Scouts say no to United Way funds

A refocused set of priorities has left some longtime partners of the United Way of Salt Lake with significantly lower levels of funding than ever before while other community organizations are reaping the benefits.

The change has prompted at least one organization, the Great Salt Lake Council of the Boy Scouts of America, to decline the funds altogether.

"What it really boils down to is that we are using a rifle approach to funding rather than a shotgun approach, which means we are really focusing on what has been identified as the greatest needs in our community," said United Way President and CEO Deborah Bayle Nielsen.

Unfortunately, she said, that meant decreasing the funds to groups that don't necessarily fit within the United Way's four core issues: improving financial stability, building life skills, strengthening child and youth development and opening doors to education.

"We're really focusing all of our efforts into fewer community problems, but ones that United Way feels have a bigger impact on the community," Nielsen said.

Under their past contract, the Scouts received $32,000 annually from the United Way. The group learned last month that it would only receive $12,000 per year during the upcoming funding cycle, which runs from July 1 to June 2008.

The amount is not substantial enough to offset the staff time and other expenses to meet the terms of the contract, which includes at least two reports and an educational campaign, Scout executive Paul Moore said.

"It was a difficult decision and we really approached this from as cautious a standpoint as we could," Moore said. "We really feel this was a decision based on good stewardship of the public's money."

Of the groups that received funding for the upcoming cycle, at least a dozen received fewer dollars than they have in years past, Nielsen said. That list includes organizations like Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Utah, Catholic Community Services and the Greater Salt Lake Area Chapter of the American Red Cross.

To her knowledge, none of those organizations intend to decline the funding, Nielsen said.

"As far as we know the Boy Scouts are the only ones who are not signing the contract," she said, noting she was saddened by the decision because of the organization's decades-long partnership with United Way of Salt Lake.

This year, the United Way awarded 7 percent more in grants and added six new community partners, Nielsen said. One of those groups was Voices for Utah Children, which received $50,000 per year to improve affordability and access to child care in Utah.