2007 Videos

Frequently Asked Questions

Every year Johns Hopkins participates in the United Way Campaign. Why is Johns Hopkins helping the United Way raise money and not lots of other charities that are just as important?

Because over 82 years ago, major non-profit charities formed the United Way to be the one organization to come into the workplace and raise money for them and other participating organizations.

• Instead of countless charity campaigns at the office each year - there is one.
• Because United Way of Central Maryland accepts both undesignated and designated gifts, it handled pledges to over a thousand nonprofit organizations every year.
• All participating agencies that share in United Way’s undesignated pool of funds agree not to solicit employees in a payroll workplace campaign and agree not to fund-raise in the community during the United Way campaign.

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Is the United Way one big organization?

No.  There hundreds of United Way organizations all across the United States serving their local communities.

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But I thought there was a national United Way organization?

There is.  It is the United Way of America which serves as a trade organization, manages the United Way brand, establishes operating and governance standards, and provides support in training, research and national leadership.  You may be familiar with the ads that run during football season showing United Way’s partnership with the NFL.  That is handled at the national level. 

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So how does United Way of Central Maryland (UWCM) fit into the national United Way picture?

It is one of the 1,300 local United Way organizations nationwide.  UWCM is a separate 501c(3) corporation, with its own board of directors, audited financial statements and management team.

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Are local people on the UWCM Board or only national people?

All of the UWCM board members are local members.  Edward Miller, M.D., Dean of the Medical School and Ronald Peterson, President of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System both served on the UWCM Board for several years.  Patricia Brown, President of Johns Hopkins HealthCare is a current Board member.

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What areas does UWCM serve?

UWCM serves Baltimore City and its five surrounding counties - Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard.

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Does that mean that if I give undesignated money to UWCM it will only go to charities and for services in the City and those counties?

Yes; UWCM allocates funds to agencies and programs serving Central Maryland.  Of course, some agencies located in Central Maryland may have programs that extend outside of Central Maryland.  You may, however, designate your gift to go to health and human service charities located outside of Central Maryland. In this situation, UWCM will make sure your gift gets to the charity you designate anywhere in the United States.

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What is Johns Hopkins Medicine's history of giving to UWCM?

Here are the numbers:

What percentage of employees gave to UWCM?

Here are the participation percentages:

How does this stack up against participation by other companies' employees?

The community-wide average for participation among active companies was 22%.  The average participation among UWCM’s top ten accounts is 43%.

Why is the percentage of participation important?

Hopkins is often asked its participation rate.  Annapolis, the City of Baltimore and local community groups want to know Hopkins’ rate of participation.  It is often seen as a reflection of Hopkins’ commitment to its community.  When Hopkins asks for funding from various agencies or support for important legislative initiatives, those agencies and many legislators consider Hopkins’ commitment to UWCM as part of their evaluation of Hopkins requests.

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That doesn't seem fair. Hopkins faculty devote countless hours to serving those unable to pay and the Hospital provides millions in free or reduced fee care to community members

You are absolutely right.  But UWCM is seen by many as a reflection of faculty and staff’s personal commitment - even though it is coming through Hopkins.  The percentage of participation is important for Hopkins as it seeks grants for buildings and other programs and fights for better City and State services and programs.  It would be great to be able to say Hopkins Medicine has one of the highest percentage participation rates for UWCM!

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How much of every dollar donated to the UWCM actually goes to the impact agencies or other designated charities?

Although overhead percentages vary from year to year, over the past decade, about 82 cents of every dollar donated to UWCM has gone to rograms and services (18% administrative overhead). However, with UWCM's new E-way electronic giving option, overhead drops to 12.5%, so that 87.5 cents of every dollar donated goes to programs and services.

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For fiscal year 2006, how much money from UWCM went to these charities for programs and services?

Over $33 million Dollars.

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How does UWCM decide which charities get the program dollars?

UWCM distributes money to seven large non-profit organizations called contractual partners; forty-two charities called “Impact Partners” who were selected through an RFP process; several programs sponsored by UWCM; and over a thousand other health and human services programs as specifically designated by donors. 

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What is the breakdown between "undesignated" and "designated" gifts?

Approximately 55% of funds raised by UWCM in the 2006 campaign were “undesignated” and 45% were “designated.”

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Who are the seven Contractual Partners?

