Newsmaker Q&A: Michelle Taylor, president of United Way of Delaware

Each fall, workplaces across Delaware and the country gear up to raise money for the United Way charity.

But, while those who give know their money goes to a worthy cause, they might not know how it ends up in the hands of those who are doing good in the community.

Michelle Taylor is president and CEO of United Way of Delaware, and she knows how each dollar donated has an impact on someone’s life.

Q The United Way is an umbrella organization; how does the agency decide what causes and groups to partner with?

A A few years ago we changed our direction and we’ve become more focused around doing work in the community. Now we partner with any organization — the state, faith-based communities, nonprofits, academia, anyone that can help us deliver on the objectives we’re working toward. We are more the convener and the catalyst; we’ll pull together the partners that are already doing great work in the community.

With a portion of our money, we have what we call an advisory council made up of diverse community stakeholders statewide, and they form around the themes of education, income and health. That advisory council allows us to set more long-term goals. That funding is more for collaborative issues.

We still have a fairly significant portion of funds with an allocation committee; they look at the needs of our current partners.

Q When someone makes a donation to the United Way, where does the money go? Can it be put toward a specific cause?

A When funds are donated to the United Way, we try to promote that people give their donations to our community impact fund, which is our undedicated pool. Or they can invest it in one of our strategic focus areas: children’s issues, health issues or financial empowerment.

We really seek to get funding that aligns with those initiatives, however anyone can designate their own 501(c)3 organization. There are many agencies in our community that are doing great work.

Q On average, how much money does United Way of Delaware collect each year? Where do your donations come from?

A Right now, our campaign is at $20.5 million, and we also try to raise some additional money through grants and foundations. Our total revenue for this year might be $21.5 million. Corporate support of our campaign is about one-fourth of our support, and we have foundations that support us as well, but the bulk of our donations still come from individuals.

Traditionally, the majority of it is seen as a fall campaign, and the way you give to the United Way is you have to work at a corporation. What’s changing and evolving is that the real growth will come from small businesses, the retiree community. We need to do a better job of letting people outside the workplace campaign know what we are doing.

Q How has the economic downturn affected your organization and the amount of donations it receives?

A Giving was down approximately 6% from last year. We were fortunate last year because when everyone else was experiencing down turns, we didn’t. We actually maintained our goal. This year, I think we felt the impact of less people employed in the state, primarily from a corporate employment side.

What we found is that we’re able to increase participation, more people are giving, but they’re giving less.

Today most people know a family member, friend, or coworker who has been impacted by this economy. That’s spurred giving; people really want to be able to help, even if they can’t do it at the same level.

As a community, we’ve seen more compassion, more interest from people wanting to do something.

Email Doug Denison at doug.denison@doverpost.com.