United Way

[Mitsu3000gt]

Semi related, but why does every O&G company in town have such a hard on for the United Way? Is there some relationship there? Doesn't seem like that great of a charity to me and the CEO is pulling in ~$1.4M/yr.

Personally I like donating to medical research, and buying things like goats and mosquito nets for people in third world countries. If I ever receive a call soliciting me for a donation, I never donate to that charity.

[bjstare]

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Semi related, but why does every O&G company in town have such a hard on for the United Way? Is there some relationship there? Doesn't seem like that great of a charity to me and the CEO is pulling in ~$1.4M/yr.

I'll preface this post by saying that I used to have sentiments much the same as yours.

I spent 4 months working full time at United Way through a development role at my job a few years back. The CEO of United Way of Calgary makes nowhere near that much. If you don't believe me, you should take a quick read through the CRA report: https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/haip...30229750RR0001
Also, it's important to note, the United Way of Calgary is it's own entity. It's finance and org structure are not related to the United Way of America.

On a related note, their employees really aren't paid very much (like not much at all), considering how much value they deliver. I have first hand experience with this. The link I posted above will corroborate that as well.

There is a ton of misinformation about how the United Way of Calgary is run, and it's pretty disappointing. They work very hard to be low overhead, and do a good job considering how much money they raise. They have a huge impact in our city and re-evaluate their areas of investment every year to make sure they are directing efforts and money to where it can have the greatest impact.

I obviously could go on, but they get my vote (despite the fact that involvement with them is kind of a circle jerk).

[mr2mike]

Still won't sway me on the United Way. Way too much money wasted I also have the forced participation while at work. It's like I have Jehova's Witnesses in my office constantly knocking on my door for a donation for this or that for United Way.
Would get 4 emails per day during the 2 week run. Good there's Email rules you can set straight to trash.
Then you get the "Ooo Suncor, raised XX million... C'mon guys we can do better!!" F that. Get that stock price up and then let's talk who's doing better and more people can donate to charity at that point.
I'm here to work, not be pushed hard on sales pitches like I stepped into a used car dealership.

I give to other charities, etc. not what's dictated by workplace fluff.

[ExtraSlow]

This is off topic, but you can get rid of workplace donation requests pretty quick by saying "I give to cancer foundation because my dad died of cancer.". Or swap Dad for Mom, Brother, Sister, anything. United Way is crazy annoying at work.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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I'll preface this post by saying that I used to have sentiments much the same as yours.

I spent 4 months working full time at United Way through a development role at my job a few years back. The CEO of United Way of Calgary makes nowhere near that much. If you don't believe me, you should take a quick read through the CRA report: https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/haip...30229750RR0001
Also, it's important to note, the United Way of Calgary is it's own entity. It's finance and org structure are not related to the United Way of America.

On a related note, their employees really aren't paid very much (like not much at all), considering how much value they deliver. I have first hand experience with this. The link I posted above will corroborate that as well.

There is a ton of misinformation about how the United Way of Calgary is run, and it's pretty disappointing. They work very hard to be low overhead, and do a good job considering how much money they raise. They have a huge impact in our city and re-evaluate their areas of investment every year to make sure they are directing efforts and money to where it can have the greatest impact.

I obviously could go on, but they get my vote (despite the fact that involvement with them is kind of a circle jerk).

Sounds like the employees are good, but management is bad then. I looked at your link briefly but did not quickly find the salaries - do you know what it is?

United Way's website says the CEO's (Worldwide?) comp is $1,236,611/yr (2015 figure), including a fat bonus equal to more than most people's annual salaries and another ~$390K into his retirement.

Also if what you're saying is true and they don't pay their employees well at all, but the CEO is raking in that kind of money, that is another reason I would want nothing to do with that charity - that tells me there is a gross excess of charity income and it's being poorly distributed. Maybe they should redistribute some of that wealth to the Calgary chapter as it sounds like they do a better job compared to other areas. Really though my main complaint is how aggressively they campaign, and that is the primary reason I will never donate to them personally.

