United Way of Pioneer Announces

Community Impact Funding

Strategic funding focused on making an impact on community needs

Springfield, Mass., January 19, 2012 – The United Way of the Pioneer Valley has completed a two-year process that began with an assessment of community needs and culminated in the awarding of $2.1 million in funding for three Community Building Blocks: Education, Income and Health. According to Dora D. Robinson, President and CEO of the 90-year old UWPV, “This is indeed a proud moment for an organization whose mission is to mobilize people and resources to strengthen our communities.”

A Request for Proposal (RFP), issued in July 2011, clearly articulated the organization’s funding priorities and criteria with a focus on measurable outcomes and indicators. The review process was volunteer-driven and staff-supported. The 22 grant review team members represented a cross-section of volunteers from the community including representatives of private industry, nonprofits, health, education, and government from across the Pioneer Valley.

Overseeing the review process was the Community Impact Committee to make sure the process never lost sight of the objective and remained true to UWPV’s mission and values. The results:

• 52 organizations will share in $2.1 grant funding that will span 18-months (January 2012 through June 2013). 
• Community partners receiving funding in this cycle are diverse in terms of size, location, communities served, leadership, and scope of services.

According to the United Way’s Sr. Vice President of Community Impact Sylvia deHaas Phillips, additional grant funding opportunities are available in the areas of basic needs and emergency services; disaster relief, recovery and rebuilding funding; small grants, capacity building and pro-active grant making.

Summarizing today’s announcement, Robinson stated, “We believe we have set a course for our philanthropy that is both responsive to community needs and aligned with donors’ values. We will report real outcomes and track our effectiveness over time. And we will continue to hold ourselves accountable to our communities, our community partners and to our donors.”