HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
I gave at the office. But what’s happened to the office?
Author: Dick Aft, United Way Historian and United Way NEXT Emeritus Board Member
11/1/23
Author: Dick Aft, United Way Historian and United Way NEXT Emeritus Board Member
11/1/23
Scrooge wouldn’t give at the office, but most people over 40 have. Back in the day, United Way employees and community members would have signs on their windows and doors of their homes that advised door-to-door solicitors that they had already given to United Way. Lapel pins and certificates hung on the walls illustrated their pride in having contributed to United Way.
Workplace giving most likely began in 1929 when a Cincinnati Milling Machine Company foreman stood next to the paymaster to “pass the hat” for fellow employees whose jobs had been eliminated due to the Great Depression. Since then, local United Way organizations have been challenged a number of times to respond to changes in the places and ways in which people work. The workplace has undergone sea changes in response to world wars, corporate nationalization, and economic globalization. Many Main Street businesses have been replaced by big-box stores. Electronic processors handle office work that not long ago required desk work at the office. People Zoom on a screen rather than meeting at a workplace conference room table. Recent pandemic quarantines require new perspectives on workplaces.
As the definition of “workplace” undergoes change, so does United Way workplace giving. Competitive departmental scoreboards have gone the way of pen and ink accounting. Modular workspaces whose walls displayed United Way Certificates of Appreciation are disappearing. Production floors are populated with more robots than people. Crowdfunding has replaced “passing the hat.” Texts, emails, and cell phone messages have replaced most inter-office memos and cork bulletin boards. By and large, employee contributions are made electronically. Reaching prospective donors is no longer just a matter of making workplace presentations any more than mid-20th century campaign volunteers reaching their goals by pushing working peoples’ doorbells. Gone are workplace campaign rallies and agency tours. No more “I gave at the office.” for most employees.
Just as United Way leaders found ways to meet past changes, today’s United Way strategists are focusing on new approaches to workplace fundraising. They aren’t alone. Employers are facing similar challenges in defining where and how work is done. Workplace design, methodology and processes are being continuously reinvented. For example: Christian Jesse, the visionary owner of OFFICE INSPIRATION, headquartered in Munich, Germany, responded to my request for his thoughts about the places people work. “Agile working, digitalization and new work are changing the demands on the office world immensely,” he wrote. “In our new concepts for organizations, we don´t think in terms of desks, chairs, and storage per worker. The following question matters much more: ‘How can we support the activities of workers during a working day?’. We think about major activities that increase workers productivity: focus, regeneration, collaboration, networking, and learning.” He added, “In our new concepts, it is possible that a worker doesn´t have a personal office. But, workers have the ability to choose a place in the building which is good for their requirements. For example, they can book a table in the morning for two hours to check their email. After that they may have a training in another area, before going to lunch. In the afternoon they may have a project team workshop with in another room.”
Gary McClimans, owner of GHM Operations Consulting, LLC, has been recognized for his track record as a successful change agent, both as an interim operations leader and consultant. His work has focused on companies facing major competitive challenges. During the early 1990s, he provided extensive pro bono service to the United Way of Greater Cincinnati as it fought to maintain its position of philanthropic leadership during a period of crippling publicity emanating from the United Way of America. “Look at United Way from the outside and you see an organization that depends on people, both paid staff and volunteers, to achieve its goals, right? So don’t expect it to be exempt from the redefinition of ‘workplace’ that is sweeping the world of work. In fact,” he continued, “your history of uniting people from all kinds of employment, backgrounds, and experiences, is just what we all need as we learn to take advantage of change. You need to lead change instead of being the victim of it.”
Carson Aft, amused his United Way Historian grandfather with a much more focused description of his relationship with the offices of his employer. When asked how often he goes into his office, he responded, “I try to get into the office two or three times a week because the food is really good.”
History doesn’t provide any “silver bullet” solutions to the challenges of adapting to changes in workplace giving. It does, however, illustrate volunteer and staff creativity in marshalling volunteer and financial resources. United Way has a long history of bringing people together. Our history suggests that our continued success will be built upon that foundation, whether at traditional workplaces or in those of which no one has yet thought.
Beatle Paul McCartney once offered a clue to how United Way might successfully adapt to today’s workplace changes. “As long as you’re close,” he said, “something grows. When you’re not, something goes.”
Workplace giving most likely began in 1929 when a Cincinnati Milling Machine Company foreman stood next to the paymaster to “pass the hat” for fellow employees whose jobs had been eliminated due to the Great Depression. Since then, local United Way organizations have been challenged a number of times to respond to changes in the places and ways in which people work. The workplace has undergone sea changes in response to world wars, corporate nationalization, and economic globalization. Many Main Street businesses have been replaced by big-box stores. Electronic processors handle office work that not long ago required desk work at the office. People Zoom on a screen rather than meeting at a workplace conference room table. Recent pandemic quarantines require new perspectives on workplaces.
