UNITED WAY
January 17, 2006 | Read Time: 1 minute
In response to scandal and increased competition, the United Way of America is adopting a new approach to raising money and distributing its dollars, reports Forbes. In the past, the charity took in donations, primarily through paycheck withholding, and awarded grants to 43,000 groups, with little consideration for how the money was then spent. But under chief executive Brian A. Gallagher, the United Way is encouraging its affiliates to identify their most urgent problems, direct money to groups that deal with those issues, and then evaluate the results. There is some evidence that the new approach has been successful: Last year, the charity took in $3.88-billion, a slight increase over 2003, and the first jump in years. (See The Chronicle’s article on Mr. Gallagher.)
