United Way holds to $100 million, three-year commitment to the community in challenging economy

BOSTON - The Board of Directors of United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley has approved a funding strategy for the next fiscal year that upholds the organization's three-year plan to invest $100 million in the community.  In 2007, UWMBMV launched its new funding strategy, which tied its investments to specific community goals and measurements focused on ensuring children are ready for school, keeping youth engaged in school so they graduate and helping families achieve financial stability.

"Because of the tremendous generosity of thousands of individuals and businesses in our region, which is particularly moving in this challenging time, we have been able, overall, to uphold our $100 million, three-year commitment to the community," said Michael K. Durkin, president and chief executive officer at United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley.  "However, we have not been immune from the economic crisis, and we will regrettably need to reduce our scheduled third- year funding by four percent.  We have done everything we can to minimize the impact on the organizations we support and maximize the resources for the community."

Corporate, foundation and individual support has enabled United Way and its community partners to generate significant progress and tangible results over the past two years.  For example, United Way investments in 187 community-based organizations have:

• Provided high-quality early education and care for more than 20,938 children each of the past two years to support their school readiness;
• Prevented 1,000 children from being expelled from preschool through early screening and teacher training;
• Supported quality out-of-school time programs for more than 138,623 youth each of the past two years, keeping them engaged in school so they graduate;
• Helped over 18,000 individuals retain affordable housing;
• Trained over 25,000 individuals with the basic skills and job skills needed to compete in the 21st century job market; and
• Helped more than 259,000 people with basic needs such as food, heat, clothing and shelter.

In addition to the results-based operating support that United Way provides its partner agencies, United Way has developed innovative, targeted initiatives that advance its community goals.  In the first two years of United Way's new investment strategy, these initiatives have:

• Provided emergency financial assistance through its $2 million Community Support Fund, a special appeal to meet the increased demand for assistance with basic needs like food, housing, and utility assistance;
• Provided permanent housing to 133 homeless families and individuals through its Housing First initiative;
• Decreased rates of suspensions and numbers of kids being bullied and increased grade point averages in Boston middle schools through Out of Harm's Way; and
• Helped more than 1,250 eligible filers claim over $1.8 million in returns through the Earned Income Tax Credit, increasing their financial stability.

UW has worked aggressively this past year to diversify sources of revenue and reach more donors. Individuals from more than 1,000 businesses in the region - including State Street Corporation, Bain Capital, Deloitte, Ropes & Gray, NSTAR, Massachusetts General Hospital, Bank of America and P&G - were key to raising the resources for this year's investment in the community.  This includes support from labor organizations as well as over 775 donors who contributed $10,000 and above and over 5,600 donors who contributed $1,000 and above.

UWMBMV has also been keeping a watchful eye on its overhead and has been working aggressively to contain costs.  To date, the organization has created $3 million in savings by reducing occupancy, administration and costs of outsourced services. It also made the difficult decision to eliminate 25 positions over the past year.

Through these efforts, United Way is maximizing the community support it received this year and investing $33.3 million in fiscal year 2010, the third year of its investment strategy.  Although Greater Boston and Merrimack Valley partner agencies will receive four percent less than their scheduled funding, 65 partner agencies will still receive scheduled increases and 46 partner agencies will receive scheduled decreases.