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MSA United Way: Much More Than a Fundraiser
Four years ago, Missouri Slope Areawide (MSA) United Way embraced a concept called “Community Impact.” At the time, Community Impact was becoming a national movement across the United Way system. Community Impact moves United Way beyond the traditional role of fundraiser and more into the role of “community problem-solver.”
The United Way system (there are about 1,380 United Ways across the country) uses a parable called “The Ogre Story” to explain Community Impact. As the story goes, one day a group of villagers notices dozens of babies floating down the river. The community mobilizes to save the babies from peril by creating “programs.” One program clothes the babies, another educates them, and so on. But the babies keep on coming because no-one is going upstream to stop the ogre who is throwing the babies into the water.
 The story illustrates the major thrust of Community Impact work: more focus on the root causes of problems (the ogre). For example, it is well and good (and necessary) to assist people who are homeless, but how can we prevent homelessness in the first place?
Another important component of Community Impact work is a heightened interest in programs that deliver measurable results. MSA United Way is slowly evolving toward outcome-based funding. For example, in preparation for 2010 funding, MSA United Way identified almost a dozen unmet human-service needs within the community and then sent out a Request for Proposals (RFPs) that address those needs. Within the proposals applicants must state a program’s desired outcomes and describe the indicators that will be used to measure progress.
MSA United Way has also fundamentally changed its approach to allocating funds. After the board made the commitment to Community Impact, a Community Impact Committee was formed to, among other tasks, assess the 70-plus programs the organization was funding on behalf of member agencies. The programs were categorized into five “vision areas”: Basic Needs, Children & Families, Addiction & Violence, Special Needs and Senior Services.
MSA United Way then recruited stakeholders from the community to serve for a minimum of three years on five “vision councils” (corresponding to the five vision areas). Many of the vision council members recruited were experts working in the respective vision areas. In the past, MSA United Way assembled volunteer allocation panels that met for only one day. Today’s vision councils meet year-round to study the ever-changing human needs in the community and, working with United Way agencies and other partners, develop plans to address them.
In the past, MSA United Way measured success almost solely by how much money it raised during the annual campaign. Today, the emphasis is on community change and bringing different partners to the table to work toward the “common good.”
It’s about “Living United.” 
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