The United Way Community Campaign provides donors the opportunity to direct their gift to the causes that are important to them. When you make your pledge, you control where your contribution goes and how it will be used. We invite you to LIVE UNITED by choosing one of the following options:

Community Investment: Get the Most From Every Dollar

Your gift to United Way Community Investment through the United Way Community Campaign helps to advance the common good by providing the building blocks of a good life for everyone in our region: a quality education that leads to a stable job, income that can support a family through retirement, and good health. Your gift addresses the root causes of social problems. Issues such as high dropout rates, financial instability and poor health are interconnected.

When you choose Community Investment, you can rest assured that you’re getting the most out of every dollar. Your gift is combined with many others to accomplish what no single contribution and no single organization can do alone. United Way Community Investment supports a network of programs that make a meaningful, measurable difference in the communities where you live and work. Community Investment programs are monitored by trained volunteers who ensure that dollars are well-spent to produce real results and that effective management, governance, and financial accountability standards are upheld.

Interest Area Options

Education: Preparing children to succeed in school and life
Helping children meet developmental milestones and get ready for kindergarten. Helping youth achieve their potential through education. Working with parents, child care providers, towns and schools to ensure that all children are ready to succeed in school so that they graduate well-prepared for the workplace.

Income: Promoting financial stability and independence
Building family financial stability and independence by improving job skills that increase earning potential; developing affordable housing; and promoting access to income supports. Helping families learn how to budget and save for things such as better housing, transportation or education.

Safety Net: Ensuring people have access to basic needs
Meeting basic needs to help people in crisis get back on their feet through programs that provide food, shelter, counseling and disaster response. Supporting the elderly and those with mental or physical health needs through home health and respite care.

Health: Community Health Charities of New England
Community Health Charities is committed to improving the lives of those affected by a chronic disease or disability by uniting caring donors in the workplace with 36 of the state’s most trusted health charities. These member health charities are committed to finding cures and delivering health education, treatment and wellness programs. 

Other Options

Neighborhood Arts and Heritage: Enriching and celebrating our community’s diversity through arts and cultural activities in collaboration with the Greater Hartford Arts Council and other community organizations.

Other 501(c)(3): You may designate a portion or all of your gift to any qualified not-for-profit organization recognized as a 501(c)(3) by the Internal Revenue Service. You must include the agency’s name, address, and phone number. Please note that such restricted gifts are not monitored by trained volunteers to ensure results. For a list of local United Way partner agencies, click here. For a list of Community Health Charities of New England member charities, click here.

How Your Contributions are Distributed

Payroll deduction contributions will be distributed directly to designated agencies in April, July, October, and December 2011, and March and June 2012, if proceeds and pledge details are received by United Way on or before the end of the month preceding payout.

Designated contributions through the United Way Community Campaign are subject to a 10% fee (includes administration and fundraising costs), capped at $100 per designated gift (assessed on a pro-rata basis upon gift proceeds received). No fees are deducted by United Way from contributions to Community Health Charities (CHC) or its member charities; CHC deducts its own administrative fee. Check, credit card, or stock pledge payments will be distributed to designated agencies by February 28, 2011, if proceeds and pledge details are received by United Way on or before December 31, 2010.

Undesignated campaign pledges will be distributed through United Way and Community Health Charities as agreed by both organizations.