We have changed how we do that work – especially in the last 3-4 years. Today, we are no longer a community chest-pass-through organization but strategically investing in solutions to persistent and systemic issues to help make a better community for every person. Under our new model of community transformation, Metro United Way has invested $48,818,924.33 in just four years to address our community’s biggest challenges.
But what we do is so much more than funding. Here are some of the ways we have updated our work to make our impact even greater to ensure we have thriving kids, strong households, and an equitable community:
FUNDING & INVESTMENTS Invest in more nonprofits today than ever before but we are more focused on solutions and solving community issues for transformational change.
VOLUNTEER ENGAGEMENT Help organizations get connected to volunteers and also help volunteers use their skills and talent through year-round volunteer events and projects.
REFERRAL NETWORKS Help connect individuals and organizations to resources in our community through a network of social services, health care, housing, and more.
CONVENING & COLLECTIVE IMPACT Create spaces to solve problems together that we couldn’t do on our own as many community issues are too big for any organization to solve by themselves.
CAPACITY BUILDING Offer opportunities, resources, and trainings for people to learn new skills that help enhance our partner organizations’ ability to achieve their mission.
PILOTING INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS Help create new types of programming that could address community issues in ways that haven’t been done before, or have been proven elsewhere.
ADVOCACY & POLICY We know that programming alone cannot fix what policy created so we developed a public policy team and agenda to help leverage more voices.