Donor Information and Policies (updated October 2011)
The mission of United Way of Buffalo & Erie County is to bring people, organizations, and resources together to improve community well being. The annual Campaign is United Way's primary vehicle for raising funds, and offers the entire community an opportunity to contribute financial resources toward the achievement of United Way's mission.
Below are United Way's donor policies and other important information. If you have any questions, please call (716) 887-2758 or e-mail customerservice@uwbec.org.
Table of Contents (click on any heading to move to that section)
Tax Deductability and Recordkeeping
PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY
The United Way of Buffalo & Erie County respects the privacy of our donors. Under no circumstances will names, contact information, or any other data related to our donors be sold, lent, or traded to any organization for any reason.
Personal information entrusted to the United Way will not be communicated outside the organization, including agencies to which the donor makes a designated gift, unless specifically authorized by the donor.
Donor information, including but not limited to contact information, employer, and giving history, is collected and maintained for internal purposes only. United Way retains such personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes of this policy and to comply with federal and state record retention requirements.
Leadership donors ($1,000 and above) are given the option to have their names listed in our annual Leadership Roster. Donors who indicate to us that they wish to remain anonymous are not listed in the Roster.
Upon written request, donors may be allowed access to their personal information and specify that the information be corrected, oppose the retention of the information, or request its elimination from the UW's information records. It is important to note that any donor records containing transactions (pledges or payments) must be retained in compliance with Internal Revenue Service regulations.
Questions regarding our privacy and confidentiality policy, or the security of personal information processed by UW should be sent to:
Chief Information Officer
United Way of Buffalo & Erie County
742 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14209
PLEDGING AND PAYMENT
There are several ways an individual or corporate donor can pay their pledge:
1. Cash
2. Checks - made payable to United Way of Buffalo & Erie County.
3. Credit Card - if using a paper pledge card or pledging via e-pledge in a workplace campaign, an invoice will be mailed to donor's home or mailing address to secure this confidential information. Credit cards are accepted online via uwbec.org for those making a contribution outside a workplace campaign.
4. Direct Debit - a direct debit form will be mailed directly to donor's home or mailing address to secure the donor's checking or savings account number, the donor's bank's routing number, and the account holder's name. Direct debit payments are debited from the donor's bank account on the 15th of the month, as directed by the donor (monthly, quarterly, annually).
5. Payroll deduction - this option is available only to donors giving through their workplace Campaign. By signing the United Way pledge form, or submitting a pledge online through the workplace campaign, the donor authorizes his or her employer's payroll department to deduct a certain amount from his or her paycheck on a pre-determined schedule. The amount deducted is then remitted to the United Way by the donor's employer.
6. Electronic Fund Transfer - this payment option is reserved for companies and other organizations to remit payment to the United Way for their corporate pledge and/or United Way deductions withheld from their employees' paychecks.
7. Stocks or Securities - there are two ways to donate securities:
a. Via broker - the donor's broker should initiate a transfer of the gifted securities to United Way of Buffalo & Erie County's brokerage account as follows:
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney
Acct Name: United Way of Buffalo
& Erie County
Acct # 356-03201-15-070
DTC # 0418
Contact Name: Pamela Agostinelli
Contact Phone Number: (716) 849-4840
b. Via stock certificate - issue a stock certificate naming the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County as the owner of a specific number of stocks being donated. The original stock certificate can be picked up by a United Way representative or mailed directly to the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County's finance office.
Whichever option donor may choose, the date of the gift is the date the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County becomes true owner of the donated securities. For income tax purposes, the deduction value is the mean between the high and low quoted selling prices on the date of the gift.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Within a month of receiving a pledge, regardless of the payment method, United Way sends a thank you letter or card to the address provided by the donor. This communication also lists any agency or agencies designated by the donor to receive all or part of the donor's contribution. As noted in the following section, this letter might be needed if the donor itemizes deductions on his or her tax return, and should therefore be retained with other important tax documents.
Occasionally, there are reasonable delays in transmitting pledge information from the workplace to the United Way. In any case, the United Way will send donor the Thank You and acknowledgement letter within a month from the date when United Way receives the pledge from the donor's workplace.
TAX DEDUCTABILITY AND RECORDKEEPING
The United Way of Buffalo & Erie County is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and as such contributions to United Way are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.
The IRS requires that all individuals who itemize deductions on their federal tax return should have documentation to substantiate all contributions, regardless of amount. In January of each year, the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County sends tax receipts to all donors and companies who made payment of at least $250.00 in the prior calendar year, through any method other than payroll deduction and securities. Tax receipts for gifts through stocks or securities are mailed to the donor within 30 days from receipt of the gifted securities. For donors who paid less than $250.00 through any method other than payroll deduction and securities in the prior calendar year, a receipt will be issued upon the request of the donor.
The following are the requirements from IRS for charitable gift substantiation:
1. Gifts of cash, check, credit card or direct debit
a. Bank record (cancelled check, bank statement or credit card statement); OR
b. Written acknowledgement from the United Way
showing the date of payment and amount of contribution. (Note:
Donors may use the tax receipt issued by United Way of Buffalo &
Erie County in January of each year.)