As the definition of “workplace” undergoes change, so does United Way workplace giving. Competitive departmental scoreboards have gone the way of pen and ink accounting. Modular workspaces whose walls displayed United Way Certificates of Appreciation are disappearing. Production floors are populated with more robots than people. Crowdfunding has replaced “passing the hat.” Texts, emails, and cell phone messages have replaced most inter-office memos and cork bulletin boards. By and large, employee contributions are made electronically. Reaching prospective donors is no longer just a matter of making workplace presentations any more than mid-20th century campaign volunteers reaching their goals by pushing working peoples’ doorbells. Gone are workplace campaign rallies and agency tours. No more “I gave at the office.” for most employees.
Just as United Way leaders found ways to meet past changes, today’s United Way strategists are focusing on new approaches to workplace fundraising. They aren’t alone. Employers are facing similar challenges in defining where and how work is done. Workplace design, methodology and processes are being continuously reinvented. For example: Christian Jesse, the visionary owner of OFFICE INSPIRATION, headquartered in Munich, Germany, responded to my request for his thoughts about the places people work. “Agile working, digitalization and new work are changing the demands on the office world immensely,” he wrote. “In our new concepts for organizations, we don´t think in terms of desks, chairs, and storage per worker. The following question matters much more: ‘How can we support the activities of workers during a working day?’. We think about major activities that increase workers productivity: focus, regeneration, collaboration, networking, and learning.” He added, “In our new concepts, it is possible that a worker doesn´t have a personal office. But, workers have the ability to choose a place in the building which is good for their requirements. For example, they can book a table in the morning for two hours to check their email. After that they may have a training in another area, before going to lunch. In the afternoon they may have a project team workshop with in another room.”
Gary McClimans, owner of GHM Operations Consulting, LLC, has been recognized for his track record as a successful change agent, both as an interim operations leader and consultant. His work has focused on companies facing major competitive challenges. During the early 1990s, he provided extensive pro bono service to the United Way of Greater Cincinnati as it fought to maintain its position of philanthropic leadership during a period of crippling publicity emanating from the United Way of America. “Look at United Way from the outside and you see an organization that depends on people, both paid staff and volunteers, to achieve its goals, right? So don’t expect it to be exempt from the redefinition of ‘workplace’ that is sweeping the world of work. In fact,” he continued, “your history of uniting people from all kinds of employment, backgrounds, and experiences, is just what we all need as we learn to take advantage of change. You need to lead change instead of being the victim of it.”
Carson Aft, amused his United Way Historian grandfather with a much more focused description of his relationship with the offices of his employer. When asked how often he goes into his office, he responded, “I try to get into the office two or three times a week because the food is really good.”
History doesn’t provide any “silver bullet” solutions to the challenges of adapting to changes in workplace giving. It does, however, illustrate volunteer and staff creativity in marshalling volunteer and financial resources. United Way has a long history of bringing people together. Our history suggests that our continued success will be built upon that foundation, whether at traditional workplaces or in those of which no one has yet thought.
Beatle Paul McCartney once offered a clue to how United Way might successfully adapt to today’s workplace changes. “As long as you’re close,” he said, “something grows. When you’re not, something goes.”
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Labor and United Way: An 80 Year Partnership
Author: Dick Aft, United Way Historian & United Way NEXT Emeritus Board Member
8/31/2023
Author: Dick Aft, United Way Historian & United Way NEXT Emeritus Board Member
8/31/2023
It was Jordan “Bud” Biscardo, AFL-CIO Community Services Labor Liaison-Vice President at United Way Worldwide, who summarized his bridging role between labor and United Way when he spoke at a late 20th century Community Leaders Conference. “It’s not about the organizations that I’m privileged to represent. It’s about the people we serve.” Those words reflected the shared vision that has undergirded this United Way relationship since its beginning in 1942.
In late 1942, Matthew Wolf, Vice President of the American Federation of Labor, wrote about this relationship in the American Federationist, “Few events in the history of the trade union movement have held so much significance for the future status of organized labor in the life of the American community. . . . . the AFL War Relief Committee’s agreement to coordinate fundraising for Community Chests by creating the first version of Labor Liaisons.”
Thanks to the research of United Way Worldwide’s Director of Labor Engagement Kelly Temple, we know that by the end of 1945, more than 4,000 labor leaders served on the boards of directors of local War Chests. Their coordination of services to and campaigns among members of local labor unions was evident in local and national advertisements and posters. During the following year, according to People & Events: A history of the United Way, “Community Chests & Councils of America approved a budget for its first Labor Relations Department.” This led to the creation of Union Counselor Training programs in hundreds of communities. As a result, countless numbers of union and non-union people in need of services have received referrals for help. Worthy of special mention: United Way and the AFL-CIO are founding partners of the annual National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, the largest one-day food drive in the U.S. that is now over thirty years old.
People & Events traces the first quarter century of the United Way-Labor relationship, during which union leaders held high offices in United Way. William Green, President of the American Federation of Labor and Philip Murray, President of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, as well as George Meany, President of the merged AFL-CIO, served as Vice Chairs of United Community Campaigns of America, the fund-raising arm of United Community Funds & Councils of America. Some United Way alumni will recall the 1966 election of the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO President Joe Beirne as Board President of UCFCA. Beirne had previously served as the founding chair of the joint AFL-CIO Community Services Committee. Subsequently, the presentation of the “Joe Bierne Nautilus Award” was made during the remainder of the 20th century to an outstanding labor leader who exemplified the “endless connection of United Way and organized labor values to the good of humanity.”
