BY B.G. GREGG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Slowly but steadily, Greater Cincinnati Community Shares is gaining acceptance as an alternative fund-raiser for local groups, and this year's lofty goal is to raise $130,000.
That's a pittance compared to the $53.8 million goal of Cincinnati's United Way & Community Chest, but an increase over the $107,000 Community Shares raised last year and a large jump from the $21,000 raised in 1996.
Mary McCoy, director of Community Shares, said this year's goal might have been higher, but she thinks last year's collections were a little misleading.
"We had one individual donor come in with $28,000 last year, and we don't think that is going to happen this year," she said. The group, which, like the United Way, is an umbrella organization that solicits in work places for its member agencies, has gained 16 new employers this year, including Cincinnati State Technical Community College and five law firms.
Community Shares now solicits employees in 25 workplaces, including campaigns conducted within member agencies. The organization reaches 31,000 local employees, including those at Cincinnati Public Schools and the University of Cincinnati.
Still pending: the City of Cincinnati and 6,000 employees. City Council, which already allows the local United Way to solicit employees, is considering a proposal to open workplace access to other charity groups.
Alternative choice in the workplace is are a growing phenomenon across the country. Don Sodo, executive director of America's Charities, a national federation of 90 charities, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America and Habitat for Humanity International, said about 30 percent of the nation's largest employers are now giving employees a choice other than United Way when it comes to workplace giving.
According to the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, there are more than 200 alternative funds across the country now, up from 100 in 1990.
Community Shares solicits money for agencies traditionally shut out of the United Way's annual campaign, such as the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Peace Education, The Prison Rights Advocacy Center and 14 other groups. The agencies often do lobbying, research or other political activities that the United Way does not consider direct services to the community. Campaign chairman Daniel J. Meyer, chairman, president and CEO of Cincinnati Milacron, said those who give to the United Way do so because they know their money is being spent wisely.
Ms. McCoy said Community Shares agencies undergo annual "peer reviews" to determine how money is spent.
She added that those who contribute to Community Shares don't expect the same amount of oversight provided by the United Way. "We are looking for innovative ways of dealing with long-term problems in the community, and bureaucracy can stifle innovation," she said.
