Will there be a public discussion on what the United Ways should do about the organizational mess they have gotten themselves into?

News 100 blueBy Pepper Parr

June 30th, 2106

BURLINGTON, ON

Something just isn’t quite right over at the United Way.

The four United Way organizations in the Region are Oakville, Halton Hills and Milton.

Burlington is partnered with Hamilton to form the Burlington United Way organization

The Gazette doesn’t know much about the branches outside of Burlington. It appears we don’t know as much as we are supposed to know about the Burlington Hamilton organization either.

We got a media release earlier in the week in which we learned that a vote by the Burlington Hamilton organization failed to get the two thirds majority they needed to amalgamate with all the board in the Region into one larger organization. The media release cited all the current public relations buzz words – they would be “better” and “smarter”. There would be more collaboration.

The Oakville organization voted for an amalgamation. Milton and Halton Hills had not yet voted – once they learned Burlington Hamilton were a no go they postponed the vote.

jeff-vallentin United Way

Jeff Valentin, president of the Burlington Hamilton United Way organization.

Determining who gets to vote is a little different at each organization. Jeff Valentin, president of the Burlington Hamilton organization explained that membership votes but that in his organization the members of the Board are the only members of the organization. In Burlington Hamilton there are 18 members on the board.

At the start of the meeting there were 18 members – but two of those members had terms that ended at the AGM at which the vote to amalgamate was taken.

That vote went 11 for and 7 against the amalgamation – however a vote of this significance required a two thirds majority – and the vote was just 61% – thus it failed.

Valentin said he wasn’t sure what the next step for his organization. He is apparently not certain where the missing votes are – which makes it difficult to know who has to be lobbied.

City of Burlington Clerk's department did a great job last year during the United Way campaign drive. Interesting to see what they do this year. Burlington campaign has a $2 million target

City of Burlington Clerk’s department did a great job one year during the United Way campaign drive. The troops in the trenches do their part – the Burlington Hamilton board seems to have lost its grip.

With two new appointments to be made in the immediate future – the vote matter might resolve itself. What is evident is this – there is dissension within the Burlington Hamilton board. An issue this significant requires unanimity and that doesn’t exist at this point in time.

The vote was done by ballot so the executive doesn’t know where the support for the amalgamation is and where it isn’t.  The request for a ballot vote rather than a show of hands should have been a hint that there was a problem.

In a handout provided by the Burlington Hamilton United Way they explain their thinking. There was nothing in the way of a compelling argument for amalgamating in the material we saw.

On the matter of not getting any information from the Burlington Hamilton United Way there is a concern. The last communication we received was February 1, 2016 in which I discussed an interview we wanted to do when the 2015/2016 fund raising campaign came to an end.

When we asked why we had not been sent anything about the amalgamation plans – the response we got from the media department t said: “I thought we had sent the attached to you, I re-checked my sent emails and I had entered your email address incorrectly – symptom of having too much on the go and a clear sign we are in need of merging for greater capacity! Either way, my sincere apologies for missing you on this and I will be sure not to do so again.”

That response falls into the same category as “my dog ate my homework”

When people get into lines this long - you know something is going on. The United Way came up with a great idea - put Food Trucks in parking lots and earn a portion of the revenue for the cause. Great idea - and it worked.

When people get into lines this long – you know something is going on. The United Way came up with a great idea – put Food Trucks in parking lots and earn a portion of the revenue for the cause. Great idea – and it worked.

Strong media departments maintain a data base of every possible contact and if they are on top of their jobs they maintain an open line of communication. We are all busy – saying “having too much on the go and a clear sign we are in need of merging for greater capacity”, doesn’t cut it.

Organizations like the United Way need to be as close as possible to the people they serve; the work they do is “street level” based. A bigger bureaucracy is not going to improve what gets done for the hundreds of thousands of people who need help.

People deeply involved in providing community services feel strongly that whatever the issues were at Hamilton Burlington United Way, they should be made public so that an informed discussion can take place.

Oakville voted for the amalgamation. In a presentation made at that meeting people were assured that jobs would not be lost and that funds raised in a community would stay in that community.

This is not a healthy situation – there is some fence mending to be done at several levels.

Given the way political organizations are falling apart around the world – are we looking at a situation where Burlington pulls away from the hug they get from Hamilton?

There is a need for a wider public debate. The Burlington Hamilton United Way web site lists the following as members of the board.

Tom Atterton: Secretary and Chief Administrative Officer, Hamilton and District Labour Council
Penelope Burk: President, Cygnus Applied Research, Inc.
Elham Farah: Director of Special Projects, Farah Foods / Hasty Market Limited
Robert Forbes: Senior Financial Officer, Hamilton Health Sciences
Gaston Germain: Retired President and COO, Pelmorex Media Inc. (The Weather Network)
Neale Graham: Vice President, Canada, Beam Suntory Canada
Leo Johnson: Founder/Executive Director, Empowerment Squared
Greg Jones: Managing Director, Communications & Public Affairs, Terrapure Environmental
Nancy MacBain: Staff Representative, CUPE Local 3906 (McMaster University)
Anthony Marco: President, Hamilton and District Labour Council
Geraldine McMullen: Second Vice President, Hamilton and District Labour Council
Annelisa Pedersen: Senior Program Advisor, Ministry of Community and Social Services
Wade Poziomka: Lawyer, Ross & McBride LLP
Sandra Scime: Assistant Superintendent of Education, Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board
David Wormald: President, St Joseph’s Health Centre Guelph and Elder Care, St. Joseph’s Health System

Jeff Valentin is also a member of the board. It is not clear which members are drawn from Burlington and which from Hamilton.

Too many unknowns here.

The only positive comment is that we do know what we don’t know.

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