Report to Stakeholders

December 2002

As a result of the extensive dialogue with United Way stakeholders like you conducted over the past several months and an analysis of campaign and financial trends, the Board of Directors of United Way serving Montgomery, Greene and Preble Counties approved a strategic direction and new vision to strengthen United Way’s core mission and make the organization more open and responsive to our stakeholders.   The changes – and the resulting overall impact – will be fully accomplished over the next 3-5 years.

We sought your input and listened carefully.   The message was clear.   Now this is our commitment to you:   United Way of the Greater Dayton Area will be a premiere nonprofit organization and community leader dedicated to mobilizing local financial and human resources that support a core safety network of health and human services and unmet or emerging needs.

Central to this effort is an increased understanding that the more we are able to mobilize people and raise money, the more capable we will be as a community solving local problems; and the better we are at solving community problems, the more capable we will be in mobilizing people and raising money.

Your United Way will be a well-managed community asset.   Our priority will be to provide outstanding service and build relationships with all of our stakeholders – ensuring you that your gift through the United Way is the best way to support a network of services in our community.

We will work to reduce the overhead for the organization.   United Way must be as low cost as reasonable and focus our resources on our priorities to achieve our mission and ensure the maximum dollars support local services.

United Way must be a visible leader, framing health and human service issues and convening and facilitating community dialogue and collaborative action to solve community problems.   Our efforts will be both to bring people together at our table and to join others at their table in addressing these issues.

We will mobilize human and financial resources on behalf of a clearly defined network of agencies dedicated to both providing a core safety net of services and addressing unmet and emerging needs.

We want United Way to be the first place people turn to seek information on health and human services , to learn more about an issue, and to join others in collaborative efforts.

Your local United Way has committed to continuous improvement and high standards of management and operations, including staff performance, financial management, governance, and relationships with all stakeholders.

United Way will put more resources to work to strengthen the campaign , utilizing technology and increasing year-round communication.

United Way must be a leader in both fundraising and community impact .   The ability to provide money for local agency programs and partner with them to accomplish outcomes and make a difference in our community is central to our mission.   With increased resources, we can also demonstrate innovative ways to bring people together and solve health and human service problems.

Immediately that translates into our putting forth tremendous energy during these final weeks of the year – to explore every opportunity for new and additional dollars during this challenging campaign, while making major changes internally to realign your United Way to move forward in 2003 and beyond.   Your United Way Board of Directors is fully committed to implementation of the vision and strategic direction of the organization.   We invite you to join us.   We need your support.   This is your United Way.

Marc R. Levy, President