Agency Designations Guide FAQ's

Q: What are these reports? 

• “Designations” report provides information relative to the check you have received.  This would include the pledge amount by donor, any fees withheld, amount previously paid, percent paid to date, collected proceeds as of the cutoff date located on the top of the report, and net check amount.
• “Donor Details” report provides a list of the donors with their contact information (if they wish to be acknowledged) and their total pledge to your agency.  
• Once within our portal, click on reports, then select the drop down list of reports to review the various reports applicable to your agenc

Q: When setting up my account on the agency portal, do I have to type the entire URL provided on the letter (if applicable) attached to the first check (since this service started)

Yes.  Each URL is uniquely attached to every agency and must be typed exactly (including the https://) for the first time on the portal only.  Remember to type this URL into either Mozilla Firefox orGoogle Chrome browsers (sometimes doesn’t work on Internet Explorer)

Q: After typing in the URL, it says page not provided, why?

This is most likely because there is an error when the URL was typed in, most commonly the “s” was omitted by accident in the https://

Q: When setting up my account, it gives me an error, but doesn’t specify what it's        for?

• This is most likely due to browser settings not displaying the error message properly, but the most common issue is when a user tries to create a password that does not follow the following three rules: Must have a capital letter, must have a number, and must have a symbol (!For example).  Good password example: Password1! - It says I successfully created my account and have been waiting for approval for an extended period of time.
• This may be because the registration was not done through the URL on the letter, or was completed on an invalid version of Internet Explorer.  In this scenario the account never fully completes registration, and no approval is visible on our end.  If you think this happened to you, email us and we will resolve it for you.

Q: After my account is set up, where do I go to login in the future?

You can follow this link to access the login page after your account is set up: https://uwcnct.stratusliveportal.com/

Q: I do not see a report for a specific check under my reports, why?

This may be because it is dated prior to July 2013, or is due to an account merge that needs to take place on our end between sub groups of an agency.  Provide us (agencyportal@unitedwayinc.org) with the payee name and amount on the check, and we will be able to help.  

Q: Why do we receive more than one form of payment at times? 

Due to state regulation for the State of Connecticut Campaigns, payouts must be paid to agencies separately from all other donor designations from the regular United Way Campaign.  As such, there may be times where you receive multiple forms of payment from United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut (UWCNCT) for donor designations: 

• HA’ - Hartford Campaign (this is money raised from Companies within our 40 town region)  
• STATE - CT State Employees Campaign
• ‘OOA’ - Other Regional and National Workplace  Campaigns (with headquarters located in Connecticut, such as The Hartford Financial Services, Northeast Utilities,  The Phoenix, Pratt & Whitney and Travelers)

Q: Why didn’t we receive a check?

We distribute funds based on collection from donors and companies.  If, no funds have been collected from the donor or company no check will be distributed.  As donors fulfill their pledges and we receive the funds, we will pay them out.. 

Q: How do you calculate the amount of the check?

UWCNCT pays based upon actual collections from donors and companies.  For payroll deduction gifts, collections are tracked by donor level when provided by their employer. When donor detail is not provided on payroll payments, the payments are applied proportionately to all payroll donors for that company.

The amount that is due to your agency also depends on the timing of payments received by the donor/company.  UWCNCT uses a cutoff date on or before the end of the month preceding payout. 

Data received & processed by:                                                                   Checks Issued During Month of:

* The first distribution captures fully paid gifts at time of pledge (cash, check, credit card or stock payments).  Typically no payroll deduction proceeds have been collected at this time since the cutoff is January 31st.  Most companies begin payroll deductions for the fall campaign during the next calendar year; January 1st – December 31st.  Companies remit payroll deduction payments to UWCNCT after the deductions have been collected.  Frequency varies by company – bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, or semi-annually.  

For example: Northeast Utilities (NU) pays UWCNCT monthly for their payroll deductions.  For the April distribution with a cutoff date of March 31st, UWCNCT would have collected two months worth of payments from NU – January’s deductions received in February and February’s deductions received in March. 

** It is possible that your agency will receive their final campaign distribution in March of the following year, however if UWCNCT receives late payments from donors/companies those proceeds would be paid out to your agency during June.

Q: How does pledge loss affect proceeds paid to my agency?

As stated above, UWCNCT pays out designations based on collections.  Typically, we do not receive 100% of pledges.  Pledges are voluntary and are not a legal binding promise.  UWCNCT recommends your agency takes this into consideration when doing the accounting for donor designations received from UWCNCT.

Q: Why are some gifts paid in full and others not?

When the donor is making their pledge they are given a few options on how they would like to pay their pledge. They can make one payment via cash, check or credit card or elect payroll deduction through their employer. If the donor pays their gift in full you would only receive one payment on behalf of that donor. However, if they elect payroll deduction, depending on the payment frequency by their employer, you may receive a portion of their gift at each scheduled payout (see above schedule). 

Q: Why are fees being taken out of the pledge? How are they calculated?

UWCNCT collects a 10% administration fee on donor designated gifts. The fee is capped at $100 per designated gift.  Any such fees that are taken from donor-designated gifts are done so ratably upon collected proceeds.

Q: How should I thank the donor?

Please acknowledge the gross amount of the pledge directly to the donor. Do not acknowledge the payment amount. Please do not acknowledge UWCNCT. If the donor wishes to remain anonymous we cannot forward their information to you.                                         

Q: Why would I receive designation checks from other United Ways?

Some local companies report to a main corporate office that is located outside the Greater Hartford region. The United Way local to that main office would be the processor of the campaign information.