Charity Could Lose Funds

United Way of Ventura County could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations because of its failure to tell contributors about a decision to stop funding groups that ban gays.

One of its largest individual contributors, former United Way board member Dennis Mark Weinberg who gave $100,000 this year, said he was not told by the nonprofit agency about the policy change scheduled to take effect in September. He warned that he and others might reduce or cut off their donations.

“I feel like I was treated dishonestly,” said Weinberg, an executive vice president at WellPoint Health Networks who led the company’s most recent United Way appeal from September 2001 to May. “Their funding future has changed, and we gave money not knowing that. It seems like they were trying to make this change in the shadows.”

Samuel L. Vernallis, chairman of the Ventura County United Way Board of Directors, said the new policy--which bans funding to agencies that discriminate--was approved unanimously last year by the 40-member panel. Agencies that receive money from United Way were informed of the impending change, he said, but there was no reason to tell donors because it did not affect their contributions.

The controversy mirrors an ongoing national debate between local United Ways and the Boy Scouts of America, which bars gays as members and Scoutmasters. At least 40 of the 1,400 local United Ways across the country have adopted policies that bar them from giving money to agencies that discriminate, said Philip Jones, public relations director for United Way of America.

The United Ways in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties have similar policies on the books, said David Smith, director of the United Way of Ventura County, which collected $5.2 million during its most recent campaign.

Smith said he tried to continue his organization’s relationship with the Boy Scouts by offering to distribute money to its Learning for Life career development program, which does not bar girls or gays. But the Ventura County Council of Boy Scouts rejected the offer, he said.

A spokesman for the Ventura County Boy Scouts could not be reached for comment Friday, but Smith said the Scouts received about $50,000 this year from United Way.

Recent donors will be notified by mail of the new policy before the next appeal gets underway in September, Smith said.

About half a dozen employees at WellPoint, based in Thousand Oaks, gave $10,000 or more, putting them among the top individual donors to the United Way of Ventura County, Weinberg said. That makes them members of the Red Feather Society, United Way donors who give $1,000 or more.

WellPoint executive Chuck Curry, vice president of advertising and media, is a member but did not say how much he donated.

“I’m most disturbed by the fact that there was a position taken and I wasn’t aware of it before I actually made my donation,” Curry said. “Had I known, I may have had some concerns. I may have thought differently; I may have behaved differently. I think it’s a big issue. It will affect next year’s donation.”

Contributions are usually withdrawn from donors’ paychecks through corporate-sponsored campaigns that promise matching funds.

Weinberg, with his wife, gives hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity through the Dennis and Alice Weinberg Foundation.

Although Weinberg said United Way’s actions may deter some contributors, Smith said that others might decide to contribute for the first time or to increase their donations.

Weinberg said he is struggling with the question of whether to give to the United Way in the future or to take his money and hand it directly to the Boy Scouts. If he chooses the latter, it would be with reluctance, he said, because he believes in the concept behind the United Way.

“The United Way has never been about politics, religion or social points of view,” Weinberg said. “It’s about finding who is in need in your community and getting the money to the people and agencies who serve those needs.”