Most years, United Way campaigns can seem part of the background noise. Every fall, you get a slip to fill out and a pep talk or two at work on the virtues of giving. That’s assuming your employer supports the campaign in the first place.

In Pierce County, this year is different. The 2006 campaign has been electrified by a new level of matching money. Your neediest neighbors stand to benefit immensely – if enough people join the effort.

The difference lies in a very simple piece of arithmetic: doubling. Every new dollar you give to United Way’s Community Solutions Fund – the fund that helps poor families get shelter or medical care, rescues teenagers and meets other urgent needs – will be matched from a special fund created by Pierce County philanthropists and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

For those who understand the interdependence of people, neighborhoods and communities, United Way was already a superb investment: It shores up the safety net of nonprofit agencies working to meet such fundamental human needs as housing, delinquency prevention and foster care. The 2006 Community Challenge Match instantly doubles that investment.

Many companies match their employees’ contributions – and the 2006 challenge will match the match when the employer is also putting up new money. Another doubling, in other words: Every new dollar you give becomes four dollars.

This is an unprecedented and extraordinary charitable opportunity. So extraordinary, we think it deserved the first editorial we have run on the cover of this Insight section. Here are some of the reasons our readers and their employers ought to consider rising to this challenge.

How does the community challenge work?

This was the idea of Craig Ueland, CEO of the Russell Investment Group. He and other philanthropists – his wife, Niki; his company; George and Dion Russell; and the Gates foundation – have contributed a total of $1.75 million to match United Way donations this year in Pierce County.

The key here is new money. Their 2006 Community Challenge Match will double the contributions of new United Way donors, or the amount by which current donors increase their donations. The same rule applies to an employer’s match. The idea is to expand the reach and impact of United Way-funded human services. Matchable money cannot be earmarked to specific organizations; it must go into what’s known as the Community Solutions Fund. This fund targets needs in the county as a whole, needs identified by a broad group of volunteers.

How has it been working?

One early indicator – the recruitment of $10,000-and-above donors – suggests the challenge money has had a stunning effect on this year’s fundraising. Between 1994 and 2005, United Way of Pierce County built the list of such “De Toqueville Donors” from 0 to 32. Since January of this year, United Way has added 22 more and may well add 10 more by the end of 2006 in response to the challenge. In 12 months, that would accomplish what took the previous 12 years.

Why is your contribution needed?

United Way is not a charity. It helps fund a broad range of human services and charitable programs, including:

 • Volunteer chore services for the elderly and disabled adults.

 • Employment training and GED completion for the poor.

 • Medical care for the uninsured poor and dental care for the homeless.

 • Emergency housing for distressed families and the homeless.

 • Adult literacy tutoring.

 • Domestic violence prevention.

 • Diabetes prevention.

Roughly 200,000 people in Pierce County are poor or close to it. More than 100,000 residents of the county lack medical insurance. Every day, more than 2,000 are homeless and in need of shelter. Last year, programs funded by United Way of Pierce County assisted 253,195 – a third of the county’s population.

Why is United Way of Pierce County a good investment?

Lots of well-meaning organizations fritter away donors money on unnecessary overhead. One of the best ways of evaluating nonprofits is Charity Navigator (www.charitynavigator.org), which objectively evaluates their efficiency and handling of donors money. Charity Navigator gives United Way of Pierce County its highest rating – four stars – for its organizational efficiency and capacity to make a difference. The Web site doesn’t pull punches: It gave United Way of King County three stars, United Way of Snohomish County two stars and United Way of Columbia-Willamette one star.

What accountability is there for the money?

United Way’s funding decisions aren’t made by its staff; they are made by committees of community volunteers – dozens of them – who evaluate the performance of the agencies it funds. Charities don’t enjoy entitlements; money is directed to programs that show concrete results.

Rick Allen, the director of United Way of Pierce County, describes the philosophy:

“When we give somebody money to provide a certain outcome, we expect to receive an improved life, not just a service to somebody. The return on the investment is that we have people who are better off. When we work with a nonprofit program, we work with them on a small set of outcomes related to whatever The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation spreads its contributions among a wide variety of good causes, from college scholarships and AIDS education to vaccinating Third World children against dread diseases.

Now the world’s largest charitable foundation is putting some of its considerable resources at the disposal of South Sound donors to the United Way of Pierce County. All those donors have to do to access $1 million in Gates foundation money is to come up with matching contributions.

What are United Way’s priorities?

The organization’s goals are to preserve the county’s social safety net and focus on an “impact agenda” – high priorities developed in 2001 with advice of community groups throughout the county. The impact agenda:

 • Affordable housing.

 • Access to health care.

 • Healthy development of children and youth.

What’s an example of its effectiveness?

Access to dental care for poor children has long been a problem in Pierce County; as of last year, an estimated 20,000 children were not getting teeth checked or cavities filled.

The result: abscesses, toothaches, dental emergencies and removal of permanent teeth.

Last year, United Way of Pierce County tackled the problem. Working with the nonprofit Lindquist Dental Clinic for Children, the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department and local dentists, it helped launch a program called ABCD – Access to Baby and Child Dentistry.

United Way put up $25,000 in seed money; Steve Bradway, a Tacoma dentist, added $10,000. That investment ultimately led to $750,000 in combined funding for three years from Washington Dental Service Foundation and the state Department of Social and Health Services. As a result, 51 dentists are providing charity care for Pierce County children under the auspices of the health department.

Why should you give?

For all of these reasons: The new matching money, which can multiply the impact of your gift; the accountability; the careful targeting of programs proven to help people; and United Way of Pierce County’s demonstrably efficient handling of your money.

Ultimately, United Way is about neighbors helping neighbors. The human needs in Pierce County are immense – but so is the generosity of its citizens. United Way connects generosity with need. This year’s community challenge doubles the reach of your money – and doubles the reason to give.

Written by chief editorial writer Patrick O’Callahan for The News Tribune editorial board.