Grants

United Way funds programs in our pillar focus areas of education, financial stability, health, and housing. (Ottawa County will receive funds for financial stability, health, and housing.) Through analysis of community data and community feedback, we have outlined key strategies that impact the population results we hope to see for Lucas, Wood, and Ottawa Counties. We seek to fund programs that align with those strategies. To better understand our funding priorities, please review our Live United Plan, pages 6-12.  

• Under each pillar, you will see the population level results we hope to see for our community. 
• Next, you will see the strategies that make an impact on those results. Your program should align with one of these stragegies. 
• Finally, you will see the common performance measures that we ask programs to capture to showcase how well your program is providing services. 

It is not the responsibility of one agency or program alone to change our community for the better. We fund high-performing programs that seek to continue engaging and learning about the strategies that collectively work to make impactful change.  

If you are still unsure whether or not your program is a fit, please contact us to discuss. 

Please see our current Investment Sheet to review the programs we have historically funded and the amount of those investments. We fund a range of programs at different levels of support. We prioritize programs that have diversified budgets or that aim to find other resources to support the funding requested by United Way. We will not fund 100% of a program’s budget. 

NEW: We have a minimum investment amount of $15,000 for any United Way granted program, as we require all partners to participate in our collective impact model (see below for more information) and to complete all required reporting three times per year (see below for more information).

Please contact the help desk at United Way of Central Ohio: Reporting.Help@uwcentralohio.org. They are hosting the grant software we are using this year and can help with any technical issues you are experiencing.  

The Community Impact Department has established open office hours specifically dedicated to the grant application. Jill Bunge will be available for open office hours on Wednesdays from 1:00 p.m.– 3:00 p.m. and Fridays from 10:30 a.m.– 12:00 p.m. (Jill, 419.254-4648, jill.bunge@unitedwaytoledo.org). If these times don’t work for you, please contact us via email to schedule a different time.  

Please include information/documentation on the last full budget year you have prepared. If you are on a calendar year, you do not need to complete your 2023 financials in advance of the grant deadline. You can provide information for 2022. 

Partners are expected to*: 

• Actively participate in one of our Collective Impact Collaboratives in education, financial stability, health, or housing. One agency staffer with program decision-making capacity must be designated to attend Collaborative meetings. Participation in the work of the collaborative is estimated to be ~20 hours annually. 
• Include your program in the United Way 211 Database. 
• Use a system for measuring the outcomes for individuals served by your program, including qualitative and quantitative data to support program results. 

• Complete a Logic Model** at the beginning of each program year of the three-year grant cycle with assistance from UW staff.                      
• Complete mid-year reporting on program progress halfway through each program year of the three-year grant cycle. 
• Complete year-end reporting on program outcomes at the end of each program year of the three-year grant cycle***.  

*Review our current funding agreement (subject to amendments for upcoming grant year) 

**Review a sample logic model 

***Review our current reporting requirements 

United Way uses a collective impact model, a nationally-recognized model of collaboration that uses a specific structure to share best practices and promote innovation. Collective Impact is a commitment of community members, organizations, and institutions that advance equity by learning together, aligning, and integrating their actions to achieve population- and systems-level change. As part of our collective impact model, all United Way granted partners meet with one another based on the focus pillar of their program (education, financial stability, health, and housing). Each of these groups is called a collaborative, and they meet multiple times per year to identify desired results, progress, and strategic steps related to their work. 

For more information about our work and our model, please see our Live United Plan. 

No. UWGT provides funding to tax-exempt organizations who operate community programs that impact health, financial stability, housing, and education.

United Way of Greater Toledo monitors data trends at the population level across Ottawa County and gathers feedback from local partners who help residents with their greatest needs on a daily basis. The Ottawa County Advisory Committee was presented with population level data from across the county and feedback provided by Ottawa County partners. Based on that information, our volunteers ultimately determined to narrow our focus areas to health and financial stability, providing greater investments into partner programs to see more tangible outcomes. Education results (high school graduation rates and kindergarten readiness rates), have remained high, while other pillar areas were identified to have significant gaps in service and an increasing need. For more information about our data and additional resources, please contact our Community Analytics & Research Department (dataanalytics@unitedwaytoledo.org).