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The United Way of Boyertown Area has a long history of supporting the local agencies that provide much needed services to the Boyertown School District Area. Chartered on October 6, 1958 as the United Community Chest Fund of Boyertown Area, the renamed United Way of Boyertown Area is a tax exempt non-profit organization registered with the IRS as a 501-3C organization. During it’s almost 50 years of existence, it has performed a function identical to other community-based United Ways throughout the United States:
- Using largely volunteer help, funds are raised in the community to support programs in local agencies that benefit people in the community. The local agencies are non-profit and each must meet a rigorous set of eligibility requirements to become (and remain) a member agency.
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- An annual find-raising campaign is conducted from mid September through the end of November. The campaign is chaired by a volunteer from the community who is usually an officer of the Board of Directors. This Campaign Chairperson is assisted by several division chairpersons and many team member volunteers who are responsible for soliciting within a defined group of businesses, professionals, residential and others in the community. Contribution goals are set for each group and for the campaign as a whole and progress is reviewed in weekly meetings throughout the campaign period.
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- Year-round, the Public Relations Committee provides leadership in carrying out the Board of Director’s vision of building a caring community by developing and implementing a plan to keep the community informed and involved in the activities of the United Way of Boyertown Area. They sponsor/participate in events like the Unity Walk, the Boyertown Sidewalk Expo and Sale, and Santa’s arrival and give periodic press releases.
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- The Financial Committee is responsible for ensuring the United Way of Boyertown Area is fiscally accountable and fulfills all legal and regulatory requirements. In addition, the Committee ensures an annual independent audit is performed and all improvement recommendations are implemented promptly.
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- The Nominating Committee develops the new leaders of the United Way of Boyertown Area by identifying new members, assisting in their orientation and training and mentoring these members to become high performance leaders.
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- The Community Impact Committee is in the process of leading a needs assessment to determine the highest priority needs in our local area. Local community agencies, businesses, township leaders, police and area clubs are all involved in this effort to identify the most critical needs our United Way of Boyertown Area funds should meet.
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- Member agencies who have programs that are meeting these critical needs or who develop new programs to meet a needs gap complete requests for funding and submit them in December. These requests require a detailed description of the organization, financial statements, and a specific description of the program, how the funding will be used and the impact of the program on the critical needs. Then after the campaign is finished, the Allocation Committee meets with all agencies and even visit some of their locations before making recommendations as to the funding.
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There are currently 18 member agencies being funded by the United Way of Boyertown Area.
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