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Still won't sway me on the United Way. Way too much money wasted I also have the forced participation while at work. It's like I have Jehova's Witnesses in my office constantly knocking on my door for a donation for this or that for United Way.
Would get 4 emails per day during the 2 week run. Good there's Email rules you can set straight to trash.
Then you get the "Ooo Suncor, raised XX million... C'mon guys we can do better!!" F that. Get that stock price up and then let's talk who's doing better and more people can donate to charity at that point.
I'm here to work, not be pushed hard on sales pitches like I stepped into a used car dealership.

I give to other charities, etc. not what's dictated by workplace fluff.

This is unfortunately my experience with the United Way also, every single company I have ever worked for I've had it shoved down my throat. As a direct result I have never given a cent to that charity.

The other thing we used to do was sponsor families for Christmas, and we would get the lists of family members and what each of them wanted for Christmas. The last family I saw details of had 5 kids (6th on the way as it mentioned the mom was pregnant) - they can't stop having kids they can't afford so they are asking other people to buy them stuff - no thanks.

Medical research is my favorite thing to donate to currently, in particular for illnesses that have affected my family.

[bjstare]

Completely agree that some workplace campaigns are run very poorly. Badgering people is not a good way to gain support. And choosing not to support them based on aggressive campaigning is a very good reason IMO.

As I said in my post, the finances with UW Calgary are not tied with UW of America. Calgary (and other Canadian cities) are each their own entity. The fact that he pulls in >$1M/yr seems ridiculous, given he works in the "non-profit" sector.

The link I posted shows the highest paid person at UW of Calgary is <$299k. Still a lot, but to get any kind of talent capable of running a business of 130 staff that generates $50M per year, you're gonna have to offer a decent wage.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Completely agree that some workplace campaigns are run very poorly. Badgering people is not a good way to gain support. And choosing not to support them based on aggressive campaigning is a very good reason IMO.

As I said in my post, the finances with UW Calgary are not tied with UW of America. Calgary (and other Canadian cities) are each their own entity. The fact that he pulls in >$1M/yr seems ridiculous, given he works in the "non-profit" sector.

The link I posted shows the highest paid person at UW of Calgary is <$299k. Still a lot, but to get any kind of talent capable of running a business of 130 staff that generates $50M per year, you're gonna have to offer a decent wage.

Fair enough. It's nice to at least have a different perspective on it from someone like yourself who has actually worked with them. My experience is always on he receiving end of the donation badgering. $299K isn't too bad if the role is justified and a certain level of talent/experience is required to properly run the organization.

I still don't know how they are in every O&G company's pockets, but most companies seem to run a pretty aggressive campaign every year (every one I've ever worked for, same for my friends and family in O&G). The last place I worked, the CEO made a very not subtle suggestion that he was expecting managers/executives to make rather substantial donations. He said it in a way that suggested there would be consequences for not doing so. At the time I had a Manager title and I have no idea if he knew I donated zero or not haha, doesn't matter now I guess. I'm guessing that is confidential anyway and he was just trying to get numbers up. The other thing I hate is people coming office to office or into meetings when other people are around asking for donations because it's less likely you'll turn them down in front of colleagues.

[Sugarphreak]

...

[mr2mike]

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I still don't know how they are in every O&G company's pockets.

Some of the UW board of director members are Oil and Gas Company Presidents & higher ups.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Some of the UW board of director members are Oil and Gas Company Presidents & higher ups.

Ah I see, well that would probably explain it then.

[J-hop]

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Some of the UW board of director members are Oil and Gas Company Presidents & higher ups.

Drives me insane when companies go crazy on their low level employees with no decision making power about avoiding conflicts of interest, yet those in roles where conflicts of interest can actual have material effects don’t seem to follow the same rules