San Benito group attributes disaffiliation to organizational
shift
The United Way of America has disaffiliated the 22-year-old San Benito County chapter because the group had been months late in submitting annual reports and couldn’t stay in tune with the national organization’s shifting landscape of standards, local volunteers announced today.
The chapter that allocates about $100,000 annually to local nonprofits has handed over its local fundraising duties to United Way Silicon Valley. The now-defunct San Benito County United Way is in the process of transferring what funds remain – unknown until the group pays off current expenses – to Community Foundation for a final allocation locally.
“It’s a huge change for local nonprofits,” said Paula Grace, the local group’s attorney.
The disaffiliation is the result of months of talks with the national organization over submitting what Grace called a “very complicated” set of annual reports. She said finances were not the problem.
San Benito County United Way also had talks with neighboring groups, including United Way Silicon Valley, about partnering.
The local volunteers noted how San Benito County’s organization is now among more than 50 smaller United Way chapters to shut down in recent years.
One disadvantage for the San Benito chapter is that it didn’t have a paid staff and was run solely by a seven-member volunteer board, Grace said.
The group had missed its most recent reporting deadline and got the national organization to extend it so local board members could communicate with the Silicon Valley chapter about a possible merger. They ran out of time – Saturday is the official deadline – and still had many more “hoops” to go through, said Kellie Guerra, the San Benito president.
It’s unclear what kind of affect the change will have on United Way’s local fundraising efforts.
“It could be more (raised). It could be less,” Guerra said.
