Investment Process

The organizations we invest in help real people — which is why real people just like you determine where the donations go.

Your neighbors, your community leaders, your children’s teachers all make up our Community Impact Review Teams. These dedicated volunteers study each application and identify the local programs that align with our strategies and goals to create a lasting impact.

We seek out the brightest and the best. Every year, we invite applications from our top-notch agencies across the six-county region we serve. Groups of volunteers then make decisions about which programs to fund in the areas of health, education, and community basics. These investments are tracked and evaluated throughout the year.

Advancing the common good is less about helping one person at a time and more about changing systems to help all of us. We are all connected and interdependent. We all win when a child succeeds in school, when all families are financially stable, when people are healthy.

We maximize every cent that donors entrust with us by directing it toward the critical programs that focus on keeping kids in school, attaining financial security, and accessing quality health care. Your gift to the Community Impact Fund stays in our local community. Last year your support has helped us invest more than $835,000 to 54 exceptional programs and services.

How We Fund

Invite: The United Way invites submissions for funding from its partner agencies that provide service in one or more of our three priority areas: education, health or community basics.

Review: United Way’s Community Impact Committee brings together over 80 volunteers in 8-10 teams to review submissions including key information based on past program performance, proposed impact goals that fit within our priority areas and financial stability. The teams go on site visits to each program, each agency is invited to formally present their program to their review team, and the teams score the programs based on all these factors.

Discussion: The program scores are tabulated and a discussion is had among the review teams in order to finalize the evaluations of the programs. A decision is reached by each team as to the funding levels for each program.

Recommend: Recommendations are presented by the team’s chair to the Community Impact Committee for approval.

Approval: Final recommendations are brought forward to the United Way’s Board of Directors for acceptance.

Accountability: At six months each program is required provide a mid-year report including outcomes.

Impact: United Way leads social change in our community by funding a strong and stable network of programs and services.