Local nonprofit organizations that no longer will receive funding from the Capital Area United Way under the agency’s new system for making allocations are being notified this week that they didn’t make the list.
Among the casualties is the Istrouma Area Council of the Boy Scouts, which has used CAUW funds to support an inner-city scouting program called ScoutReach.
In 2015, the Boy Scouts received $150,000 from CAUW, which represented less than 10% of the Istrouma Council’s overall operating budget but comprised one-third of the ScoutReach budget.
“We are shocked and disappointed in this unexpected decision to completely end the funding by the Capital Area United Way during this annual assessment,” a statement from the council signed by Scout Executive Gary Mertz and council president, Darrell Ourso, says. “At a time when we continually see a breakdown in the family unit, the ScoutReach program provides dedicated resources to teach life skills and build character in the lives of over 665 low-income youth in our area.”
CAUW changed the way it allocates funding this year, opening the process up to a much larger pool of potential recipients and becoming more strategic about deciding which so-called partner agencies to fund.
Cuts to long-time partner agencies like the Boy Scouts were not unexpected. CAUW funded 49 organizations last year. This year, 75 applied.
Still, CAUW officials are sensitive to the challenges their decisions will pose for some of their former partners.
“United Way stands behind all the good work Boy Scouts does, but they were applying for funding in an area that we classify as ‘preparing kids for college, work and life,’ and 26 organizations applied for just a little over $700,000 of funding that was available in that area,” CAUW Chairman Ralph Bender says. “Character is very important, but teaching kids to read and write with limited resources has to take priority.”
All told, CAUW has $5.5 million to dole out in 2016. Organizations like the Boy Scouts that will no longer receive allocations will get $75,000 in bridge funding this year. Additionally, the groups will get any designated funds that were pledged specifically to them during the annual giving campaign. In the case of the Boy Scouts, that amounts to more than $25,000.
“I know that doesn’t resolve the problem,” Bender says. “But at least it gives them something.”
Mertz and Ourso say they don’t yet know how the loss of CAUW funds will affect the councilwide operations. But they remain committed to continuing the ScoutReach program.
“We’re not going to throw 665 kids out of scouting because they need it more than anyone else,” Mertz says. “We have to think about the boys, not the money.”
—Stephanie Riegel
