Currently, about $315,000 of the City’s $425,000 in funding for social services goes through United Way, where the money is then divvied out to different programs and agencies across the city. With the recent loss of some major corporate sponsors, money is tight for United Way, and it’s been years since they’ve had openings for other organizations who need funding.
At a recent City Commission work session, United Way discussed their funding and how local agencies are chosen to receive support.
According to City Commissioner Larry Conder, there might be a better way to ensure more organizations receive the funding they need.
“What can be done? How can we solve this issue for the long term?” he asked.
By establishing a new foundation, The Owensboro Foundation, that donates to social service agencies across Owensboro, a new system of giving could determine which agencies get funding, how much they get and why they deserve it.
“Looking at what the best options are for Owensboro, the Owensboro Foundation could become self-sufficient in time to create a legacy for agencies to be competitive for funding,” Conder said. “The foundation would have a board of five to seven, and board members would have no attachments to other agencies.”
Conder said the funding could come from businesses, individuals or the local government and rules would be established that would facilitate the decision-making processes involved.
However, Conder said he realizes this may rub some people, businesses and foundations the wrong way at first.
“It’ll be different at first because it’ll infringe on their power bases,” he said. “But long-term, it’ll focus on the needs of our city, which is the most important thing.”
Conder said with an investment of $10-15 million, the Owensboro Foundation could begin shelling out money to agencies for the following year. How long it takes to get that amount of money depends on whether other foundations across the city would be open to the idea.
“It would take time to get that money, unless bigger foundations — the Hager Foundation, the Public Life Foundation — come forward and donate, say, $2-3 million,” he said. “If they think it’s a good idea, they might be very agreeable and say, ‘This foundation has Owensboro’s best interests at heart.”
If any of those foundations ever decided to close their doors and merge with the Owensboro Foundation, Conder said one of their board members could be enlisted to work on the Owensboro Foundation board.
Having Owensboro’s best interests in mind when donating large sums of money is Conder’s biggest priority when it comes to establishing a new foundation, he said.
“If some agencies [on United Way’s list] aren’t worthy of the donation, it could be given to someone else,” Conder said. “This is important because United Way isn’t open to any other agencies.”
According to Conder, 8 percent of the funds the City allocated to United Way go toward paying general administration costs, such as rent and employee salaries.
“When people find that out, they’re like, ‘Whoa, wait a minute,’” Conder said.
The City currently has a deal with United Way, which says 8 percent of its money can be allocated for such costs, but Conder doesn’t believe it’s the best use of social service funds. The City isn’t required to put their social service funds in the hands of United Way — that’s just the way it’s been done for a long time, Conder said.
United Way donates to several local programs, including Girls Inc., H.L. Neblett Community Center, Meals on Wheels and Cliff Hagan Boys & Girls Club, but they also make donations to the Boy Scouts of Louisville, Red Cross and Bold Promises.
“A lot of elderly people don’t like Red Cross because of how they were treated as veterans, so they won’t give to United Way,” Conder said. “Bold Promises, which is given money through United Way — those monies are funded to Community Foundation of Louisville, with a subset of that agency run by a local person’s family.”
In spite of the revenue loss, United Way Director David Ross said his organization — which is mostly run by volunteers — is currently working to make up for lost funding by figuring out new ways to fundraise and rallying new resources.
As for the 211 program, Ross believes an upcoming partnership between 211 and the Kentucky Cabinet for Children and Social Services will lead to a lucrative result that will put United Way on top again.
However, Conder doesn’t believe United Way will ever see the same amount of funding they’ve received in previous years. Without better funding, it’s hard to say whether other agencies across Owensboro will get a chance to receive help from the City government.
“I knew this problem was coming — revenue streams were going to go down when people weren’t getting tax deductions, weren’t getting tax credits for donating,” Conder said. “It’ll be a tough role for them to hold. It’s hard to bounce back from a $120,000 loss. It’s up to the City Commission to change the way things are being done.”
