Aloha United Way announces changes to align operations and new mission

Aloha United Way executives and volunteer leaders met with staff and board members of its 63 member agencies on Monday, Dec. 12, at Catholic Charities Hawaii to discuss a new AUW mission and a shift in focus to four community initiatives: family and individual self-sufficiency, early childhood development, homelessness and crime and drug use.

AUW Board Chair Dave Thomas said the changes at Aloha United Way date from the mid-1990s when the organization's mission changed, "but little was done operationally to how AUW raises and allocates money. We now want to operationalize the mission," Thomas said.

AUW has convened three task forces to make recommendations on how to increase AUW's relevance in the community. An investment strategy task force is looking at the allocations process, a public policy task force is undertaking advocacy efforts and a donor choice task force is studying how contributors might direct dollars to specific agencies or initiatives.

AUW will implement changes over three to four years, shifting some funding from basic human needs, crisis, prevention and development services to leading changes in community conditions, Thomas said. Dollars going to basic human needs and crisis services will be more "targeted," he said.

"We can't say how much will go to community initiatives," said Susan Doyle, AUW chief professional officer. In 2006, she said, $325,000 went to fund the initiatives.

In July, the AUW board adopted a revised mission statement: "To improve lives, motivate people to help others, increase resources to meet needs and inspire solutions to commuity problems." The new mission is not materially different, Thomas said, but it now includes motivating people to volunteer, increasing resources and a new advocacy effort.

Fund allocations for partner agencies in 2007 will be frozen at the same percentage of the available campaign funds each partner agency received in 2006, said Norm Baker, AUW vice president for community building. Meanwhile, agency site visits and data updates will be suspended. AUW will gather input from partner agencies through a comprehensive survey funded by the First Hawaiian Bank Foundation.

The donor choice task force began to implement some changes this year, Thomas said, "but then backed off because the changes weren't communicated in the context of the overall changes at AUW." The task force will continue to discuss changes in the donors choice program and a marketing effort is planned.

Thomas said the need for change was dictated by campaign results. For the past five years, total annual campaign revenues have been consistently between $13 million and $14 million, he said. However, the undesignated portion of those funds – the portion allocated to agencies – has fallen by 37 percent. When adjusted for inflation, he said, this is a 50 percent decrease.

United Ways nationally have reported similar results, Thomas said. During the last five years, fund drives have averaged an increase of 0.4 percent nationally, while United Ways in metropolitan markets similar to and including Honolulu have averaged an increase of only 0.3 percent. Meanwhile, a group of 17 United Ways which have adopted community initiative strategies like AUW's have seen an increase of 8 percent in their campaign results.

AUW's entry into public policy is "up and runnning," Thomas said. When asked how AUW will handle Legislative issues, in particular those involving agencies competing for state funds, Doyle said the community building staff would undertake AUW's public policy efforts, resources devoted to the annual campaign would not be dimished, and "we will be selective about what we take on. ... We'll go into well-settled areas, not those with conflicts."

AUW is working with the Hawaii Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development on self-sufficiency, Good Beginnings Alliance on childhood development, Partners in Care on homelessness and Weed and Seed on crime and drugs, Baker said. None of these coallitions are currently AUW partner agencies.