I lost favor with our director when I said in a meeting UW was not speeding money on the needy. The state of cal was big United Way participant and it came from the directors office. I know I lost at least 1 promotion. The UW coordinator was promoted twice ion two years and he was well versed in incompetence.
That’s a shame. I had a similar experience in the early ‘80’s. It was frowned upon by upper management if we didn’t contribute to UW.