United Nations Association forms alliance to survive

from CRAIN'S NEW YORK BUSINESS.COM

Amid declining financial support, nonprofit organization teams up with Ted Turner-funded U.N. Foundation.

By Jeremy Smerd

The United Nations Association of the United States of America stayed true to its mission to foster American support for the United Nations even when the U.N.'s own actions seemed to undercut American values. And today U.S. support for the U.N. is as strong as it's ever been. Not so for UNA-USA.

The association, located a block west of the iconic U.N. headquarters, has run out of money. Its donor base is old, and its membership is flagging.

Last week, the association's 40-member board of directors voted unanimously to end its existence as an independent organization and to form a strategic alliance with the United Nations Foundation, launched a dozen years ago with a $1 billion pledge from Ted Turner. UNA-USA plans to retain its nonprofit status but will be folded into the foundation. It will align itself with the foundation's sister organization, the Better World Campaign, whose mission is also to strengthen U.S.-U.N. ties.

The foundation, which must still approve the alliance, declined to comment.

Edward Elmendorf, the association's president and chief executive, says the severe recession accelerated a downward slide that began in earnest when the U.N. Foundation, with its massive economic clout and headline-grabbing boldface benefactor, came onto a scene already crowded by similar nongovernment organizations. Mr. Elmendorf was recruited by UNA-USA in January to lead a strategic alliance.

“The landscape of nonprofit organizations is so large and complicated that it makes less and less sense to have two entirely separate and distinct organizations doing the same things when they have complementary capacities and strengths,” he says.

To save money, nonprofits are increasingly being forced to find ways to partner with other organizations.

“General operating support has declined drastically since the recession,” says Fran Barrett, former executive director of Community Resource Exchange, a nonprofit management consultancy. “Looking for a partner—someone who can share the cost of rent—makes some sense.”

Mr. Elmendorf says that a new incarnation of UNA-USA would make use of the U.N. Foundation's fundraising muscle and brand name. Meanwhile, the association could offer the foundation its 12,000 members and various chapters that dot the country.

Though a small organization, UNA-USA possesses an illustrious past, with roots going back to the League of Nations. In 1961, Eleanor Roosevelt became chairman of the board after serving as U.S. representative to the U.N.

Steven Dimoff, a vice president at UNA-USA, says the association was typical of 20th century grassroots organizations. It relied on members to build excitement about the U.N. The U.N. Foundation, with its huge endowment, is neither tied to geography nor dependent on its membership for financial support.

The ties between UNA-USA and U.N. Foundation are not new. When Mr. Turner announced his $1 billion gift in 1998, he did so in New York at a dinner hosted by the association. But rather than give the large grant away and disappear, Mr. Elmendorf says, the U.N. Foundation decided to become permanent.