Who We Are.
Who We Are
Our Mission
United Ways of California improves the health, education and financial results for low-income children and families by enhancing and coordinating the advocacy and community impact work of California’s United Ways.
Why We Do This
Everyone deserves a chance to build a good life. At the simplest level, people must be healthy in order to learn; people at all ages must have opportunities to learn in order to prepare to sustain themselves and their families; and people must have pathways for earning a decent living and building financial sustainability for their families.
How We Do This
Engaging the public for the common good.
United Ways of California advances the health, education and financial sustainability goals of local United Ways through education and policy advocacy. We see our role as bringing stakeholders together to solve problems. We are a nonpartisan organization, and we believe the involvement of all sectors – business, nonprofits, philanthropy, government, and interested citizens – is required to make progress on vital challenges facing low-income children and families. Our approach is to work closely with local United Ways to help them involve their board members, volunteers and supporters in these important causes.
Boosting program impact.
United Ways of California enhance the community impact of local United Ways by sharing innovations and lessons learned, improving practices, and building organizational capacity.
Resource development.
United Ways of California helps bring funding and resources to the communities that local United Ways serve through regional and statewide collaboratives, and by working with donors who wish to support United Ways at a regional and state level.
Our Priority Areas
Throughout California, across the United States, and increasingly internationally (in Asia and Eastern Europe), United Ways advance opportunities for low- and moderate-income people to lead successful lives by focusing on three priority areas:
- Health
- Education
- Financial Stability
United Ways of California Policy Priorities
Read a detailed description of our top policy goals in 2011.
California's Local United Ways
California’s independent, local United Ways created United Ways of California to help them work together to advance their mutual goals.
California’s local United Ways do vital work in their communities. They collectively raise over 200 million dollars a year in charitable gifts for targeted investments and critical health, education, and human services.
By working together through United Ways of California, the local United Ways can more effectively pursue opportunities and develop resources across multiple regions and the entire state, and better influence the state policy environment, which has a significant impact on local United Ways’ success in their communities.
Individually and together, California’s United Ways build a stronger California by mobilizing our public, private and non-profit sectors through research, civic engagement, public policy advocacy, and results-based funding.