We are very proud of the work our board of directors has done this past year in researching local needs and determining where services were lacking and how best our United Way could make an impact in our community.
Our 2011-2012 Annual Report does a great job in explaining the issues and showing how we are addressing them through community impact grants and direct services.
We'd love your feedback.
Posted by Kim Connolly
Any event that involves over 2,300 people, 65
businesses, 113 nonprofits/public schools and 234 volunteer projects take the
coordination and involvement of many.
As I reflect on my second and our
office’s 21st United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring, I
can’t help but to feel grateful. I’m grateful for all of the people,
organizations and groups that came together to bring over $304,000 of volunteer
hours into our community on a single day.
I want to take this time to thank you.
Thank you to the sponsors who made the breakfast possible (State Farm), provided lunch for our staff (Raising Canes) and covered the event on the radio (WINA) and television (Charlottesville Newsplex).
Thank you to the nonprofits and schools that hosted volunteers and organized meaningful projects for local businesses.
Thank you to the thousands of volunteers who took time away from work to spend
time making our community a better place to live.
Thank you to the companies that allowed their employees to miss time from work to volunteer painting houses, landscaping and much more.
Thank you to the United Way staff who spent time in the weeks leading up to the United Way Day of Caring to help print signs, bring up and sort supplies from our basement, and arrive so early in the morning to set things up.
People always thank me for the work that I do behind the scenes to plan the day, but I don’t (and can’t!) do this event alone. It’s because of the wonderful team leaders, thoughtful project coordinators and my supportive colleagues that this event is able to happen each year and make such a difference in Charlottesville and the surrounding counties. Without the support and teamwork of the thousands of people involved in even the smallest details of this community-wide event, the United Way Day of Caring wouldn’t have such a lasting impact on our community.
Thank you!
Posted by Jessica Snyder, United Way Volunteer Center Director
The United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring.
The United Way Day of Caring.
The Day of Caring.
Or, in our office shorthand: DOC.
Our office is in “All hands on deck!” mode in preparation for our annual volunteer extravaganza next Wednesday, September 19th.
This year, we have 2,300 volunteers registered for 234 projects at 113 nonprofits and schools. There are teams from 65 local businesses and organizations, with the University of Virginia and UVa Health Systems providing nearly 1,000 of our volunteers. Our good neighbor, State Farm Insurance is sending around 100 volunteers, and Lexis Nexis and the CFA Institute each send around 70 employees to volunteer. And other local businesses send from 2 to 50 employees.
That means a whole lot of local businesses allow and encourage their employees to spend a day volunteering in our community. And we can’t forget those employees left behind to keep things running.
Jessica Snyder, our Volunteer Center Director, is seeing her
9 months of preparation come to fruition and is deftly handling the thousand
details that make the day run smoothly, not to mention taking the last minute
changes in stride. The rest of us do what we can do help her. We haul the signs
out of our basement, print new signs, arrange pick up of traffic cones, alert
the media, assign our board members project sites to visit to thank the
volunteers. The spread sheets detailing every one of the projects are voluminous,
and the details (weights for balloons? – check) are numerous, but necessary to
making such a huge undertaking seamless. It is fun, it is exhausting and
somewhat overwhelming, but on that day, at the kick-off breakfast at Albemarle
Square, when the State Farm Singers are lifting up their voices in joy, and the
hundreds of volunteers are full of energy to make a difference in our
community, it all seems worth it.
Posted by Kim Connolly
If it is August, it must be audit time at our United Way. Each August, two auditors from Hantzmon Wiebel, LLC take over the lunch table on our third floor for an exhaustive review of our financial records. From individual donations, to grants we have received, to grants that we make to other local nonprofit programs, our audit is complicated. In addition, we are the fiscal agent for several programs like The Santa Fund and Women United, among others. Plus, we have several direct services of our own, such as Child Care Scholarships, Prescription Assistance and the United Way Volunteer Center. Whew! No wonder the auditors set up shop upstairs for about a month.
Why is all this important? Transparency and accountability. When a donor is evaluating a nonprofit, they should also look at the organization’s financial stability and efficiency. An annual audit should be available on that organization’s website. If an organization is not large enough to require a full audit, they should have at the least an independently performed year‐end income and expense statement available to the public.
Not only do we have a full audit performed every year, we also have an Audit Committee which includes a Darden professor of economics, a corporate Chief Operating Officer, and an accountant.
One of the results of our fiscal and management practices is that our overhead is impressively low – last year it was a mere 16.01%. The Better Business Bureau states that nonprofits should spend no more than 35% on overhead. Not only do we require ourselves to have a full audit each year, we also require an audit from each local agency applying for a United Way Community Impact grant. If an agency's revenues are under $200,000, the agency may submit a financial compilation in accordance with Statements and Standards for Accounting and Review Services issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. When a program receives a grant from us, you know it is well-vetted.
