Community Impact

Woodland United Way raises and appropriately distributes funds to support providers of essential human service needs in our community, through our fundraising campaign and allocation process. United Way raises money by partnering with local companies to make employee campaign presentations and distributes those contributions to local health and human service non-profits in their communities through the assessment and allocation process.

 

Several years ago United Way Worldwide initiated a national movement called Community Impact that focuses on the areas of Education, Income and Health. This initiative not only supports local nonprofit programs but also creates systemic changes in our community. Woodland United Way’s Board of Directors has decided to adopt this new funding model.

 

We held our first CI meeting on June 29, 2011 to introduce this new model to a select group of community members. The attendees requested additional information regarding the process. Therefore WUW invited Steve Heath, CEO of UWCCR and Ruth Miller, a UWCCR Community Impact volunteer to share their experience in transitioning from a Community Chest model to a Community Impact model. Steve outlined their UW’s model and stated that, “when you have seen one United Way you and seen one United Way”. We can learn “what worked and what didn’t work” from their experiences but must bear in mind that each UW is independent of one another and what worked for UWCCR won’t necessarily work for WUW.

 

Each United Way is separate and independent of one another and is divided by zip codes. UWCCR has five counties (Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo) within its jurisdiction verses WUW has the city of Woodland and some outlying zip codes. Therefore WUW has the potential to have a greater impact within a smaller, more confined area.

 

This is not a quick transition but will take approximately two to three years. United Way Worldwide (UWW) and UWCCR  recommend not taking on all three areas (Education, Income and Health) at once but one initiative a year while we continue to fund agencies through our A&A process. 

Ruth Miller stated that recruiting key people who have knowledge within the three areas and also people committed and passionate about these funding areas are essential to our success. UWCCR Impact Chair Council meets on a quarterly basis while the committees (Education, Income & Health) meet monthly. This has to be a collaborative effort among a diverse group of community members.  Steve said that it is very important to have data to support focus areas for funding. Therefore a majority of the work is data collection and review.

 

WUW has adopted the UWW recommended funding areas of Education, Income and Health. The Community Impact Committee will be responsible for deciding the focus areas under Education, Income and Health. WUW staff, in collaboration with UWCCR, will collect data specific to our area for the CIC to review prior to the start of collecting community input through our Community Forum gatherings. The CIC will continue to meet on a monthly basis, time and dates to be determined.