Page 9 - BusinessWest January 6, 2021

sector, and with many small, family businesses simply disappearing from the landscape.
Also, some major corporations have created their own charitable foundations or giving arms, as was the case with MassMutual in Springfield, which had long been one of the primary support- ers of the United Way of Pioneer Valley, he said, noting that all these factors have contributed to making the organization itself much smaller — as well as the level of donations it makes annu- ally. Indeed, while this was a $5 million United Way years ago, in terms of total donations, it is now closer to $2 million.
It was these challenges that prompted the UWPV board to explore a number of options when it came to creating efficiencies and reduc- ing the cost of doing business, for lack of a better phrase, while still carrying out its mission. One of those options was a partnership with the United Way of Tri County whereby that agency would
share an administrator and also handle backroom
operations — book- keeping, market-
ing, and oth- ers — for this
region’s Unit- edWayfora percentage of the funds raised dur-
ing its annual
campaign.
The partnership, which came after sev-
eral years of unsettledness at the UWPV, one that included two CEOs and two interim CEOs between 2016 and 2018, has brought what the board desired most — stability and continued autonomy.
Those qualities have been needed during a pandemic that has further tested the agency, forcing staff to work remotely for a lengthy stretch because its services were not deemed essential, and further impacting its ability to raise money because of the way it has impacted busi- nesses and families alike.
Indeed, this 100th year for the UWPV has been very different, and also very challenging. Need within the communities has obviously increased, but raising funds to meet those needs has been made much more difficult during the pandemic, especially when it comes to the United Way’s time-honored, preferred method of soliciting donations — via payroll deduction.
“Many of the [annual] campaigns are going to be hurting this year because companies are not going back to work in the time frame we need them to,” Mina said earlier this year. “You can’t ask for people to make contributions through payroll deduction if they’re working, and it’s very hard to ask people for support when they them- selves are hurting for the first time maybe in many years.
“We’ve found that a very significant number of people in the hospitality industry, restaurants, and food and beverage operations are only a shadow of what they once were,” he went on. “And some of them are never going to recover; a lot of support isn’t there.”
Yet, amid these challenges, the UWPV has
found new and different ways to meet its mission during this difficult year, and new and different ways to remind people of the importance of its basic mission.
Through efforts ranging from the food-dis- tribution efforts to the Halloween gathering, the agency was able to meet growing need within the community and address the many ways in which
“You can’t ask for people to make contributions through payroll deduction if they’re working, and it’s very hard to ask people for support when they themselves are hurting for the first time maybe in many years.”
the pandemic impacted day-to-day living and overall quality of life.
Mina was especially proud of Project Toybox.
“It was a wonderful thing,” he said of that ini- tiative. “A lot of the kids that live in the urban area don’t have a backyard, they couldn’t go to the park, they weren’t allowed to congregate ... so we figured this was a great opportunity to give them something they could do indoors.”
All this came on top of the annual Stuff the
United Way
Continued on page 48
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