Opinion: Why a United Way Fund-Raising Approach Is a Bad Idea

United Way of America is undercutting the organization’s social mission with a new fund-raising effort, writes a charity activist in The Christian Science Monitor.

Rick Cohen, former executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, a Washington watchdog group, criticizes the new Pennies for Change appeal, through which consumers can earmark one cent of every credit-card transaction to go to United Way of America.

Mr. Cohen argues that the campaign glosses over questionable practices of credit-card companies — such as increasing interest rates without telling consumers — and improves their images because of United Way’s reputation and scope.

He writes, “For credit-card-issuing banks, mired in the subprime-mortgage scandals, a cause-related marketing scheme linked to the United Way represents the highest in corporate financial literacy. Yet it also undercuts the United Way’s attempts to increase individual financial literacy — a key tool in its antipoverty efforts aimed, in the organization’s own words, at “promoting self-sufficiency and strengthening families.”

To learn more about Pennies for Change, read this article from The Chronicle of Philanthropy.