Local United Way more than just the fundraisers

Over the years, much of United Way’s efforts were focused into the annual campaign, a once-a-year big push largely made up of workplace donation drives. Success in the community was based on whether or not a fundraising goal was met.

United Way then spread the money and parceled it out to vetted and trusted agencies.

But, to be blunt, that doesn’t work anymore.

Donors these days are selective, and most importantly, they want real, lasting results.

United Way hasn’t abandoned workplace campaigns or local partners. Far from it. The new approach, termed Collective Impact, includes corporate and non-profit partners into a larger cross-sector alignment strategy to get to the root-causes of our community’s most critical problems. United Way has taken the lead in organizing and supporting these groups as they work together around specific goals.

This is definitely not your father’s United Way.

Executive Director Bill Harper sat down to answer a series of questions to update us on this work and the results that are happening because of it.

Q: This term “Collective Impact” is a new one for many, can you explain this model to us?

A: Collective Impact at its root means a group of people and organizations working together with a shared goal and no hidden agendas. In our case, we’re encouraging crosssector collaboration in order to solve complex social problems.

In order to create lasting solutions to social problems on a large-scale, organizations – including those in government, non-profits, the faithbased community and the business sector – need to coordinate their efforts and work together around a clearly defined goal.

This is a significant shift from what we currently refer to as “isolated impact” in the social sector, because the underlying premise of Collective Impact is that no single organization can create large-scale, lasting social change alone. There is no silver bullet solution to systemic social problems, and these problems cannot be solved by simply scaling or replicating one organization or program. Strong organizations and good programming are definitely necessary, but not sufficient on their own for large-scale social change. Collective Impact allows us to strategically utilize the strengths of each partner so that we can help each other achieve more.

Q: How has your United Way implemented Collective Impact into your approach?

A: We’re intrigued by the possibilities of transforming our community for the better if everyone works together for the same goals and sets aside their individual agendas in favor of an agenda that truly meets the needs of our residents. We believe that if we all work together we can achieve amazing things in our community.

Together with our Community Collaborative partners, we aspire to improve the lives of individuals beyond the duration of the programs in which they are enrolled.

It’s not good enough to simply report on how many people were served. We want to empower people so they can be stable, healthy, happy, and sustainable after the program has ended.

We want to fix the root-causes of these complex problems so they don’t continue to beat us down, so that ultimately we can transform our neighborhoods and our community.

This is long-term work and it will not be easy. But it is worth it.

Q: How can people get involved with this type of work?

A: We encourage everyone to get involved in some way. Financial contributions can be made to our ef-