Over the next year, United Way will invest $44,140,441 into 138 vetted social, educational, and relief programs and initiatives in San Antonio and Bexar County.
“United Way donors make it possible to respond to the increasing number of individuals needing assistance,” stated Harvey Najim, president of the Najim Family Foundation and recently appointed chairman of the local United Way board, in an announcement sent out Wednesday. “Our ability to deploy donor dollars quickly and efficiently across the community is a testament to their generosity and confidence.”
The dollars distributed to 69 different agencies during fiscal year 2017, which starts on July 1, were collected during United Way’s fundraising campaign in 2015. The programs this money supports are broken down by type of population they serve and services they provide:
- $21.2 million (48%) – children and youth
- $11.9 million (27%) – strengthening families
- $7.2 million (17%) – food, shelter and emergency care
- $3.7 million (8%) – community-building investments, including the United Way’s own 2-1-1 Help Line, Volunteer Center and donor designations to other United Way chapters
Each year, United Way evaluates agencies’ and programs’ management practices and how well they are achieving the positive changes they set out to accomplish, said Brandyn Moore-Rodriguez, vice president of community relations and volunteer initiatives for the local United Way chapter. Some initiatives migrate in and out United Way’s funding program according to changing missions and scope.
“United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County has one of the lowest United Way overhead rates in the nation at 6%,” according to United Way. “This efficiency allows the nonprofit to direct 93 cents of every dollar toward helping those in need.”
United Way receives money from large philanthropic foundations, corporations, small businesses, and private individuals and has been operating in San Antonio since 1940.
Watch the 2015 fundraising campaign video below:
Top image: United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County Chair Harvey Najim speaks at a recent grant announcement. Photo by Kathryn Boyd-Batstone.
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