Amid declines in workplace giving, new United Way CEO Harrison aims to boost, diversify revenues

Workplace charitable giving has been on the decline in recent years in Connecticut and elsewhere, and the pandemic didn’t help things. Eric Harrison has been recruited to the region to try to reverse that trend and find new ways to increase local giving. Harrison in December was named president and CEO of the United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut, replacing Paula S. Gilberto, who spent 24 years at the organization, including the last six leading it. Harrison, 45, comes from California, most recently serving as the CEO and president of the United Way of Ventura County, located in the southern part of the Golden State. He grew up in Minneapolis, lived in California for 20 years and moved in February to Granby with his husband and two dogs. The United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut is on a solid financial footing with a strong reserve, Harrison said, but it’s seen a steady decline in corporate giving. The lion’s share of the nonprofit’s funding comes from its workplace campaigns, including employee payroll deductions and corporate donations. United Way raised $9.2 million in its fiscal 2020 campaign, which ended last June, down from $14.3 million in fiscal year 2019 and $17.7 million in fiscal 2018, according to its most recent annual report. It also received $1.3 million in Paycheck Protection Program funds to help it get through the pandemic. To offset some of those declines, the United Way has seen an increase in government grant revenues. It also receives individual donations, including leadership giving or major gifts. Harrison said the United Way’s current fiscal year ends June 30, and the organization is a few million dollars short of its $10 million fundraising goal. His short-term focus is to fill that gap, and there are opportunities with the return of in-person events and some major fundraisers planned in the weeks and months ahead. He’s also been on a listening tour, meeting with top business, government and nonprofit leaders, and spending time thinking about United Way’s future, including how the organization needs to re-imagine what it does, and where and how it gets its funding in the wake of an increasingly competitive nonprofit giving market. “We’ve seen declines in our top line and bottom line, but I think we definitely have opportunities as the [economy and in-person events] reopen,” Harrison said. “We are seeing an upward trend with grant revenues to our programs, so that is great. But the traditional model of the United Way being everything to everyone, and funding across the board to a sea of nonprofits, I think that’s a very challenging value proposition for us as an organization.” Here’s what else Harrison had to say: Q. Why move across the country to take the United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut job? A. The reasons were twofold. On the personal side, we have friends who lived in San Francisco and moved to West Hartford about 10 years ago. I had seen through social media their neighborhood and they would post things like ‘look at what you can get here in Connecticut for a fraction of the cost in San Francisco.’ So we did some research and are planning to expand our family, and saw this area had really great public schools and seemed like a great community to be in. We are also from the Midwest so we wanted to be a little bit closer to our extended families. On the professional side, this United Way in Hartford has had a very strong reputation. It’s the largest United Way in Connecticut and third largest in New England and it really seems like a great opportunity as it’s preparing for its centennial anniversary in 2024. Q. What are your goals and priorities for the new job? Were you given any specific marching orders by the board? A. Growth is top of mind. We have experienced declines, particularly in workplace giving for a number of years, and that’s just a real shift in United Way’s bread-and-butter model. What I’m charged with is how do we diversify revenue and experience growth in other areas. We are seeing success in government grants that we didn’t experience in the past so we definitely want to build on that success. The other important area is digital. If you remove the workplace, you have folks all over the community that may or may not engage in a United Way campaign, but we can interact with them via their cell phone or social media. We are really looking at engaging the broader community outside of the workplace. I think we have been restricted to those workplace confines for so long that we really need to think outside the box. Q. When you talk about declines in workplace giving, is that specific to Connecticut, or a national trend? A. It’s a national trend for sure. The United Way experienced this trend in California about a decade ago, so some of the challenges that this United Way is experiencing are things we saw 10 to 15 years ago in California, and we were able to pivot and have some great success. And so that’s what I’m really charged to do here, to really look at how we pivot as an organization in 2022, how do we re-imagine what this United Way looks like as we move forward in the future. Q. What strategy shift did you undertake at your previous United Way job in California? A. One of the challenges United Ways have is they do so much, and offer many different programs and services. Our United Way in California focused specifically on a signature issue. We took an issue in the community that had a lot of relevance, which was homelessness, and really looked at where the gaps were and how the United Way could fill that gap, and then brought together public and private sector funding to achieve greater impact. I think that is something we really have to look at here: What is that signature issue that United Way can really take a leadership role in, and mobilize the resources of the community around that. Eric Harrison talks to a local TV news reporter. Q: Do you have a sense of what that major issue might be in central Connecticut? A. It’s a little early to make that determination at this point. I do get a sense that the community has a tackle on homelessness and I think there are providers that are doing a really good job in that area. So I don’t see homelessness being that issue. There is a lot of discussion about children’s mental health and children’s well-being. I think there could be an opportunity in that area. Certainly, children’s reading proficiency is something we’ve been involved in. Those are a couple of issues I’ve heard from community stakeholders that are pertinent. Q. To better focus the United Way, do you anticipate eliminating some programs? A. I definitely think focus is important. You can’t be everything to all people. I think it’s important to take a look at the many different programs we have and determine if they are sustainable. At a time when you are trying to reinvent yourself and think of innovative ideas, you can’t be doing everything that you’ve been doing before. Q. What are the key focus areas right now for the United Way? A. Early childhood education and reading proficiency by fourth grade are key issues. We also have economic mobility and workforce initiatives that we have to help prepare folks to be next-generation future leaders. Basic needs, including food assistance, shelter, utilities, are also important. We were able to provide $4 million in COVID assistance during last fiscal year. Those basic needs aren’t going to go away. Those are things I believe United Way will always be involved in. United Way also runs 211, the information hotline where folks can get assistance or referrals to nonprofit agencies to get services. Q. What do you think has led to the decline in workplace giving? A. There are a couple of issues at play. I think workplace culture has changed from the 1970s to 2022. In the beginning of workplace campaigns, there was a top-down approach in terms of getting employees involved and being told they need to give and need to give to this organization. I think employees today like to be involved in the decision-making process of philanthropic giving within the company. I think you see a lot more of a bottom-up approach with philanthropy. All those things are great, but United Way kind of got lost in that shuffle. We used to be the only provider of workplace campaigns and only charity that employees would give to through their employer. Now we are in a sea of charities from A to Z and we are the U in the list. That just makes us have to work harder. The nonprofit community in general has also gotten very savvy with fundraising, which has added another layer of competition. Q. Besides creating a greater focus on a single issue, are there any other strategies you are thinking about to boost workplace giving? A. If there is a company that currently doesn’t do a campaign, we always like to start with volunteerism. We will start with that as the entrance point into the relationship. We will coordinate volunteer projects. It’s an employee retention strategy for their HR departments It’s also an education about the needs of the community and a discussion about focusing on a specific issue the company wants to fundraise around, or they may want to do a broader community giving campaign. That’s the strategy around the new business side. Also, if it’s a company where employee giving is declining, and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of enthusiasm around that, then we look at what are the corporate giving opportunities. Q. United Way is preparing for its centennial celebration in 2024. What opportunities does that present? A. We have 18 months of preparation and a lot of our planning for the next fiscal year will be around the centennial. There will be lots of opportunities to re-engage with donors who gave to us in the past. But it will also definitely be a future-focused centennial and about the future leaders of our community. There will be a new strategic plan going into the centennial, related to programs, volunteering, marketing.