Local United Way Community Campaign Within Reach of Annual Goal for First Time Since Pandemic

Thanks to the generosity of residents and businesses across Crawford, Marion, and Wyandot counties, United Way of North Central Ohio has raised more than 90% of their current Community Campaign goal – the first time that the annual campaign goal has been within reach for several years.

Meeting the annual goal means UWNCO will have sufficient allocations for continued funding of non-profit Bold Goal Community Impact projects and collaborations in the tri-county area. United Way of North Central Ohio is currently funding more than 50 programs working to fill the community with successful children, healthy families, and self-sufficient residents, and a fully funded Community Campaign means they can continue to add to this list of impact partners.

Programs funded through donations to the Community Campaign are feeding hungry students, providing emergency food and shelter, teaching early literacy skills, helping people overcome poverty and find sustained employment, and more. See a full list of funded programs here. Every donation, no matter the size, makes a BOLD impact in the region.

“It’s very exciting to be this close to our goal,” said Amber Wertman, Executive Director of United Way of North Central Ohio. “The past couple of years have been very challenging for us, but we were able to spend time honing our strengths and tightening our belts. We’ve been making changes to the way our organization operates, and now the community is seeing those changes pay off.”

One of those changes is an overall commitment to using RBA (Results-Based Accountability) as the framework for application processes, allocation of funds, and UWNCO impact outreach strategy.

“RBA gives us the tools to track how and why the programs we fund are working,” said Erica Hart, UWNCO Data & Evaluation Specialist. “It lets us make sure we are investing donations in a way that helps the most people. RBA lets us get emergency aid to families in crisis while also finding solutions to the issues causing long-term need in the community.”

“I like to paraphrase the late Bishop Desmond Tutu when I’m explaining RBA,” offers Leslie Schneider, Resource Development Director for United Way of North Central Ohio. “It allows us to pull people out of the river, and at the same time, learn how to keep them from falling in again.”

The current United Way of North Central Ohio Community Campaign began in July 2021. “We’ll keep the current campaign open until we reach our goal, or until the new campaign kicks off this July [of 2022],” Wertman said. “We’re hoping to ‘dial up the volume to maximum’ and end the campaign at 100%!”

Donors to the Community Campaign may choose to designate their gift to be used in Crawford, Marion, or Wyandot, or across all three counties. They may also choose to support a specific United Way NCO Bold Goal – Successful Children, Healthy Families, or Self-Sufficient Residents. All donations are used in the tri-county area. Please consider making a donation to United Way of North Central Ohio and help make real changes in the lives of your neighbors and friends. Visit unitedwaynco.org/give or call 740-383-3108 to learn more.