Impact Based Funding
To ensure that our United Way is maximizing the impact that our donors and volunteers are making, we have assessed how to best meet our community’s current needs. We have updated our United Way’s funding model to an Impact Based Funding model.
The Impact Based Funding model is better aligned with current community needs, donor desires, and will allow United Way and our donors to deepen our collective impact in our community. This shift is designed to allow us to collectively solve more of our community’s biggest issues with less duplication, fewer silos and more coordination and impact.
Investments will be made to organizations that demonstrate they can advance the work of our Key Initiatives. In addition, a modest amount of funding will support Community Resiliency through information and referral, local disaster response, or sustainability of past collective impact efforts. Impact Based Funding allows us to more effectively drive community-wide progress on important issues by allocating more funding and staff capacity to these strategies.
Local nonprofits will be invited to complete a Letter of Intent (LOI) in one or more of these strategies. They must show capacity to measure towards our community-level goal or equivalent.
Key Dates
- LOI Training Sessions - Register below:
- September 30, 2025 – In-person OR
- October 8, 2025 – Virtual
- Virtual training will be recorded and available before the LOI opens.
- October 20, 2025:LOI Opens for 2026-27 Grant Cycle
- November 10, 2025: LOI Submission Deadline
- December 19, 2025: LOI Decision Notifications Sent
- Full Application Training: More information on full application training will be available by December 19, 2025.
- January 20, 2026: Full Application Opens
- February 16, 2026: Full Applications Due
- March 9 – March 27, 2026: Virtual Visits & Presentations
- June 1, 2026: Full Application Decision Notification
- July 1, 2026: 2026-27 Grant Cycle Begins & Award Letters Issued
Important Note: Teen Mental Wellness: Empowering Minds high-school grant opportunity and the Mental Health Improvement Fund grant opportunity have a separate timeline from Impact Based Funding. More information on those opportunities will be available on the Funding Opportunities page in January 2026.
Training Sessions
Join us to learn more about our new Impact Based Funding model and application process. These sessions are specifically for the funding area you wish to apply for. If your organization is interested in funding from more than one area please register for all applicable. Virtual and in-person sessions will cover the same information. Please review the Impact Based Funding Guide to learn if your agency qualifies.
In-Person Sessions
Tuesday, September 30
Key Initiatives
In partnership with our community, we are creating lasting change in these focus areas.
