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BROOK JONES \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
United Way Winnipeg president and CEO Matthew Cutler says the charity\u2019s donor base has shrunk significantly over several decades.<\/p>\n
Homelessness and public drug use have become increasingly visible, household budgets remain strained and the problems charities are trying to address can seem so entrenched that donors may reasonably wonder what difference another contribution can make.<\/p>\n
As United Way Winnipeg launches its 105th annual campaign Friday, those leading the non-profit don\u2019t believe the city\u2019s willingness to help has disappeared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWinnipeggers already care,\u201d campaign co-chair Anne Mahon said. \u201cBecause they see. It\u2019s evident.\u201d<\/p>\n
The challenge, she said, is giving people a sense of agency \u2014 moving them from seeing the problems around them to believing they can play some role in addressing them.<\/p>\n
That has become more difficult as United Way\u2019s donor base has shrunk substantially over the decades. President and CEO Matthew Cutler said about 100,000 people contributed annually several generations ago, when Winnipeg was considerably smaller. Today, that number is about 24,000.<\/p>\n
Cutler and campaign co-chairs Anne and Paul Mahon don\u2019t believe Winnipeggers have become less generous.<\/p>\n
There are more charities competing for donations, household finances are tighter and workplace connections that historically drove United Way campaigns were disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wealth has also become increasingly concentrated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you think about wealth, there\u2019s more of a disparity in wealth today than there was when your parents were growing up and starting out\u2026 It was very much more a middle class city and a middle class country, we\u2019ll say, if you go back into the \u201960s,\u201d Paul Mahon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we\u2019ve really got a bit of a bifurcation of wealth, with a lot more wealth amongst fewer, and a lot more people struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Major donors now account for about 36 per cent of funds United Way Winnipeg raises and about 56 per cent of non-corporate donations, Paul said.<\/p>\n
The organization can\u2019t rely on that group alone, it says. Many small individual gifts add up, and first-time donors today are seen as potential major donors of the future, making broader participation critical to sustaining the organization through generational change.<\/p>\n
There is another challenge: persuading people their contribution matters when the problems around them may appear to be getting worse.<\/p>\n
Cutler believes society has become better at recognizing the complexity behind homelessness, addiction and poverty, including the roles of housing, economics, mental health, racism and colonization.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s a huge win,\u201d Cutler said. \u201cIt is important that our starting point now is an understanding that it\u2019s complex.\u201d<\/p>\n
But complexity can also breed hopelessness.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you see the complexity of the problem, it is daunting and exhausting, and it is easy to check out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t RUTH BONNEVILLE \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n Louise Simbandumwe, co-director of SEED Winnipeg, an organization that helps low income Manitobans build skills, says the organization turns hundreds of people away.<\/p>\n The answer, Cutler argues, isn\u2019t finding one organization, program or large investment capable of fixing everything.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was no one thing that\u2019s led to a person who\u2019s out on the street right now in front of me, living the life that they do,\u201d he says. \u201cThere were thousands of little things by individuals and by systems that led there. And it will be thousands of little things by individuals and systems that will get us out of that.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of convincing donors their contribution matters, however, means showing them what happens to their money.<\/p>\n Paul Mahon said United Way can appear to some as a \u201cblack box\u201d \u2014 unlike other charities, the money raised for the community fund doesn\u2019t stay with the organization. Donations are instead doled out to support more than 125 agencies that are not necessarily visible to every Winnipegger.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a risk that not enough people really understand the positive impact the community fund makes each day in our city,\u201d he said. \u201cIf every Winnipegger could have the opportunity to visit a United Way agency and see the impact, we would really grow our base. When you see the work first-hand, you can\u2019t help but want to be involved.\u201d<\/p>\n United Way says one in three Winnipeggers receives support through its network of funded agencies, with someone reaching out for help, on average, every 12 seconds.<\/p>\n For the agencies receiving that money, however, stable funding doesn\u2019t mean demand is being met.<\/p>\n SEED Winnipeg, a non-profit that helps low-income Manitobans build skills, served more than 18,000 people last year, helping generate more than $46 million in income and benefits through tax filing and benefits navigation.<\/p>\n Still, the organization turns away between 100 and 200 people every week because SEED simply doesn\u2019t have enough staff or appointments to accommodate everyone.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking,\u201d said SEED co- director Louise Simbandumwe. \u201cAnd winter is coming. We have people that start lining up, in front of our doors, an hour early. They walked here. They bus here. And to actually have to turn them away is really challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n Appointments open Monday mornings and can be completely booked within 15 or 20 minutes, she said.<\/p>\n Yet there are also signs of what \u201cabsolutely critical\u201d sustained investment can accomplish.<\/p>\n Simbandumwe said 42 per cent of SEED\u2019s staff and 57 per cent of its board members are former program participants, while others have gone on to lead community organizations or work for the funders that support them.<\/p>\n Much of United Way\u2019s contribution to those organizations happens behind the scenes. Unlike grants restricted to a particular project, much of its support is flexible core funding, generally committed for three to five years.<\/p>\n Cutler said that stability allows organizations to keep operating when government or foundation grants fall through while giving them flexibility to respond to changing needs.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n Anne Mahon does not believe people\u2019s willingness to help others has diminished.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of executive directors have shared that this means they can sleep well at night knowing that if the three applications they have in for funding from a government or a foundation don\u2019t come through, they know that they can at least keep the doors open tomorrow because of United Way funding,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n At Teen Stop Jeunesse, executive director Kelly-Anne Reyes knows what that stability can accomplish over the longer term.<\/p>\n United Way\u2019s funding is a \u201cgame changer,\u201d she said, allowing the Winnipeg youth drop-in centre to direct money where it is most needed, retain staff and build relationships with young people. About 90 per cent of its employees are former participants in its programs.<\/p>\n Reyes said the impact is ultimately measured in the people who walk through the agency\u2019s doors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re only as strong as the person that\u2019s struggling the most, in my opinion,\u201d Reyes said. \u201cAnd so if we invest in those that need that support, we make a stronger community for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the difficult fundraising environment, Cutler and the Mahons say there are reasons for optimism.<\/p>\n Winnipeg continues to lead other United Way chapters across Canada in giving relative to the size of its economy, Cutler said. Hundreds of volunteers are involved in workplace campaigns, while dozens of others are helping solicit donations and organize this year\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \u201cPart of compassion fatigue, and part of apathy is just feeling isolated, and what can really be done?\u201d Anne Mahon said. \u201cBut there\u2019s a whole lot of great things being done.\u201d<\/p>\n Cutler sees the campaign as an opportunity to rebuild some of the community connections that have weakened over time.<\/p>\n That can mean giving what someone can afford, volunteering or simply becoming more engaged with the community.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just all need to do a little bit more, and if all of us do a little bit more, our city will get a whole lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Scott Billeck Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade\u2019s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.\u00a0 Read more about Scott<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Scott produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
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