Deborah Bayle

by Steve Gooch

Deborah Bayle has a tough job. Not only is she charged with bringing in nonprofit dollars during the worst economic period in 80 years, she’s also responsible for mending United Way’s image in the minds of Utahns. Neither is an easy task, but having spent her entire career in the nonprofit sector, Bayle is uniquely suited to it.

Bayle, an Ogden native, started at the Salt Lake Chamber in 1976, then spent the next 20 years working her way up the organizational ladder. She resigned in 1996 as the Chamber’s COO to pursue an opportunity to become the CEO of the Red Cross’s Utah branch.

After a few years at Red Cross, Bayle was strongly urged to look at United Way of Salt Lake, which was hiring a new CEO. “I was really pushed hard by people to come here because I had been a fairly outspoken critic of United Way,” she says. Her criticism was born of dissatisfaction with the way the organization dealt with the community. She decided that the best way to fix United Way was from the inside. Bayle has now led the nonprofit for 10 years and has changed much about its focus and image.

In 2001, Bayle began to lead the organization through a “transformation.” Up to that point, United Way had merely collected and distributed funds; now, though, the organization’s focus is more aimed at public policy work and advocacy. “Our goal is to solve community problems,” she says. “That’s a huge shift. Over the last few years, we have moved very slowly to focus work to be a convener of groups and organizations that work to solve problems.”

The transition hasn’t been smooth, Bayle says — the head of a major Utah company once called her “repugnant” for getting into public policy work and “lobbying,” as he called it. It has cost the organization many donors, but many others have stepped up to support the United Way’s now-larger goals. “If you’re going to affect long-term community change, you have to work at the policy level to do it,” Bayle says.

To combat United Way’s image problems — which Bayle says come from issues that have arisen in other parts of the country, but that were publicized nationally, tarnishing the brand — Bayle has instituted a policy of transparency. “We have to convince people that we are accountable, well-run and well-managed.” The strategy she has employed begins with disclosure. United Way publishes its financials and Form 990 tax exemption reporting online to keep the organization as open as possible. “We work to be the absolute most professional organization that we can be.”

But despite the troubles the United Way has faced in the past few years, Bayle says things are looking up. “I see rays of hope. I’m pretty much an eternal optimist. I have to be in my business.”