced that funding levels will be reduced by as much as 27%. All but a few of the 62 agencies that receive money will be cut back, typically by about $15,000. The news has made many United Way agencies nervous about how or whether they can shift gears and focus on fund-raising activities.

Marlene Spencer, executive director for Help of Ojai, said she did not get into the social service field to brainstorm on moneymaking schemes like a marketing executive. “To me, having to spend time and energy on these (fund-raising) gimmicks . . . takes away from offering services.”

Diversity is one key to riding out the recession, Spencer said, adding that her center’s $320,000-a-year budget is augmented with proceeds from a thrift store the agency runs.

“It’s our saving grace. But United Way keeps asking, ‘So what are you doing for raising funds?’ And I said, ‘Gosh, are we going to have to go out there and fight for funds? Like have a celebrity golf tournament? We’ll have to go out and hire a fund-raising person, and to me, that takes away from services.”

At Deck’s tiny community center in Anaheim, this year’s allocation from Orange County United Way was cut by 17%, or about $800 a month. “You may not think that’s a lot, but it’s almost the loss of a secretary’s salary here,” she said.

“Yes, I would like to do fund raising but everything we get goes to salary and bills,” she said. “Fund raising? I would like to put out a new brochure, a classy, catchy brochure, and I can’t even do that because I don’t have the money or the time.”

Her funding crisis could not have come at a worse time. This year, Deck hired a youth development staff member who helped negotiate a gang truce after two gang killings--one in the neighborhood and one in retaliation in a nearby city.

Now, Deck must share her staff member with another center because she does not have the money to bring him on full time.

In Los Angeles County, the United Way branch decided to extend its campaign deadline from April to the end of June after early figures showed contributions lagging by $2 million. Even before the scandal struck at United Way’s national headquarters, the Los Angeles branch was suffering one of the poorest years ever in contributions, primarily because of the economy.

In 1990-91, United Way of Los Angeles County raised only $90 million of its $102-million goal. The shortfall resulted in a funding drop of about 14% for more than 300 social service agencies in the county.

United Way set a more realistic goal of $88 million this year, said Manning, the United Way spokeswoman in Los Angeles. The reduction also followed the release of a report in April showing that Los Angeles County had lost 208,000 jobs since January, 1991, five times more than originally anticipated.

But even with the struggling economy, many people in Southern California managed to answer the call put out after the Los Angeles riots with an outpouring of aid for victims.

Various agencies in Los Angeles got bundles of clothing, truckloads of food and cash contributions. The level of generosity, however, prompted one agency supervisor to say he hopes that people are not “cleaning out their closets and their consciences.”

“It would be wrong for someone to simply clean their closet of clothes they no longer need and give them to some church or agency here in South-Central Los Angeles and then forget about the (lasting) problems,” said Novel Stokes, director of Family Service of Los Angeles’ Manchester office.