Ask the hard questions. We welcome yours. Our Audit Committee has worked very hard to make a complex document clear and understandable. Here is last year’s audit. Once this year’s audit is complete, we will post it on our website. We are proud of our well run, financially stable and - most important – effective organization!
While is all this important? Because heartfelt stories and emotion-triggering photos need to be balanced with proof of financial stability and program results. Nonprofit donations are like investments in a program’s stated mission. And folks want to see a good return on their investment. United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area is invested in School Readiness, Self-Sufficiency and Community Health. What are you invested in? Join us and see the results.
The United Way Volunteer Center can help you find volunteers to fix up an old fence, paint an office or take some things off of your growing to-do list this fall! The United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring will take place on September 19 this year and we’re now accepting project submissions from area nonprofits and public schools!
This is your chance to get a group of excited, enthusiastic, hard-working volunteers in your office space for a three hour or full day project. Start brainstorming all of the things that your staff or clients could benefit from and be creative! Projects in the past have included:
Once your office has decided what would be most helpful, visit our website to learn how to register your project. After you’ve registered, we’ll send out information over the summer about how to best engage the volunteers that select your project, risk management, and how to make the day successful for your organization.
We hope that you’ll participate in this year’s United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring by submitting one or more projects!
Visit our Day of Caring website for more information or contact Jessica Snyder with questions about registration.
Posted By Jessica Snyder, United Way Volunteer Center Director
Each year on the day of our United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring, United Way staff and Board members team up and travel to visit the volunteers and nonprofits where projects are taking place. As soon as we stepped into the door of the Virginia Discovery Museum on my trip to local nonprofits that day, I knew that something special was taking place. All of the volunteers were smiling, laughing and busily working away. We were greeted by the wonderful staff at the museum and heard about the amazing work that had taken place with the volunteers.
As soon as I got back to the office that day, I wrote a letter to the museum staff asking for them to share what made the Day of Caring so special for them. I thought that highlighting the excitement at the Virginia Discovery Museum and showcasing the impact the volunteers made that day could help other nonprofits see the benefits in participating in such a special event.
Here is what the Virginia Discovery Museum staff shared:
"Every year, the Virginia Discovery Museum participates in Day of Caring. In fact, we purposely schedule our exhibit renovations around that day. This year, we welcomed volunteers from BB&T and CFA for an all-day, museum-wide renovation project. Starting at 9am, volunteers painted every room in the museum with new, exciting colors, helped us move furniture that otherwise would not have moved, and constructed new exhibits for the kids to play on. It is safe to say that without the hard work and enthusiasm of these volunteers, our recent new exhibits (Discovery Garage and Virginia Frontier) would not have opened on time to the public.
The most memorable part of Day of Caring is the camaraderie and the “willingness to do anything” of the volunteers. More than once, staff at the Virginia Discovery Museum was told that the volunteers come expecting to work hard and accomplish the tasks set before them. The staff started the day with several possible tasks for the volunteers, thinking that only a token few would be accomplished. By the end of the day, every single task was complete; and both the staff and volunteers left the museum exhilarated with a sense of accomplishment.
In the following week, staff members raved about the help we received from Day of Caring volunteers. We wish this event occurred multiple times throughout the year. We genuinely hope that the volunteers had a great time at the museum and we eagerly await the next Day of Caring."
The United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring is only 11 weeks away and registration is in full swing! Don’t miss the chance to get out of the office for a morning, afternoon or full day of team building and making a difference in your community!
Any business, church group or community group is welcome to sign up to participate. As long as you have two or more people committed to volunteering in our community on September 19, 2012, we encourage you to join us.
The United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring makes a huge impact in Charlottesville, Albemarle, Greene, Nelson, Fluvanna, Louisa and Nelson each year. On just one day, over 2,000 volunteers in our local community will complete over $290,000 worth of projects at more than 200 nonprofits.
Once your team signs up, you’ll get regular updates on the event from our office and will be invited to select a project to complete when we complete our project selection process in mid-August. We’ll have tons of projects to select from including working with children, landscaping, data entry, painting and hosting activities at local nursing homes. You’ll have the opportunity to find something to suite your skills and make a huge impact in your community!
All of the information on how to register can be found here. You can also visit our Day of Caring website for much more information on forming teams. To see pictures from last year’s event, click here.
Help us find more volunteer teams in Louisa, Greene, Nelson and Fluvanna counties by passing this sign up information along to businesses and churches there. We have projects in those counties each year and would love to have more volunteer teams to help cover those projects!
