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THIS IS YOUR UNITED WAY
(1967-1976)
By the beginning of the third decade of the Community Chest/United
Appeal, well over $100,000 was needed annually for human services
in our area.
The goal of the 1967 campaign was approved at $115,780 with
Norris Little and Bob Shaw as chairmen; this too was over-subscribed
by $1,560. By efforts of such outstanding leadership, our United
Appeal had acquired the reputation of making success a habit.
In 1968, Norris Little became president and Bob Shaw led the
United Appeal campaign. In thanking the volunteers who had
made yet another success possible, Mr. Shaw stated, "Raising
funds is never easy, but with the fine group of volunteers
who gave so unselfishly of their time, we couldn’t do
anything else but succeed. Through the services of our member
agencies, we add dignity to many lives when we share the United
Way."
In 1969, with Bob Shaw as president, eleven local agencies
received United Appeal support. They included three new agencies:
Looper Speech & Hearing, Big Brothers-Big Sisters, and
the United Health Foundation. Under the leadership of W.G. "Bill" Steve,
the annual appeal was successful in raising $145,000, a 16%
increase over the previous year.
Mr. Steve became president in 1970 and Earl Ball, campaign
chairman. The annual appeal succeeded in raising more dollars
for local needs than ever before, but fell short of the $164,950
needed by local agencies.
In 1971 Can-Help, now a program of Voluntary Action Council,
became a United Appeal agency and Earl Ball served as president
of United Appeal. John Hackett served as campaign chairman
and $162,032 was appropriated to local services.
Mr. Hackett served as president in 1972 and Pat Broaddus served
as campaign chairman. The budget review and allocation committee
defined $181,414 as total minimum in the annual appeal. Ninety-six
and eight tenths percent of this amount, the largest ever,
was pledged.
The 1973 Annual Membership meeting was saddened as President
John Hackett read a proclamation commemorating the life of
Dr. Eli Rosen, who had served as a director of the United Appeal
and led the allocations process for three years. The campaign
that year set out to raise $185,267 under the leadership of
Jack Rogers; Exceptional Children Unlimited became an agency.
A December 11th report showed 99.1% of the amount needed was
collected. With some traditional supporters not reported, the
campaign was declared "over the top" and full allocations
made according to the recommendation of the budget committee.
Mr. Rogers served as president in 1974 and James Kaye accepted
the challenge of campaign chairman. The constitution was amended
to read, "The Whitfield County Community Chest for fund
raising purposes shall do business as the United Way of Whitfield
County." In a very distressed economy, minimum needs were
set the first time at over $200,000. Only 80% of the needed
$201,567 was collected, resulting in severely curtailed agency
allocations.
In 1975, Mr. Kaye became president and Paul Diamond led the
United Way campaign to raise $192,443. The business community
was still struggling as United Way struggled to raise the amount
needed by our agencies. $141,106 was allocated for agency services
that year.
Minimum needs were set by the budget review and allocation
committee, chaired by Mark Heller, at $187,634 in 1976. With
Paul Diamond as president and Daylon Williams as campaign chairman,
over $20,000 more than was collect in 1975 was pledged, but
it was also $20,000 less than the amount United Way agencies
needed to provide their services to the community.
A United Way allocation is normally a budget balancing allocation,
the difference between the operating expenditures for the agency
and other sources of self-income, i.e., fees, due, tax funds,
endowments and direct contributions.
In addition, each agency is analyzed and evaluated in the
light of total requirements of all local agencies and funds
available. Ideally, the work program of United Way and its
partner agencies should achieve a sense of balance and correlation
with the total needs of all the health and welfare agencies
in the community.
This achievement was indeed a challenged for our United Way
in the depressed times of the mid-70’s.
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