COLUMBUS, Ind. — The annual United Way of Bartholomew County fundraising campaign will be about $195,000 short of its $4 million goal by March 31 without more help.
Mark Stewart, United Way president, makes clear that he is overwhelmingly grateful for the financial support this far amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has limited and hampered business and corporate campaigns, including firm’s various fundraisers.
But he also is clear about the need for more help amid a greater need among local families coping with job losses, food shortages, health care expenses and more because of the pandemic.
“So we’re going back to the community for an additional appeal,” Stewart said.
He added that this campaign, forced to be virtual, by far is the toughest he has faced since he began leading the local organization beginning in March 2012. In fact, this would qualify as one of the toughest campaigns in nearly 20 years, since quite a number of the fund drives since then led the state in per capita giving.
“We’ve done everything possible that we would normally do, and still are coming up short,” Stewart said, adding that the campaign stands at the 95 percent mark of its goal. “We’ve got just a little further to go.”
He is hardly that surprised at the situation, since he emphasized the serious challenge at the campaign kickoff at the City Hall plaza in September. There, he told a purposely smaller, socially distanced crowd that their support for United Way’s 17 agencies leading 34 programs was needed more than ever.
“We’re always very transparent with all the agencies about where we are with the fundraising,” Stewart said. “And they are appreciative of everything we have done. Because they know that we are doing our very best.”
In recent years, Stewart has been careful to point out that campaign donations go straight to the cause since other financial support covers staff salaries and overhead. And the local nonprofit always has received top marks from such national credibility-rating agencies as Charity Navigator.
Stewart mentioned that a particular campaign bright spot has been the generosity of the financial sector, including local banks. On the other hand, the local manufacturing sector has faced some of the most challenging circumstances for campaigns. That’s especially true since company-wide meetings with campaign leaders couldn’t be scheduled because of the novel coronavirus.
“That always gives people a deeper understanding of all that we do,” Stewart said. “And we just have not been able to do that this year.”
