Last month we completed our 2015-17 strategic plan.  As part of that plan, the United Way staff and 18 community volunteers worked through and put into place a strategic framework that will lead us into the future with a focus on delivering positive impact to our community.  We also put into place a more concise way to structure and deliver our message because the question we get quite often is “what does the United Way actually do in the community besides raise money and give it away.”  The answer is long but I will try to be brief.

United Way believes everyone deserves an opportunity to have a good/successful life, an education that leads to a stable job with enough income to support a family, and good health. We envision a Sheboygan County where all individuals and families can achieve their human potential through education, income stability and healthy living- the building blocks of a successful life. We will now intentionally focus our energies, talents, and resources on these building blocks.

As part of the strategic plan, we have strengthened the way our volunteers score and evaluate programs that request funding from United Way. Those funding decisions are now based on outcomes, sustainability, and cohesive logic models. Each program we fund must fall under one of the building blocks of education, income, or health. 

Currently, we fund 18 local programs in education, 18 in income, and 14 in health.

Although the programs we fund have different objectives in the community, wherever possible United Way encourages collaboration between agencies that deliver these programs and works to compile data regarding the impact these programs collectively have on the community.  Prior to the launch of our 2015 campaign, we will release our first Community Impact Report which will show the power of our investments in education, income, and health.

Not only do we invest financial resources into the nonprofit community, but we now help mobilize and invest human resources through the United Way of Sheboygan County Volunteer Center. It is true that we will never raise enough money to financially support all of the nonprofits that do good work in Sheboygan County. However, we can and will expand the capacity of many organizations by recruiting and marshaling volunteers that are skilled, talented, and dedicated.

United Way funds 50 programs at 22 local nonprofits, but the Volunteer Center currently enjoys the membership of 52 nonprofits.  With the visibility and credibility the United Way brand brings to the Volunteer Center, we are able to actively advocate for volunteerism. We do this by encouraging individuals to volunteer and are proactive in recruiting youth, corporate associates, and young professionals. 

Since United Way took over the Volunteer Center last summer, the website listing all of the volunteer opportunities (www.uwofsc.org/volunteer) has been viewed over 25,000 times.  The Volunteer Center has facilitated the placement of more than 400 corporate associates into projects resulting in over 1,700 hours of volunteer service - just this year. Additionally, over 500 individuals have responded to volunteer opportunities through our website. 

We are here to help create sustainable change in our community through effectively facilitating community resources, convening broad dialogue, and focusing on areas of highest need. That’s our mission and our call to duty. Our work is less about helping one person at a time and more about changing systems to help all of us and bringing resources together for the greater good. When a local nonprofit is successful in achieving its mission, our community is a better place for all.

Everyone wins when a child succeeds in school, when families are financially stable, and when people are healthy. 

In closing, I’d like to invite everyone to join us for the first annual United Way Night at the Sheboygan A’s Ballpark on Monday, June 1. I will throw out the first pitch (hopefully, with no bounces!) and our Resource Development Director, Emily Rendall- Araujo, will sing the National Anthem. Bring a gently used or new book for us to give to area children this summer and we will give you a coupon for a $1 hot dog.  Baseball, hot dogs, books for kids, and a potentially bad first pitch means good entertainment for all. I hope to see you there.