Posted by: Jessica Snyder, United Way Volunteer Center Director
For the past nine months, the board of directors of the United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area has been implementing its new strategic direction of focusing on three specific areas of impact: School Readiness, Self-Sufficiency and Community Health. Impact teams consisting of 49 United Way board members, plus interested community volunteers, met dozens of times in the past year to develop priorities within each impact area. Our board invited local nonprofits to submit proposals that would help meet the priorities in each of those areas. Our United Way is investing a total of $634,038 in grants this year to local programs, and for the first time has provided some multi-year grants.
The priorities of the SCHOOL READINESS impact area are: to provide home-visiting services for families with children zero to three years old; increasing the access to quality early education through the Virginia Star Quality Initiative; and to partner with schools, preschools and community groups to improve children’s successful transition to kindergarten.
School Readiness Impact Team Members: Eric Johnson, Chair; Bill Bradley; Peter Chapin; Mike Chinn; Bryan Elliott; Frank Friedman; Rondi Furgason; Phil Garland; Michael Geismar; Amanda Hoffman; PK Kamath; Chris Laing; Chris Lee; Brad Ramsey; Bill Wardle.
School Readiness grant partner programs:
“Multi-year funding is something new for us,” notes Cathy Train, United Way’s president. “But in the case where there is a strong, ongoing program with proven results that specifically addresses our priorities, we felt that investing for the long term could create some momentum in children growing up healthy and arriving at school prepared to succeed.”
Our United Way’s SELF-SUFFICIENCY impact area team’s goal is to “invest in individuals and families working to become financially stable and economically independent.” “We found that this goal really spread across all three of our impact areas,” Train states. “A family struggling to make ends meet, or parents working two or three jobs without health insurance, doesn’t leave time to help children with homework or ensure adequate preventative health care.” Our United Way sought programs that addressed one or more of these priorities: addressing barriers to employment and job training for unemployed/underemployed local residents, including promoting high school graduation and post-secondary education; increasing access to financial education, literacy and budgeting; and supporting employment through adequate and accessible transportation, child care and shelter.
Self-Sufficiency Impact Team Members: Deborah van Eersel, Chair; Charles DuBose; Sasha Farmer; Adrian Felts; Dan Goodall; Fred Greer; Peter Harbilas; Allen Hughes; PK Kamath; Jim Kennan; Don Long; Abby Lunn; Susan Prindle; Joyce Robbins; Phil Sparks; Juan Wade; John Young.
The United Way has partnered with the following programs to help address these priorities:
Our research determined that in the area of COMMUNITY HEALTH, the priorities were clear: improve prenatal care and the health of babies; promote physical activity and improve the nutrition and eating habits of local residents, or other obesity prevention projects; and increase access to preventative and basic health care resources for underserved persons, including low-income and rural communities. “The United Way is invested in building a community where people are healthy and have access to needed care,” says Train. “We need to help develop healthy habits, starting at an early age.
Community Health Impact Team Members: Liza Borches, Chair; Guy Babineau; Glenn Bannan; Spencer Birdsong; Lisa Cannell; Deborah Conway; Margery Daniel; Dorrie Fontaine; Ray Mishler; Gary O’Connell; Eunhee Park; Jim Richardson; Carolyn Schuyler; Jim Shannon; David Stebbins; Margo Szeliga; Mike Wesson.
In order to meet the priorities of the Community Health focus area, the United Way is partnering with the following programs through grants:
“By focusing our investments on specific goals and priorities, and through encouraging partnerships and collaborations with similar or complimentary programs with long-term goals and measurements,” Train declares, “it is our hope that we will create substantial positive change in our community.”
None of this would have been possible without the leadership of our Campaign Chair, Alison DeTuncq, president of UVA Community Credit Union, who led teams of volunteers in raising the funds necessary to address these priorities. And, in the end, it is the members of our community - our donors - who have invested their money in improving our community, that we have to thank. Together, we WILL make a difference.
Posted by: Kim Connolly
The numbers are in. Our Thomas Jefferson Area Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) coalition prepared 1,880 tax returns at no charge for local low to middle income residents of Charlottesville and Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson counties.
The numbers tell us that the average refund was $1,491 and the average Earned Income Tax Credit (for those who qualified) was $1,742. Similarly, the average Child Care Credit was $784.
The average income for those we helped was $19,341. Think of the impact that receiving those kinds of refunds and credits can have on someone with that sort of income. You could buy new tires for your car. Pay off a medical debt. Visit your mother in another state. Start a savings account.
