United Way brings together citizens, community leaders, business, the faith community, government, non-profit organizations and other institutions to determine the most critical human issues that require collective, not just individual action. These issues range from basic human needs - like food, shelter and emergency assistance - to emerging and growing issues like the need for affordable housing, services and support for seniors, and positive youth development. United Way then raises money locally in an annual campaign, generates other revenue outside of the campaign, secures non-cash in-kind resources, and advocates for sound public policy, along with employing other relevant strategies in order to produce concrete results.
United Way is one of the few remaining not-for-profit vehicles to pool investments in order to create a greater return on the individual investment. The good news is that many of our investors’ favorite agencies are supported since United Way does not directly provide human services. Instead, we each are helping to create a focused agenda, investing in strategies and agencies that show results, and providing investment options in a community pool or individual agencies.