It’s the one committee assignment when we always have plenty of volunteers.
Even though the name has officially changed to the Budget and Admissions Committee, most folks still refer to the Scurry County United Way’s Allocation Committee as just that, the Allocation Committee. And when members of the United Way board want to learn how the money they raise each fall is going to be used, there is no better format than the question-and-answer presentations from the agencies.
Members of the committee spent two nights this week visiting with representatives from each of the agencies that applied for United Way funding in 2017.
The difficulty with planning that far ahead came up during one of the interviews, when an agency representative said they had already assisted as many people in the first quarter of 2016 as they had expected to help during the full year.
Which raised a broad question for new committee members — how do you plan for 2017 when you’re not even through the first four months of 2016?
You just try and do your best with the information you have, and the committee did that.
Its recommendation for which agencies to fund and for which amounts will be presented for approval by the full Scurry County United Way board — which is made up of folks who live and work right here and have the final say on the matter — when it meets in early May.
That’s when the real work begins.
That’s when the board will get this year’s campaign rolling by unveiling the theme and campaign goal.
We’ll begin preparing to try and top last year’s $130,000 raised by contacting donors and planning new fundraising events.
We’ll begin to enlist volunteers to help with those efforts and then when this fall rolls around, we’ll be ready to hit the ground running.
Donors have been very generous to the United Way the past few years, and there is already growing excitement about this year’s campaign.
In fact, a few new donors have already turned in their pledges. But with the state of the economy and the growing demands, we realize that perhaps there’s more that can be done, and the Scurry County United Way is looking for ways to do that.
The local United Way board is looking for creative ways to help agencies in addition to providing direct funds.
One such meeting is taking place Tuesday, when the board is hosting a meeting with the Permian Basin Area Foundation. All charitable agencies and community organizations, whether they receive United Way funding or not, that have their 501(c)3 designation and are interested in applying for future grants through the foundation are invited to attend the meeting.
The board is also looking at ways to engage volunteers on a year-round basis and at ways to create partnerships that don’t exist today.
We were reminded earlier this week about how many thousands of lives are touched by the agencies the Scurry County United Way supports each year. People of all ages and backgrounds and circumstances benefit when the United Way reaches its goals, and we’re putting a lot of thought into this year’s campaign.
According to the United Way’s website, the “United Way improves lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance the common good.
“We all have a stake in what befalls our fellow man. We all benefit when a child succeeds in school, when someone finds a job that will help them provide for their family, or when more people are able to access quality, affordable health care.
“The solutions we create for communities around the world go beyond short-term charity for a few.”
Even though that guiding principle is a national one, I think we can all agree that we’ve got several agencies working here, agencies the Scurry County United Way will be supporting in 2017, that closely match that statement.
Bill Crist is the publisher of the Snyder Daily News. Comments about his column may be emailed to publisher@snyderdailynews.com.