It feels good! Your gift goes to help people who really need it. It's local. Funds raised in the area stay here to address local problems. It's accountable. Volunteers decide which programs receive funds, and ensure that services are high quality and meet high priority community needs. It's efficient. Volunteers help conduct the campaign to keep costs low. It's effective. By bringing the community together, we accomplish much more than we can alone. United Way makes your caring count! It's easy. Payroll deductions make giving simple.
Contributors who give according to the Giving Guide are committing to an amount based on their annual wages. If that amount does not increase, we would not expect their gifts to increase. The continuation of the gift is crucial to the continuation of vital community services.
Those who volunteer are more likely to give. They see the needs firsthand. Giving takes a number of different forms: time, talent, money. Many of the agencies could not exist if it were not for the hundreds of volunteer hours "given" each year. Keep in mind, however, that basic overhead (water, electricity, space, staff) cannot be paid with "in-kind" contributions. That is why cash contributions are also critical to the survival of community services.
United Way funded services help everyone. It is a popular misconception that only the jobless and truly "at risk" seek help from United Way partner agencies. Working people have problems and needs too - marital problems, child care needs, alcohol and drug abuse problems, troubled teens and aging parents - and United Way services are available to all. Also, many popular recreational agencies programs receive United Way funding. Your United Way contribution helps your co-workers, your friends, your neighbors, and your family - one in four people in our community.