2. Gifts of securities
a. Broker record showing the name of the charity and date of the gift; OR
b. Written acknowledgment from the United Way showing the date and the exact type of contribution, and the mean value of the stock on the date the gift was received.
3. Gifts paid through payroll deduction
a. Pay stub, Form W-2, or other employer-furnished document that sets forth the amount withheld for payment of your pledge to the United Way; AND
b. A copy of the pledge confirmation or the Thank You letter from the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County.
DONOR DESIGNATION
You may direct all or a portion of your contribution to one or more agencies listed on the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County's list of eligible agencies. These agencies are 501 (c)(3) tax exempt organizations that provide health and human services and comply with the United States Patriot Act. For your convenience, this list can be found on our website, at www.uwbec.org/donordesignation.
There is space provided on the United Way pledge card, and within the e-pledge system used by workplace campaigns, to specify the agency or agencies to which you wish to designate. The online pledging system available through our website, www.uwbec.org, does not provide this option. If you give through our website and wish to designate all or a portion of your contribution, e-mail to customerservice@uwbec.org with your designation instructions. We will make your designation as you request or contact you with questions.
If you wish to designate to an unlisted agency that is located within Erie and Niagara counties, write the name and address of the agency on the pledge form, or choose "write in" when submitting via ePledge in your workplace Campaign. You should then contact the agency and ask them to complete and sign the "Agency Information Form," which can be downloaded from our website by clicking here. The completed form should then be mailed, faxed or emailed to the contact indicated on the form. We will record your gift as undesignated until we receive the completed Agency Information Form. Once the Agency Information Form is received, we will inform you that your gift has been designated to the agency.
If you wish to designate to an unlisted agency located outside of Erie and Niagara counties, write the name and address of the agency on the pledge form or choose "write in" when submitting pledge via ePledge in your workplace Campaign. We will identify the United Way that covers the area where the agency is located, and will forward the agency's name and address to the identified United Way. We will designate your pledge to the identified United Way, and forward your pledge and payment to that United Way, which will process your agency designation subject to their terms and conditions in processing agency designations.
Contributions that are not designated to a specific agency or agencies are allocated to the pool of funds that are directed to local programs that address community needs in the areas of education, income, health and wellness.
Donor designated dollars and United Way program investment funds that are directed to the same agency will be handled separately. The agency will receive two separate payments from these two sources of funds, and the amount of designations directed to a specific agency has no bearing on any funds invested through our biannual volunteer-led Community Investments process.
Donor designated contributions are remitted to agencies by the United Way on a bi-monthly cycle. The amount ultimately remitted to the agencies is determined by the manner in which the pledge is paid:
1. Cash, checks, credit cards, direct debit
Once payment is posted on the individual donor's record, the designated agency is paid on the following payout cycle after payment is received. The agency receives 100% of the designated dollars.
2. Gifts of stock
The amount paid to the agency is the actual value of the stock at the time it was sold. For example, a donor may give $1,000 worth of stocks and designate the full amount to an agency. However, due to fluctuations in stock prices, the agency may or may not receive $1,000 - the final amount remitted will depend on the value of the stock at the time of sale.
3. Payroll deduction
When a donor selects payroll deduction as a form of payment, his or her employer's payroll department withholds a certain amount from each paycheck and reserves it for United Way. The total amount withheld from all employee paychecks is remitted by the company to United Way, in one lump sum amount, either monthly or quarterly.
Most companies do not provide details about individual donors' payroll deductions. Therefore, United Way posts each payment to the employer's account, rather than to the individual's. During the year, there may be employees who leave the company and therefore do not fully pay their pledge. The United Way writes off any unpaid portion of the total employees' payroll pledges on the employer's account, and not on individual donors' accounts.
Because it is impossible, given the data we are provided, to reconcile the account of each of the more than 40,000 donors who pay through payroll deduction, we calculate the amount to be remitted to designated agencies based on the overall collection experience at the company level. For example, QWERTY Company remits 95% of total payroll pledges. The balance of 5% is due to employee turnover. Because we cannot identify those donors whose pledges are unpaid, United Way pays all agencies designated by QWERTY employees 95% of the total dollars designated to them. Similarly, only 95% of the undesignated contributions paid through payroll deduction are available to support United Way's efforts in our priority areas of Education, Income, and Health & Wellness.
FEES
Effective Campaign year 2011, no administrative fees will be deducted from contributions designated to 501(c)(3) agencies providing health and human service programs that have registered to participate in the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County Donor Choice Program.
OVERHEAD COSTS
United Way, like every other for-profit and nonprofit organization, has expenses associated with its operations - from utility costs, to insurance, to payroll costs for staff who do not directly support our community impact work. For our fiscal year ending March 31, 2011, these expenses amounted to 12.2% of our revenues, which include pledges to the annual Campaign.
Thank you for entrusting the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County with your charitable dollars. We are grateful for your generosity will continue to uphold the highest standards of stewardship as we work to improve quality of life in Erie County.