When Douglas A. Frazier, Vice President of the United Auto Workers, was named general Chair of Detroit’s 1974 United Way Torch Drive, he stated the meaning of United Way-Labor teamwork, “It gives emphasis to the principle that the United Way is all parts of the community working for common goals.” Today, in the words of Temple, “the partnership continues to work together to create sustainable impact in local communities.” Illustrating her point, she observed, “United Ways and Labor also continue to partner for disaster relief efforts across the country. When the pandemic hit in 2020, United Way local Labor Liaisons and labor staff jumped into action to help community members in need from holding vaccine clinics and offering testing sites, to holding hundreds of events, collecting and distributing food and other essential items.” Today, the important bond between organized labor and the United Way movement is evidenced by the United Way Worldwide Board membership of Liz Shuler. She is the first woman President of the AFL-CIO whose membership includes sixty unions and over twelve million members.
For nearly four decades, Leo Perlis was responsible for maintaining the productivity of the Labor-United Way teamwork. He was Director of the Community Services Department at the AFL-CIO from its beginning until his retirement in 1980. According to B. G. “Pete” Culver, author of a biography of Perlis entitled "An Angel with the Union Label, a History of the AFLCIO Community Services Program", Perlis often spoke of organized labor’s partnership with United Way by saying, “When times change, we must change with the times. That’s why we have endured it all. That’s why we endure in our mission to serve others.” Over 80 years of productive partnership? That’s why!
In late 1942, Matthew Wolf, Vice President of the American Federation of Labor, wrote about this relationship in the American Federationist, “Few events in the history of the trade union movement have held so much significance for the future status of organized labor in the life of the American community. . . . . the AFL War Relief Committee’s agreement to coordinate fundraising for Community Chests by creating the first version of Labor Liaisons.”
Thanks to the research of United Way Worldwide’s Director of Labor Engagement Kelly Temple, we know that by the end of 1945, more than 4,000 labor leaders served on the boards of directors of local War Chests. Their coordination of services to and campaigns among members of local labor unions was evident in local and national advertisements and posters. During the following year, according to People & Events: A history of the United Way, “Community Chests & Councils of America approved a budget for its first Labor Relations Department.” This led to the creation of Union Counselor Training programs in hundreds of communities. As a result, countless numbers of union and non-union people in need of services have received referrals for help. Worthy of special mention: United Way and the AFL-CIO are founding partners of the annual National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, the largest one-day food drive in the U.S. that is now over thirty years old.
People & Events traces the first quarter century of the United Way-Labor relationship, during which union leaders held high offices in United Way. William Green, President of the American Federation of Labor and Philip Murray, President of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, as well as George Meany, President of the merged AFL-CIO, served as Vice Chairs of United Community Campaigns of America, the fund-raising arm of United Community Funds & Councils of America. Some United Way alumni will recall the 1966 election of the Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO President Joe Beirne as Board President of UCFCA. Beirne had previously served as the founding chair of the joint AFL-CIO Community Services Committee. Subsequently, the presentation of the “Joe Bierne Nautilus Award” was made during the remainder of the 20th century to an outstanding labor leader who exemplified the “endless connection of United Way and organized labor values to the good of humanity.”
When Douglas A. Frazier, Vice President of the United Auto Workers, was named general Chair of Detroit’s 1974 United Way Torch Drive, he stated the meaning of United Way-Labor teamwork, “It gives emphasis to the principle that the United Way is all parts of the community working for common goals.” Today, in the words of Temple, “the partnership continues to work together to create sustainable impact in local communities.” Illustrating her point, she observed, “United Ways and Labor also continue to partner for disaster relief efforts across the country. When the pandemic hit in 2020, United Way local Labor Liaisons and labor staff jumped into action to help community members in need from holding vaccine clinics and offering testing sites, to holding hundreds of events, collecting and distributing food and other essential items.” Today, the important bond between organized labor and the United Way movement is evidenced by the United Way Worldwide Board membership of Liz Shuler. She is the first woman President of the AFL-CIO whose membership includes sixty unions and over twelve million members.
For nearly four decades, Leo Perlis was responsible for maintaining the productivity of the Labor-United Way teamwork. He was Director of the Community Services Department at the AFL-CIO from its beginning until his retirement in 1980. According to B. G. “Pete” Culver, author of a biography of Perlis entitled "An Angel with the Union Label, a History of the AFLCIO Community Services Program", Perlis often spoke of organized labor’s partnership with United Way by saying, “When times change, we must change with the times. That’s why we have endured it all. That’s why we endure in our mission to serve others.” Over 80 years of productive partnership? That’s why!
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(Major resources for this article: Kelly Temple, People & Events, 1977, and An Angel with the Union Label, Jewett Publications, 1996.)
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