Anthony Maione is president and CEO of the United Way of Rhode Island. Under his leadership, UWRI has taken on a major role addressing important community issues including reducing homelessness, increasing affordable housing and developing high-quality prekindergarten, out-of-school time and summer learning programs to help children succeed in school.
In 2007, UWRI launched United Way 2-1-1 in Rhode Island, an information and referral helpline that has grown to handle more than 200,000 calls annually. The following year, the organization relocated its headquarters to Olneyville, a high-need neighborhood in Providence.
PBN: United Way of Rhode Island has offered philanthropy accounts – also known as donor-advised funds – to leadership donors for the past two decades. What drove the decision to create an online giving platform with your launch of MyFund this fall?
MAIONE: People conduct so much of their lives online, we needed to build a product that would make online giving quick, easy and secure. With MyFund, we developed an online banking and philanthropy experience – and gave our donors a way to consolidate their charitable giving into one account. We also set out to create a product that is more flexible than most donor-advised funds, one supportive of donors with a total annual giving amount of $1,000. More-traditional donor-advised funds seek larger balances and charge transaction fees. We don’t charge any fees for MyFund. With MyFund, our donors have peace of mind knowing 100 percent of every gift they make goes directly to the organization they’ve selected.
PBN: How does MyFund improve the donor experience for philanthropy account holders and other donors?
MAIONE: MyFund is easy to use and it gives donors greater control over their philanthropic giving. Donors can add funds to their account, send gifts, track gifts or take a look at their own giving history anytime, anywhere. Gifts can also be sent to any 501(c)(3) in the country – including schools, universities and faith organizations. Donors can access a link, which will repeat a previous gift to a specific organization or they can use an embedded GuideStar database providing direct access to more than 2 million organizations. Donors can also view and print their gift statements and consolidate a year’s worth of giving into one tax receipt.
PBN: Donors often have different causes they support throughout different times of the year. How does having a MyFund account support the goals of an individual donor?
MAIONE: Giving is deeply personal; donors want as much control over when, where and how they donate as possible. When a donor sets up an account with us and transfers money to the platform, they can take up to a year to determine where that gift will end up. For example, if we receive funds in December, a donor has until the next December to make their disbursements but will receive a tax receipt for the current year. Much like one’s own checking account, the donor is in control as to when they want to add funds and when they want to make gifts, and when they just want to take a look at their balance and giving history.
PBN: Many nonprofits continue to experience growth in the area of online giving. By offering an easier, more streamlined platform, does UWRI expect to see an increase in the number of accountholders and frequency of giving?
MAIONE: We are already seeing a jump in new accounts and anticipate further increase this year. We’ve recently found more than 60 percent of donors preferred to make gifts online and we expect that trend to continue.
PBN: In addition to online giving, the digital space has become an increasingly vital way for organizations to engage with their donors and the community as a whole – what are some of the strategies United Way employs and have they been effective?
MAIONE: We’ve embraced the digital, and it has added some pressure – in a good way. We have a constant need to develop relevant, emotional, meaningful content, which is appropriate to a variety of channels. Digital and social media has effectively changed the way organizations communicate and we’ve worked hard to make this transition and be more accessible. We’ve created a unique voice for United Way, which is friendly and a little less formal – and we pay a lot of attention to what content and channels get the most attention so we can adjust our strategies to meet the behavior of our followers.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey or contact her via email, gowdey-backus@pbn.com.