The Contractual partners are:

• American Red Cross
• Associated Black Charities
• American Cancer Association
• American Heart Association<
• Catholic Charities
• The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore
• Community Health Charities of Maryland

Who are some of the forty-two Impact Partners and how were they chosen?

These are local agencies that have a significant impact in the following four “Impact Areas”:

• School Readiness
• Family Safety
• Basic Needs
• Youth Achieving Potential

Examples include AIDS Interfaith Residential Services, the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, the House of Ruth, St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore, etc. all of which were identified as meeting critical needs in the community.  UWCM began funding them in January 2007 for 2.5 years (subject to successful achievement of measures and outcomes).   A full list of all Impact Partners is available at www.uwcm.org.

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Are there any Hopkins programs among the Impact Partners?

Yes.  This year The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s early childhood intervention program in East Baltimore was selected as an Impact Partner.  Dr. Anne Duggan’s groundbreaking program which helps to identify developmental delays in young children in at-risk families, before the delays become a problem, will receive $157,898 from UWCM each year for the next 2.5 years.

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Hopkins is very involved in the EBDI redevelopment program near Hopkins. Does UWCM support any charities that are particularly focused on the EBDI areas?

Yes.  There are at least four that are very involved in this immediate area.  They are:  

• Associated Black Charities
• Baltimore Child Abuse Center, Inc.
• Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning
• Project PLASE (People Lacking Ample Shelter and Employment) Inc.

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What are the other UWCM programs funded from undesignated gifts?

These include such programs as “2-1-1/First Call for Help" - a free, 24 x 7 information and referral hotline number which connects the caller (in over 100 languages) with social services and other resources available in the community, and “Success by 6" - a home-visiting program aimed at decreasing low birth weights, infant deaths, pre-term births, child abuse and neglect and accidents and injuries in high risk communities in the area.

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How do I designate all or part of my UWCM gift?

So long as you donate $50 to the campaign, and you name a charitable health or human services organization anywhere in the United States, your donation will be sent to that charity by UWCM, less a designation handling fee (12.5% for electronic pledges; about 17.5% for paper pledges).  “Charitable” is a designation given by the IRS and it means that gifts to that organization are exempt from federal taxation.

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If I designate $100 to a charity, how much will the charity receive? Does that charity add another administrative fee?

If you designate $100 to a charity, and you do so electronically, the charity will receive $87.50.  The receiving charity does not add its own administrative fee.  The $87.50 must go directly to the charitable purposes of that organization.  This is an incredibly efficient way to give to your favorite charity – most charities have administrative costs well above 12.5%!  If you donate by mail/paper, the charity receives about $82.50 because it costs UWCM more to process the gift.

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What are some examples of health and human services organizations that would qualify for "charitable" designation?

Many health care organizations such as hospitals, hospices, nursing homes, disease research associations and rehabilitative groups, and human service organizations such as after school programs, family crisis centers and child and adult abuse organizations would qualify.  If you have an organization in mind and are not sure if it qualifies, please ask Hopkins’ UWCM representative, Molly Boncaro at 410-895-1503 or molly.boncaro@uwcm.org

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Why not give directly to my favorite charity?

You could.  But if you donate electronically, your charity will receive 87.5 cents of every dollar you donate! That is a very high percentage--probably higher than the amount that would go for programs if you gave directly to your favorite charity.

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Is UWCM sort of like a collection agency for charities?

Yes, for example, UWCM secured designations amounting to $500,000 for the House of Ruth last year from more than 950 individual donors.  The House of Ruth would have had to have ramped up its staffing and marketing substantially to find, communicate with and capture all of these donors directly.  UWCM is a very efficient fundraiser for this and many other very worthy causes.

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Can I make my gift electronically?

Yes.  Just go to http://donor.unitedeway.org. That's what we mean when we say give by "E-way." Your "user name" is your employee number. This number is on your pay stub and your pledge form but it also has been put on the electronic pledge form that you can click on via an e-mail from Ed Miller that you should have received.

If you give electronically this reduces UWCM’s administrative costs by a third and allows more money to go to the charity you designate. Any gift through E-way (payroll deduction, credit card) qualifies for the 12.5% administrative fee.

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If I use the paper pledge form can I enclose a check? cash?

Checks are welcomed by UWCM.  You also may enclose cash if you give your envelope to a Hopkins representative.

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More questions?

E-mail Molly Boncaro at molly.boncaro@uwcm.org or Joanne Pollak at jpollak@jhmi.edu

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