Valley United Way Falls $2 million Short of Goal

By Kelly Ettenborough and Susie Steckner

Although nine out of 10 Arizona residents donated to charity last year, corporate giving and the economy took a toll on Valley of the Sun United Way, with the agency falling $2 million short of its 2002 goal.

The agency announced in November that it would reach its $49 million goal, but on Friday officials admitted those early estimates were wrong.

"There was a point in time when we believed we were able to get to that goal," United Way President Paul J. Luna said. "While we're not able to quite achieve that mark, we're very pleased that we're able to raise the same amount of money that we were able to raise last year."

Although a sour economy hurt corporate giving, individual Arizonans gave an average of more than $1,500 to charities during 2002, with religious organizations and youth programs topping the list of beneficiaries, according to an ASU survey released this week.

Arizona residents also were generous with their time. Just over half of those surveyed said they volunteered for charities in addition to donating money.

"These results suggest that evaluating the quality of life in Arizona is incomplete without examining the contribution of time and money provided by individual households," said Robert Ashcraft, director and associate professor at Arizona State University's Center for Nonprofit Leadership Management, which produced the study.

The study was based on a random telephone survey last year of 1,004 residents and focused on contributions to charitable, non-profit organizations only, of which there are more than 11,500 in the state. The report's margin of error was plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

Among the study's findings:

• The average annual cash that residents gave to charity was about $1,570. Those who donated gave about 3 percent of their annual household income, on par with the national average of $1,620, or 3.2 percent of annual household income.
• Nearly 60 percent gave donations to three to five organizations.
• "Informal" giving was a priority. About 70 percent gave to a needy individual, such as a homeless person; nearly 55 percent gave to a relative not living with them.
• Fifty-five percent said they volunteered, topping the national average of 44 percent. Arizonans gave about 3 ½ hours a week.
• In response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, nearly 60 percent donated money, time or blood.

"People generally give because they agree with the mission of an organization," said Connie Phillips, executive director of Sojourner Center. "Their giving is very emotionally driven."

Phillips, a Peoria resident, said individual contributions make up 20 percent of the center's budget.

The domestic violence shelter's experience mirrors the Arizona Giving and Volunteering study. Individual contributions have remained steady to the shelter that helped 900 women and children last year escape abuse and violence, but Phillips said corporate donations are down.

She said the large grant from a corporation might be more enticing but someone who sends you $25 a year will do so for the rest of his or her life.

Luna cited the economy, decreased corporate giving and layoffs as factors that kept company giving campaigns from meeting United Way goals that had been met in previous years. The agency won't know the impact of the $2 million shortfall until May or June, just before money is handed out in July.

The last time the Valley of the Sun didn't meet its goal was likely in the 1980s, Luna said, and other United Way organizations nationwide are seeing shortfalls of 3 percent to 4 percent compared with last year because of a challenging economy. The Mesa United Way expects to report its 2002 numbers in April.

The agency funds about 500 programs across the Valley from after-school programs to domestic violence shelters.

The full ASU report is available at www.asu.edu/copp/nonprofit; individual donors can give to United Way by visiting www.vsuw.org, while corporations can call (602) 631-4800.