United Way believes in making our four-county community stronger. By working together on critical issues, we can move forward together to ensure everyone has a safe place to live, work, and play.
We know that our community’s issues are broad and vast; they’re an enormous challenge for one single nonprofit to address. We also know many of these issues are interrelated–issues like health concerns, educational road blocks, and financial struggles. United Way elevates these issues and calls everyone in our four-county region to action.
United Way fights...
...for literacy. Since 2015, the My Very Own Library and Build My Bookshelf programs have invested nearly $2 million combined to give more than 356,000 books to thousands of students in the region. In addition, United Way’s purchase of these books has generated close to $900,000 in Scholastic Dollars that the 18 participating schools can use to buy even more learning materials and technology.
...for families to have a safe and stable home. In 2020, nearly 5,600 families accessed services such as rent assistance, rapid rehousing, legal representation in eviction court, and more.
...for the safety of people experiencing intimate partner violence. Since 2009, an average of 9,500 people were served per year in intimate partner violence prevention programs with 96% gaining knowledge about safety planning and their rights and options in the legal system.
...for the health and safety of our nonprofits and the people they serve. In response to COVID-19, United Way supplied over 730 gallons of hand sanitizer, over 197,000 personal protective equipment items, over 27,500 personal hygiene products, over 13,700 food items, over 46,400 food pantry supplies (plates, forks, napkins, utensils), nearly 84,500 diapers, and over $158,000 in gift cards to help pay for necessities.
United Way convenes resources, volunteers, experts, and other service providers for short-term relief and long-term success.
We are an independently-governed 501(c)3 nonprofit organization connected to a network of more than 1,400 local United Ways through United Way Worldwide. We have our own board of directors and focus our work on local solutions for local problems. Of every dollar raised, nearly 90¢ is invested into community problem solving. View our recent financial forms and reports.
Since our start in 1909, we have invested over $1 billion to solve our community’s most serious problems. We impact people in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington Counties.