United Way Campaign

LIVE UNITED

A Message from the Chancellor

Our 2010 IUPUI United Way Campaign is here. It will run from November 1 – December 3, once again giving the campus an opportunity to financially support our community. In 2009, IUPUI was one of the top 20 contributors to the United Way of Central Indiana (UWCI) and ranked number one under higher education institutions. We demonstrated IUPUI staff, faculty, and students take the commitment to improving our community seriously.

For several years, members of the IUPUI community have thoughtfully, but persistently, asked that we reconsider our participation in the UWCI campaign in light of the discriminatory practices of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) with respect to sexual orientation. We have listened carefully to arguments on all sides, but have determined that it is inconsistent with our values for us to—however passively—support the BSA with the pledge procedure we had been using, which allowed donors to "opt out" of having their contributions going to the BSA. Beginning with this year's campaign, we will conduct IUPUI's UWCI campaign so that donors must "opt-in" to direct their contributions to the Boy Scouts. The online pledge form now reflects this change in policy.

Contributions to the campaign are not the only way IUPUI assists United Way agencies in achieving their missions. Our faculty, staff, and students also volunteer countless hours to serve on boards, mentor children, deliver meals, organize activities, and lend their expertise. Additionally, our School of Informatics has redesigned agency websites, the IUPUI Solution Center has awarded more than $117,000 in Venture Grant funds to these agencies, and our School of Dentistry has partnerships programs that educate and provide dental services to several agencies.

The connections between IUPUI and the United Way are varied and deep because we share the goal of improving lives in lasting ways. During the campaign, please give generously. Our community is counting on us in this time of great need, I hope you will 'step forward' to make IUPUI's United Way Campaign a great success this year.

Charles R. Bantz
Chancellor of IUPUI