A primer on United Way funding

Have you ever had to make a decision that was sure to make people unhappy with you? That is the annual task for our volunteers who review funding requests. Their work is guided by a specific set of policies that were revised by the board this past November. These policies were developed to help our volunteers, staff and agency partners work within the context of scarce resources and a focus on local community needs.

The policy area that covers this work is titled "Funding & Partnership Guidelines." It begins with a definition of United Way's operational model, called community impact, and defined as the action of mobilizing communities to create lasting changes in community conditions that improve lives. Under this model, a standing committee of the United Way board, called the Community Impact Committee (CIC), is responsible for the implementation of these guidelines and communication with the entire governing board.

The eight members of the CIC are divided between two Vision Councils with one member facilitating each council. One council is specifically focused on basic needs and the other is specifically focused on developmental needs. Last year, each Vision Council developed a strategy and these are now being implemented by workgroups of partnering organizations. All of this activity is guided by specific values:

 A strategic focus on helping our residents achieve and sustain self sufficiency
 Efficient delivery of services
 Highly competent service providers
 Clear, easy access to client-focused services
 Maximizing funding to services provided
 Measurable outcomes
 Collaboration
 Ability to leverage additional sources of funds
 Successful programs

If you are reading this and asking yourself what happened to United Way's operational focus on raising funds in the local community and distributing them to local agencies, then you should read my column more often. (Just kidding!) Obviously United Way still runs an annual fund raising drive and still distributes funding to agencies for their programs. There are two components to this process and both are overseen by the CIC. Yes, this is a busy group of people.

Local non profit organizations that wish to submit program funding requests to United Way of Madison County must apply for certification. There are 15 standards that must be met by the organization in this process. Certified agencies are the "first line" of service providers for United Way and many are involved in the Vision Councils and strategy workgroups. As certified agencies, they are eligible to receive designated funding through the United Way campaign and to apply for program funding, which is awarded annually through a separate, competitive grant process.

United Way volunteers are currently reviewing the program funding requests for distribution of funds raised in last fall's campaign. As usual, many more dollars are requested than are available, and there will inevitably be unhappy people. I hope that this primer on our values and guidelines, as well as a little flavor of the hard work done by these dedicated people will help everyone understand the decisions when they are announced next month. More detailed information about the process is available at www.unitedwaymadisonco.org