United Way seeking volunteers for allocation process

Talk about it

One of the most important things that United Way does each year is to determine agency funding.

Douglas and Pope County residents are invited to be a part of this annual allocation process.

United Way of Douglas and Pope Counties’ Board of Directors has been in the process of revamping the allocations process for the past several years. Last year, they moved from funding agencies to funding programs.

The big change this year is the move from a one-year to a two-year funding cycle. Applications approved for funding this year will receive a commitment from United Way of funding for two years.

The first year volunteers hear agency presentations and then have the opportunity to do site visits the second year. This has been very successful with the United Ways that have been doing this and offers volunteers a greater insight to the services local agencies provide.

United Way is currently looking for volunteers to take part in the allocations process. In April, agencies requesting funding will make presentations about their programs to citizen review panels. Agencies will share their mission, financials and program services. In addition, they are also asked to report on their program outcomes.

Panel volunteers will be assigned a panel at random to ensure non-biased community involvement. Each panel will review about four agencies.

Panel volunteers will have the opportunity to meet with representatives, ask questions and then as a panel, discuss the agencies and make recommendations whether United Way should fund them and if so the appropriate funding amount.

Next year panelists will volunteer to serve on the same panel where they will reconfirm the United Way commitment and consider any adjustments for increase or decrease in needs.

Prior to allocations, volunteers will receive information regarding location and time as well as a proposal from the agencies they will be reviewing. To sign up, call United Way at (320) 763-4840 or e-mail www.united-3@rea-alp.com. Sign up forms are available on the Web at www.uwdp.org.

Tags: united, way, allocation, process, volunteers, needed, douglas, and, pope, counties