What does Northwest Suburban United Way do?

Northwest Suburban United Way provides the leadership and resources it takes to help people overcome life’s challenges and become independent.  We work to understand the needs of each community we serve.  Then we fund the network of human service programs that can best address those community needs, or we launch new initiatives that will (ex: Arlington Height’s Ready for School Initiative).  By holding ourselves accountable for delivering measurable reults, we are the most effective way to improve lives and strengthen the 29 communities of Northwest Suburban Chicago and the Skokie Valley area we serve.  By focusing on Income, Education and Health, United Way provides the building blocks for self-sufficieny and personal success.

Why should I give to Northwest Suburban United Way?

United Way recognizes that you have many options when deciding where to direct your philanthropic dollars.  However, if you are interested in strengthening your community by giving people the opportunities to improve their lives, then there is no better choice than United Way.

Northwest Suburban United Way uses an outcomes based model to make its program funding decisions.  It requires all funded programs to clearly outline what they are trying to achieve and how they will measure their results.  Each year, United Way requires its funded programs to report their progress in meeting their stated goals.  For example, a youth after school program is not asked to report the number of students enrolled in the program.  Instead, United Way is concerned with how many of the participating youth are improving their grades, planning their career goals and are on track for graduation.  These are the measurements that help United Way determine if the program is achieving the overall goal - producing responsible working adults who will be an asset to their communities.

Additionally, your gift to United Way is leveraged up to seven times by our agency partners, who can use the United Way approval to bring additional dollars into our communities to improve lives.

We encourage you to contact us if you have any questions.