Frequently Asked Questions for Donor Designation Eligible Agencies (Local Campaign)
If you have additional questions, please contact email or by phone at (585) 242-6534.
What is the role of my agency’s donor designation contact? The agency contact is the only agency representative that will receive emails and notifications concerning pledges and payments and will have access to United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes online agency portal. To ensure that your agency receives communications from United Way, please keep us informed of changes to the contact information.
What is the United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes portal? Upon acceptance, your agency will receive an email with a link to United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes portal site. The portal is a secure website for your agency to get information about the campaign and to run donor and payment information reports. Donor reports are available throughout the year on the portal. United Way will notify the donor designation contact when payment reports are ready. Please use the donor reports to thank your donors.
A donor told me that he/she designated a gift to our organization but their name is not on the donor list. Why not? Your donor may have requested to be anonymous and therefore does not appear on the listing. It is also possible that the pledge has not been entered yet, so it would not appear on the agency portal. If you are still finding the designation missing, please reach out to donordesignation@unitedwayrocflx.org.
A donor who lives out of the area told me that they designated their gift to our organization but their name is not on our donor list. Why not? Donors may designate to agencies in our area (Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Wayne and Wyoming counties), but if the campaign is run outside our area, they are being designated through another United Way. These designations are paid directly to the agencies from the out-of-the-area United Way.
How often will my agency’s donor options contact be contacted? The donor designation contact should expect to receive emails from United Way every time a payment is made to your organization.
Will my agency need to re-certify? Yes. Biennially, United Way asks agencies to submit re-certification paperwork. Agencies failing to re-certify will be removed as donor designation agencies. To expedite this process, we initiate re-certification through email. If we do not receive a response via email, the re-certification paperwork will be mailed to your agency. The next re-certification will begin in the Fall of 2024. Also, all agencies are continuously monitored for 501(c)(3) eligibility and will be contacted if their status changes.
When does United Way of Greater Rochester’s campaign run? Our workplace campaigns are on a calendar year basis. The 2025 campaign runs from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025.
Can my organization use the United Way logo in our materials? We encourage you to do so! Access our logo and branding guidelines or email our Marketing & Communications department at marcomm@unitedwayrocflx.org for additional ways to elevate our collective brands. Also, be sure to include your donor designation number in your fundraising materials!
How is my organization paid for the designations made by donors throughout the campaign? Payments for the 2025 campaign will begin on January 10, 2025 and quarterly thereafter. If your total designation is less than $2,000, then a net lump sum payment will be made on 1/10/25.
What is the “First Dollars In” policy? As of January 1, 2025, the First Dollars In policy is no longer in effect. The policy entailed that any designation to a United Way multi-year grant funded agency would be treated as “first dollar in”, meaning designated dollars were counted first towards an agency’s grant investment. This was used to help get the funded agency towards their minimum guaranteed grant amount. If designations exceeded the annual investment, the funded agency would receive the overage in a separate payment from United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes. For example, if XYZ agency received a $10,000 grant and $5,000 in donor designations, they would just receive the $10,000 in grant funding. If XYZ agency received a $10,000 grant and $20,000 in donor designation, the XYZ agency would receive the $10,000 grant funding and $10,000 in donor designation payments. As of January 2025, the XYZ agency can receive $10,000 in grant funding and its full donor designation amount of $5,000, $20,000, etc.
What fees are associated with participating in donor options? There are two fees associated with participating in the donor designation program at United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes:
- Agencies receiving designated gifts through the campaign agree to pay 8% from the total amount raised to help defer fundraising costs, the cost of soliciting, and processing of the designation.
- There is also a pledge loss fee, which is a reserve for pledges that will not be collected from donors. The amount is based on historical loss including an average of the past three years' actual pledge loss.
Whom should I contact at United Way with questions about payments? Questions should be directed to donordesignation@unitedwayrocflx.org or phone (585) 242-6534