And the numbers go on. Our coalition volunteers saved these 1,880 people a total of $366,200 in tax preparation fees. We had more than 100 volunteers, most of them UVA students and law students. The total dollar value of credits for earned income, child care and education totaled $1,605,879. The most returns (649) were prepared at the site at the University of Virginia’s Human Resources department. The United Way’s office prepared the second highest number of returns (216). University of Virginia Community Credit Union employees prepared returns in their branches in Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson counties, plus their downtown Charlottesville branch, for a total of 367 returns.
The numbers also tell us that the total impact of our coalition’s efforts this year, including refunds, credits and saved fees, was $3,453,535.
But what the numbers do not tell us are the stories about the people whose lives were vastly improved by this boost to their bank accounts. Here at the United Way office, a staff member prepared a return for a woman who was a recent immigrant from Eastern Europe and had a middle school age daughter. She could not believe that she would actually be getting money back from the earned income tax credit, and even asked to review the return, in case we had made a mistake. Once she received her tax credit, she returned to our office to show us pictures of the new furniture she was able to buy: new beds and mattresses for her and her daughter. She said “Thanks to you, we will not sleep on the floor any more.”
One thousand, eight hundred and eighty tax returns prepared. There are a lot more stories to be told.
Posted by: Kim Connolly
In my third year at the University of Virginia I decided to enroll in the internship program (UIP) for the entirety of my fourth year. I had extra space in my schedule and thought it would be fun to get out of the classroom for ten hours a week and do something a little more practical.
My first day at the United Way was both wonderful and overwhelming. Jessica, my sponsor, showed me my desk and then introduced me to everybody in the office. They were all incredibly nice and excited to meet me and they all wanted to tell me all about what they did. I of course promptly forgot everything that they said and spend the next few months learning everything I could about the office and remembering what they had told me earlier.
At my internship seminar I heard horror stories of other interns’ experiences; they would vacuum for ten hours a week, didn’t have a desk to sit at, or would have to deal with highly erratic sponsors and schedules. At the United Way, however, everybody went out of their way to accommodate my schedule and they did their best to involve me with everything that went on in the office. As the intern I expected to do a lot of the busy work in the office, but people would hesitate to ask me to do certain things; everybody really wanted me to have a valuable experience and not just envelope-stuffing experience. I helped organized a School Supply Drive, participated in the Day of Caring (I have never blown up that many balloons), went to a Board Meeting, did research for Impact Area meetings, worked on the Better Business Challenge to make the office more sustainable, and accompanied people to the radio station.
From January until April, I devoted most of my time to doing taxes through the EITC tax coalition. While taxes might not sound very exciting, I really enjoyed this portion of the internship! It meant I got to interact with clients, problem solve if a return got rejected, and really feel like I was making a difference in the community.
By interning at the United Way, I now have a much better understanding of how organizations, and particularly non-profits, function. I feel a lot more confident that I will be capable of holding an actual job. I gained great work experience and also started really connecting to Charlottesville (the University tends to be a little bit of a bubble at times). It felt great to be a part of an organization that works so hard to improve the community. I know that when I visit Charlottesville in the future, I will definitely drop by the office and say hi to everyone!
Posted by: Ellen Janssen, University of Virginia Class of 2012
Beer Run is a family owned and operated neighborhood restaurant with a focus on local and organic ingredients. Beer Run offers the best retail craft beer selection in Virginia and a large selection of biodynamic and organic retail wines.
Beer Run joined the United Way Home Run Club because United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area is our leading community non-profit advocate for those in need.
One of the things I dislike about shopping for a car is the hopscotching around town to visit all the auto dealers on the very busy roads on which they are located. Which is why I really like the concept of the Mega Mile Auto event (other than the fact the a portion of the proceeds benefits our United Way). The four largest auto dealers in Charlottesville (Battlefield Ford, Brown Autos, Colonial Autos and Jim Price Automotive) team up for this event, bringing their entire inventories of new and used cars to fill up the lots at the John Paul Jones Arena. Our friends at the UVA Community Credit Union orchestrate the entire event, offering rates as low as 2.49% for a new car.
Can't decide between a Chevy, Ford, Nissan, Honda, Kia or Toyota? How about a Mercedes, Hyundai or a Subaru? There are 18 car brands represented at this event - a mile of cars. You can test drive to your heart's content - kind of like Goldilocks - too big, too slow, wrong color...just right! I already have a list of cars I want to drive.
At the kick off on Thursday, April 5, a "Conquer the Mile" walk takes place at 1:00 pm to benefit the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. The donations we receive as a result of this event help us focus resources where they will have the biggest impact in our community: School Readiness, Self- Sufficiency and Community Health. These areas are where we KNOW we can make a difference - with the help of our donors like these terrific area car delaers and the UVA Community Credit Union.
We hope to see you there!
Posted by:Kim Connolly
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