Lincolnite

I agree. I know that people where I work (a large company) prefer some freedom in choosing where they donate their charitable dollars and hours, and they don’t always choose United Way. Charity shouldn’t be mandated - that generally causes resentment.

I agree wholeheartedly, and usually think she comes off as a major, uh, witch. As someone who is familiar with how employers strong-arm their people into giving to the United Way, which makes me mad, I don’t think it should be mandated. With that said, the living wage is, in my opinion, a complete crock, and that shouldn’t be mandated either. She made a very bad analogy in a stupid way on what could have been a valid point. I don’t think communication is her strong suit.

People who prefer to mandate the way people give money usually have more of it (money) than other people. I don’t know if that’s the case with Eschliman, but it seems like it.

She comes across as naive and dictatorial in the article. She clearly has an ax to grind with her mother’s experience and with the slam against the union. Too bad it gets in the way of her message.

I hate United Way campaigns. I could find no language about how much of my donation would go to administrative costs (granted, I didn’t look THAT long), and whether United Way takes a cut when you pass the donation to other charities (at UNL, you’re given a choice of other charities to donate to through United Way).

I prefer giving directly to organizations around town.

lol @ ‘witch’

lol @ ‘naive and dictatorial’

I wish you all would react so strongly in other situations when government officials tell us how to spend our money (like when they want to raise taxes).

Uh, I do react strongly. I don’t like it, and don’t vote for those who I think will raise my taxes. As to Karin, I haven’t seen the numbers lately, but it seems to me that the overhead costs are very high at United Way compared to many of the other charities I would fund. There used to be a web site (probably still is, but I haven’t looked) that showed national and larger charities and the percentage of money that actually flowed through to those who needed the aid versus overhead and administration. Back then, the Make-a-Wish Foundation, which I think is a wonderful group, scored very well, and UW was sucky. I hate the strong-arm tactics that employers use to push up the UW campaign. I’d rather my dollars go elsewhere, but it’s kind of one of those things we feel we “need” to do.

http://www.charitynavigator.org