ANN DONAHUE
Staff Reporter
When Joseph Haggerty took over as president at the United Way of Greater Los Angeles in 1995, the organization was in turmoil. A struggling economy had led to a plunge in donations. Faith in the charity’s integrity had been rocked by the resignation and embezzlement charges filed against the organization’s national chairman.
One of the first things Haggerty did was to devise a new strategy: focus donation/solicitation efforts on small and minority-owned businesses, a segment of the community he thought had been overlooked. The strategy seems to be paying off. During Haggerty’s four-year tenure, the organization has raised $234 million locally. Last week, it reached its eight-month fund-raising goal of $62 million, a 5 percent increase over the previous year.
Haggerty has been with the United Way since 1972. He started as an intern in the Connecticut office and eventually moved to positions in St. Joseph, Mich.; Corpus Christi, Texas; St. Paul, Minn.; and Phoenix.
Long-term endurance comes naturally to him: Haggerty also has been a long-distance runner, finishing the Boston Marathon several years back with a time of 3 hours, 8 minutes.
Question: Los Angeles is widely thought of as the apathy capital of the nation we don’t vote, we don’t volunteer and we’re fair-weather fans in sports. Have you encountered that attitude?
Answer: People only give if they understand that there’s a need and if they think their charitable gift will make a difference. We realize that we must act as an information source for people in Los Angeles. In May, we released a report (in order) to tell people that, while there are many things in our city that are improving, there are many people that aren’t doing so well. The working poor face a real problem I think that’s the biggest problem in our city. There are so many that are working, and yet not making enough to get by. The people without health insurance require special help. Most of the calls we get deal with people having trouble getting the basics: paying rent, getting food, getting adequate child care. We want to be an information source so people are aware that these problems are out there.
Q: How does living in Los Angeles compare with the other communities you’ve worked in?
A: I think the general view of outsiders is that they can’t quite figure out Southern California. Yes, people are more independent thinkers, but the basic values are not that different. Church attendance and charitable giving are about the same as in the rest of the country. Everything is going on here; it’s an exciting place to live. The number of entrepreneurial businesses, the diversity of the population, the entertainment industry it all makes it much more fun. For me at United Way, it means I have to find ways to make all these elements work together.
Q: The $62 million is an ambitious fund-raising goal. How did United Way L.A. pull it off?
A: Several corporate donors went over their goals again. Bank of America was our single largest corporate contributor with $2.6 million. In the government sector, federal employees in Los Angeles County raised a total of almost $4 million. We’ve had good growth in high-end individual givers we have about 270 people who gave at about the $10,000 level. Aside from government, we’re really one of the biggest organizations that fund health and human service programs. To me, that’s what it’s about getting the money out to the community to make a difference with these services.
Q: How did you get into this line of work?
A: I got my master’s in social work at the University of Connecticut and then got an internship at the United Way office there. I thought it would be a fascinating way of getting to see what’s going on in various social service groups and get a sense of how to improve the community from a grassroots level. People call us and write us with their problems and the key is being responsive to that. I just want to help them. But running a charity also requires a lot of business sense. It’s not just a feel-good thing.
Q: How has working in the charity field molded your view of humanity?
A: People come and talk to me every day who are unhappy with their jobs and are interested in working in the non-profit sector. They want to be able to make a difference in their communities. It’s heartening to see how many people acknowledge that there are troubles out there and they want to make positive things happen.
Q: With the loss of Arco and several other large corporations in the area, where are the L.A. donations coming from?
A: Especially in the early ’90s, up until 1995, aerospace was our biggest loss. It was a place where we had some very strong giving and lots of people involved, so we took some very big losses there literally millions of dollars. But we’ve bounced back pretty well. Where we’ve really looking to be stronger is in the major companies. Bank of America is still here and they are very, very strong givers. They are our top donor. Then there are the city’s very wealthy individuals. Many of them are very charitable and we go and talk to them about how to get involved with us. The largest growth in this fund-raising campaign came from individual donors. There was more than $13 million raised by people who donated $1,000 or more to the United Way. That’s up by 22 percent.
Q: Many people seem to have their own pet charities how do you convince them to donate to the United Way?
A: People ask, “Why don’t I just give to X program? Why should I give to United Way?” I think we’re successful because we’re trying to build a community by having broader goals. We look at Los Angeles in a broader context. It’s not just one program in one place. We have about 250 health and human service organizations as members. But in addition, we also have a program where donors can specifically designate where they want their dollars to go. All total, we’ve given money to between 2,700 to 2,800 different organizations.
Q: How do you determine priorities as to what programs receive funding?
A: Right now we have 38 Boys and Girls Clubs in Los Angeles County and we probably need more. Can we give all 38 clubs money? No. What we do is study and determine where we really think the need is. We focus on programs that provide after-school care for kids, other kinds of child care, health care and programs that provide food, clothing and shelter for the poor.
Q: Speaking of long-range goals, how on earth did you complete the Boston Marathon in just over three hours?
A: I’ve been a runner for a long time. I started out running lots of 10Ks, and then I moved it up to half-marathons and eventually I ended up running whole marathons. I would run a lot every day. Boston was my hometown and after I ran the marathon there, I thought “OK, this is it. I don’t have to run 70 miles a week to train after this.”
Name: Joseph V. Haggerty
Title: President, United Way of Greater Los Angeles
Born: July 3, 1948, Boston
Education: Bachelor’s degree from Boston College and master’s degree from the University of Connecticut
Turning Point: Leaving his job as president of the Phoenix-based Valley of the Sun United Way to take his current job in L.A.
Most Admired Person: Chuck Miller, chairman of Avery Dennison. “For two reasons one, he convinced me this was the right job for me, and two, he has been managing Avery for 20 years and he gives me great advice.”
Hobbies: Running, golf, tennis, downhill skiing
Personal: Married
