In the News
Group Reveals Way to Award
The United Way of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington may have more than one thing to celebrate today.
This morning, the agency will announce if it has reached its fundraising goal ($3.2 million) for the 13th year in a row.
If that happens, it will be the second cause for celebration this week, after the organization won an Ontario Charity Annual Reports award.
The local United Way was one of four prize winners for voluntary sector reporting in 2011 for excellence in financial reporting transparency, in the not-for-profit sector for groups raising $1 million to $10 million.
It was the only United Way agency in Ontario to receive the award and it came in the first year it was nominated.
There were 100 nominations, 17 finalists and the five winners in a program organized by the chartered accountants of the Queen’s Centre for Governance and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario.
“(The United Way’s) annual report is clear about how the organization intends to impact the communities it serves and provides an excellent summary of key facts and figures up front in the report,” said John Suart, project manager of the awards for the School of Governance.
“There was an excellent and clear disclosure about administration and fundraising expenses that could well be emulated by other organizations.”
Bhavana Varma, president and CEO of the Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington United Way, said her organization puts as much financial information in its annual report as possible.
“It’s all about transparency,” she said. “Our board, volunteers and staff work hard at being transparent and this is a recognition of that.
“We have so many donors that trust us with their donations.”
Suart said Canadians believe that charities need to be transparent and accountable.
He cited a 2008 study by the Muttart Foundation entitled Talking About Charities that found nearly 100% of Canadians said it was important for charities to provide information about what they do.
The study also revealed that about a third of Canadians were not sure where their charitable dollars were going, and only half thought the charities were doing an excellent job in reporting about the programs and services they deliver.
Only a third of those surveyed, Suart said, credited charities with an excellent or good job of reporting about how they use their donations.
Varma said the annual report is posted on the local United Way’s website.
“All the information is there we believe our donors need to see,” she said. “The numbers are certainly important, but (there’s) other information in the annual report that’s important as well.”
Varma said the $5,000 prize that goes with the award will be put into the United Way’s grants account, not toward the current fundraising campaign
“It’ll be put to good use in the community,” she said.
John DiPaolo, director of finance and administration for the United Way of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington counts money and checks at their office as he’s assisted by loaned representatives (from left) Kay Munn of Empire Life, Edie Emmons of Service Ontario and Cathy Christmas of Assurant Solutions. The United Way will be reveiling their campaign goal on Friday morning at their touchdown breakfast.
Source: Ian MacAlpine, The Whig-Standard
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