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22 “НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ВЕРЕСЕНЬ 2011 cannot actively participate in other organizations’ activities, it does mean that while you are acting in the capacity of a UNWLA official, you must relinquish any loyalty you may hold to another cause or purpose. In other words, as an executive officer, director, or other official of the UNWLA, you cannot be guided by the interests of another organization with which you may be affiliated. You do not represent that other organization while you are serving in your UNWLA role. So f ar, the UNWLA‘s activities — the actions of its executives and directors and all others serving in leadership positions — have been exemplary from an ethical standpoint. Our internal and external audits have consistently confirmed our clean bill of ethical hea lth. But we must continue to be vigilant and cautious. The three things that have gotten organizations in trouble most often have been: Bad recordkeeping or a lack of accountability; Spending too much on unrelated business activities; and Distributing orga nizational funds to causes that are not within the organization’s specified tax - exempt purposes in accordance with its bylaws. A question that often surfaces in the congressional subcommittees that oversee charitable organizations is this: Does the United States really need so many organizations, thousands perhaps, that essentially do the very same things? As I mentioned previously, there are close to 2 million tax - exempt organizations operating in the United States, with approximately 80,000 new applicati ons from new organizations being filed with the Internal Revenue Service every year. As a result, there is strong pressure from Congress and certain federal and state regulatory agencies to control the exponential increase in the number of tax - exempt organ izations. As we know, there are also a number of organi za - tions, both Ukrainian and non - Ukrainian, that support humanitarian causes in Ukraine. In the context of the UNWLA, the question that might be asked is: Do we really need dozens of organizations tha t send help to the needy in Ukraine? Our response must be, of course, that we are unique. In order to differentiate the UNWLA from all those other organizations that help the needy in Ukraine, for example, we must maintain the niche that we have already ca rved out for ourselves by strictly following the purposes outlined in our bylaws. And what exactly is our niche? What makes us unique? Let’s look at the question of responding to requests from other humanitarian organizations that solicit our funds, for ex ample, to help needy women and children in Ukraine. Why shouldn’t we contribute our funds to such orga - nizations, which would then in turn distribute these funds to the needy in Ukraine? The bottom line is that the UNWLA views itself as a humanitarian and cultural organization that provides direct support to needy Ukrainians and direct support to worthy caregivers and to deserving Ukrainian cultural and educational institutions. We are not a “feeder” organization that collects donations from people, primar ily from our own Ukrainian Americans, and then funnels them to other charities. Even though these other organiza - tions may promise that our funds will go to needy Ukrainians, once we part with those funds, we have no assurance that they will be distributed exactly as we intend. And even if they were to go to needy Ukrainians, the so - called “credit” goes to those organizations, and not to the UNWLA. Moreover, if our contributors would have wanted to contribute to these other organizations or to any of the o ther thousands of human welfare organizations out there, they certainly would have done so. Similarly, if our branch members want to contribute to these other organizations, they are free to do so, that is, out of their own individual wallets. But peopl e who contribute to the UNWLA should be secure in the knowledge that the funds they donate to the UNWLA are not simply going to some other charities that can do with them as they please, but rather that they are going to fund the goals we have set up in ou r bylaws and in our communications with the public. There have been a few isolated instances in the past where the UNWLA has participated in pooling its funds with those of other organizations, be it Ukrainian or other, toward some worthy charitable goal. But in these cases, we made every effort to ensure that the UNWLA got “fair and equal billing” for its efforts in collecting and distributing the donated funds and, most importantly, that the recipients were made aware of the UNWLA’s active involvement. Su ch arrangements are most appro - priately made at the national level, and not by individual branches or regional councils. Interestingly, the application I fill out every year for the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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