Compassionate Capitalism - April 2004

United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra

Identifying and Filling Community Needs

United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra (UWNNS) is a local, independent non-profit organization founded in Reno in 1942 as the Reno Community War Chest. Today’s United Way provides leadership and works in partnership with community volunteers to identify human-care issues and to mobilize community resources to address them. The organization raises approximately $3 million each year, primarily through workplace-giving programs. These funds are then put to work in the community. The service territory for UWNNS includes nine counties in Northern Nevada (Carson, Churchill, Douglas, Lyon, Mineral, parts of Nye, Pershing, Storey and Washoe) and the California communities around Lake Tahoe.

United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra is guided by its mission, "To link the community’s conscience and resources to improve lives." According to President Anne Cory, "We believe the best way to build our community and improve people’s lives is by uniting thousands of citizens in a voluntary effort to determine our community’s human-care vision, mobilize our resources and direct them to the vision for real impact and results. Within the context of this vision, UWNNS sees its role as connecting the needs of the community for health and human services with the resources (financial, volunteer and other resources) to meet those needs."

UWNNS helps people through more than 74 partner agencies. Each of these partners meets stringent standards of accreditation. Partner agencies cover a broad range of human services, from healthcare to childcare to housing, and United Way creates coalitions to promote their involvement in interdisciplinary approaches to community problems. Many partner agencies receive funding from United Way, but not all apply for funds.

United Way’s community investments are guided by periodic community assessments. A volunteer-driven process, the assessments look at needs across the region and identify gaps in service. More than 100 volunteers then determine how contributions should be invested in local programs that can best fill the gaps. The process of allocating funds involves weeks of site visits to agencies, followed by scoring process that ranks and compares programs.

United Way seeks to impact the communities of Northern Nevada and the Sierra by focusing on community initiatives in some very important areas: increasing the availability of healthcare and enrolling eligible children in health insurance programs; increasing access to help and coordination of programs for the homeless population; matching community volunteers with opportunities for short-term projects; and electronic sharing of client information to streamline access to services (integrated case management).

The Annual Workplace Campaign is where most people see United Way in action. Employers ask United Way to come into their workplaces to educate employees about human-care needs and to provide an opportunity for them to contribute time (by volunteering) and/or resources (through payroll deduction) to give back to the community. Using trained volunteers, United Way campaign presentations touch upon the many ways people in need receive help.

Companies that have participated in United Way campaigns have seen benefits to their organizations and their employees. Foremost, of course, is the satisfaction of giving back to the community. In addition, employees learn about social service resources in the community available to help their families. United Way campaigns can boost employee morale, by giving a group of employees a common philanthropic goal. "Perhaps most importantly," noted Cory, "United Way campaigns can be a lot of fun. Instituting special events as part of the campaign can promote team spirit and friendly competition."

In all of these ways – through fundraising, grant-making and community initiatives – United Way staff and volunteers work to build a stronger, more equitable and better community.

United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra

811 Ryland St., Reno, NV 89505

(775) 322-8668 phone
(775) 322-2798 fax
www.uwayreno.org