The Red Cross does amazing work.
How often do we read in the paper or turn on the television and see that a fire has forced a family out of its home. Twice in the past month, in fact, I have seen such stories.
And before firefighters have rolled up the last hose, Red Cross volunteers are on the scene – armed with blankets and food and perhaps most importantly, a plan for temporary shelter.
There is always that quote or clip of a displaced person, looking shocked and wary, but somehow, relieved that help has arrived. “If it weren’t for the Red Cross,” they say.
In recent weeks, the Red Cross, the agency so quick to help those in crisis, has faced a crisis of its own.
Each year, the local branch of the Red Cross receives a substantial portion of its funding from the United Way of Rhode Island, about 15 percent of its annual budget. Last year, that amounted to $265,000. This year, the Red Cross was hoping to get more. Instead, it got much less.
That’s where things get complicated.
You see, the United Way of Rhode Island changed the way it doled out money this year. Instead of awarding grants to the same member agencies that had been receiving them in the past, the United Way opened up its grant process to competitive bidding on the part of some 1,400 nonprofit agencies throughout the state.
The change in approach was not taken lightly by the good folks at the United Way. It came after three years of study and a series of community summits in which hundreds of people from the private and public sectors gathered to set an agenda for the agency.
In the end, the new approach to the United Way’s Community Impact Fund emphasized such issues as affordable housing, education and job development.
The results of the summits – the plan that came out of them – is the United Way’s answer to a strong call from the community – a call to do more, to get to the core of societal problems. There was a growing sense among donors that for all of their generosity, problems were not getting better, they were getting worse.
“When you work at a nonprofit – and we all go through this – you can get frustrated when the line outside your door is longer than it was the year before,” says Anthony Maione, UWRI’s CEO.
That’s why the United Way opened up its grant process. And the applications came pouring in. Some 238 proposals seeking $33 million – all out of a $9 million pot of money.
The United Way did its best to disperse the money where it believes it will produce the most tangible results – where it will create jobs, reduce crime and give people a better chance at achieving success.
In the end, good programs were competing against other good programs.
So while the United Way’s approach makes a lot of sense, the Red Cross is unfortunately one of those agencies that’s been hurt by it. The agency is getting $100,000 over the next 21 months from the United Way for its disaster-relief efforts. It had been hoping to get closer to $600,000 over that period.
Daniel S. Samborn, CEO of the Red Cross’ Rhode Island chapter, is disappointed. Just four months on the job, Samborn has had to weather a “perfect storm” of sorts.
First of all, winter is a busy time for the Red Cross and its disaster-relief services. More fires, more people to clothe and feed and house. That the country is at war means the Red Cross is working hard to support the families of servicemen. And of course, there was the tsunami, which has inevitably attracted a share of donations that might otherwise have remained local.
To his credit, Samborn is not complaining. The generosity toward the victims of the tsunami is important, he says, and his respect and admiration for Maione and everyone else at the United Way could not be higher.
But that doesn’t solve his problem.
“This gives us about two months to make up a huge shortfall,” says Samborn. “We’re being aggressive, we’re reaching out to the community … we’re telling our story. When the fire department calls and there is a family out on the street … it’s not an option for us not to show up.”
This is one problem that doesn’t have an easy, obvious or immediate solution. The Red Cross is being encouraged to apply for the next round of United Way grants. But that, of course, is not a panacea.
What it tells us is that the charitable need out there is overwhelming. It is sad, but the harsh reality is that all of these nonprofit agencies – with the Red Cross being a perfect example – need people to dig even deeper.
