For over 90 years your local United Way has been supporting organizations to improve the lives of Washtenaw County people. We envision an equitable community where opportunity is not limited and every member reaches their full potential. By the year 2030 we aspire to live in a community where:
• Your zip code no longer determines your opportunity in life
• Life expectancy is the same across all populations and communities in our County
• The academic achievement gap is eliminated
• Everyone in our community has a home
• Poverty is not generational. If it exists, it is intermittent and brief
• Community members seek understanding and awareness of their own power and privilege and actively work to end poverty in our County
• Everyone in our County is able to thrive and meet their needs—housing, food, transportation, education, health expenses and childcare
Children entering kindergarten this fall will be graduating high school in the year 2030. Before those children don a cap and gown, there is much work to be done. If our vision resonates with you, we invite you to apply for funding.
FINANCIAL STABILITY FUND
Overview: A component of United Way’s
Financial Stability Initiative, these grants provide one-time support for programs, projects or initiatives that prioritize women, individuals and families with low incomes, communities of color, and historically and/or systematically marginalized groups. Funding is open to both new/pilot or existing programs, projects or initiatives.
Funding Priority #1: Financial Coaching Corps
As part of our commitment to increasing the financial stability of individuals and families in Washtenaw County we are piloting a Financial Coaching Corps (FCC) in 2018. Selected organizations will receive up to $25,000 in funding to support the wages and organizational costs associated with testing the integration of financial coaching into their core service offerings.
FCC Goals:
• Increase the availability of financial coaching to individuals and families in Washtenaw County
• Reduce the risk and burden for local organizations to pilot financial coaching as a service offering
• Create a cohort of individuals in our community who are proficient in providing high quality financial coaching
In addition to grant funding from UWWC, our team will provide training and ongoing coaching, technical assistance and support to the cohort of financial coaches hired by grantee organizations. The FCC will be managed by UWWC’S Financial Empowerment Coach, who will oversee host organization support, financial coach and supervisor training, etc. Our Financial Empowerment Coach is also available to available to assist grantees in developing a position description, recruiting applicants and choosing candidates for service. UWWC will work collaboratively with grantees to ensure their selected Financial Coaches have a successful year of service.
Please see the application for more information.
Funding Priority #2: Efforts that improve the economic wellbeing of women who are Asset-Limited, Income Constrained and Employed (ALICE).
As part of our Women United Initiative we are accepting proposals for programs, projects or initiatives that: 1. Align with one of the below funding priorities and 2. Primarily or exclusively serve women. We define this as at least 80% of the participant base being comprised of people who identify as women.
• Job training/skill building
• Literacy (e.g. digital, language, health)
• Public Policy Advocacy and Community Mobilizing
Note: A subset of awards will be made to programs, projects or initiatives that primarily or exclusively prioritize services for women as part of United Way’s Women United Initiative. Funding previously invested through Women’s Leadership Initiative Grant Program is now invested through the Financial Stability Fund.
Eligibility: Local 501(c)(3) non-profit human service organizations, local governments, higher education institutions and school districts that are located within and serving Washtenaw County. Applicants may apply through a fiscal agent.
Apply: Financial Stability Fund application period is now closed.
For a complete list of all FY 2016-17 Financial Stabiltiy Fund grantees, click here.
OPPORTUNITY FUND
Overview: These grants provide support for organizations whose work benefits priority populations in Washtenaw County: lower-income populations, communities of color and groups deemed to be marginalized. In addition to the above, the work of an application organization must align with one or more of the following criteria:
• Meet an emergent, unmet community or organizational capacity need
• Leverage United Way support as match for additional grant funding
• Pilot a promising or evidence-based practice
• Increase the financial stability of individuals and families
*Racial equity is the condition that would be achieved if one's racial identity no longer predicted, in a statistical sense, how one fares. When we use the term, we are thinking about racial equity as one part of racial justice, and thus we also include work to address root causes of inequities not just their manifestation. This includes elimination of policies, practices, attitudes and cultural messages that reinforce differential outcomes by race or fail to eliminate them.
Racial Justice [is defined] as the proactive reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes and actions that produce equitable power, access, opportunities, treatment, impacts and outcomes for all. (Sources: Center for Assessment and Policy Development; Catalytic Change: Lessons Learned from the Racial Justice Grantmaking Assessment Report, Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity and Applied Research Center, 2009.)
Priority is given to applicants whose work aligns with one or more of United Way’s priority areas: early childhood; school-aged youth; safety-net health & nutrition; housing & homelessness; seniors and financial stability.
There is no “floor” or “ceiling” for funding requests. Grantees may only apply once every 12 months.
Apply: Opportunity Fund Application period is now closed.
The next funding application will be released in or around August of 2018. Please contact staff with any questions.
For a complete list of all FY 2017-18 Opportunity Fund grantees, click here.
For a complete list of all FY 2016-17 Opportunity Fund grantees, click here.
For a complete list of all FY 2015-16 Opportunity Fund grantees, click here.
For a complete list of all FY 2014-15 Opportunity Fund grantees, click here.
COORDINATED FUNDING
United Way of Washtenaw County is a proud member of the Washtenaw Coordinated Funders. The Washtenaw Coordinated Funders adopted a funding model with three distinct components (Sector Leaders (formerly Planning & Coordinating Entities), Program Operations Funding & Capacity Building Grants) designed to prevent gaps and avoid redundancies in services while streamlining application and reporting procedures for grantees. This effort involved better sharing of information, closer work with local nonprofits to establish common community goals, and increased cooperation in funding decisions.
The Washtenaw Coordinated Funders seek to better coordinate our funding of human service programs in Washtenaw County around shared priorities. This effort involves better sharing of information among us, closer work with local nonprofits to establish common community goals, and increased cooperation in our funding decisions.
Program Operations Grants are multi-year funding to support essential services within five priority areas: early childhood, school-aged youth, safety net health & nutrition, housing & homelessness, and aging. The Upcoming FY 18 Program Operations Cycle has been announced! Learn more here.
Capacity Building Grants support one-time initiatives that strengthen a nonprofit organization and/or the local nonprofit sector as a whole. Annual focus of this fund shifts in response to local capacity building needs.
Sector Leadership Grants support leadership, infrastructure and support to steer issue-specific collaborative efforts among nonprofit agencies.
CONTACT
For more information about our work, contact:
Bridget Healy, Director of Community Impact, 734.677.7209, bhealy@uwwashtenaw.org
Amanda Reel, Community Impact & Volunteer Center Manager, 734.677.7234, areel@uwwashtenaw.org
