OUR STORY. OUR WHY

​United Way of Linn, Benton & Lincoln Counties serves as a regional convener, collaborator, and community funder working to address the most pressing challenges facing individuals and families across our communities. Since the 1950s, United Way has mobilized people and resources from the Cascades to the Coast to improve lives and strengthen local systems that support opportunity and wellbeing.

Guided by the mission to mobilize the resources and people of our communities in collective action to address our most pressing challenges, United Way works alongside nonprofit organizations, businesses, volunteers, and public partners to create lasting community impact.

United Way’s work focuses on four interconnected impact areas that represent the building blocks of thriving communities:

• Healthy Communities – Improving access to health, nutrition, and wellness resources so individuals and families can live healthy and stable lives.
• Youth Opportunity – Supporting children and young people through early education, family engagement, and pathways to college and career success.
• Financial Security – Strengthening financial stability through workforce development, housing stability, and economic opportunity.
• Community Resiliency – Building stronger communities through volunteer engagement, disaster preparedness, and coordinated responses to emerging challenges.

These impact areas guide United Way’s partnerships, philanthropic investments, volunteer mobilization, and community initiatives across Linn, Benton, and Lincoln Counties.

Over the next five years, United Way will focus on three strategic priorities designed to strengthen both organizational capacity and community impact:

• Building the United Way Brand
• Strengthening Community Engagement
• Achieving Operational Excellence

Through these priorities, United Way will continue mobilizing people, resources, and partnerships to advance collaborative solutions that improve lives and strengthen communities throughout the region.

We envision communities where all individuals and families have the opportunity to achieve their potential.

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​​OUR HISTORY
United Way is one place where everyone can make a bigger difference. Since 1955 in Benton & Lincoln Counties and 1957 in Linn County, United Way has been serving from the Cascades to Coast our communities’ most vulnerable populations by forging partnerships across all sectors, mobilizing resources where they are needed most, and investing in programs that create change.

Beginning in 2017, the two organizations joined forces - finding ways to benefit all communities across the tri-county footprint by working at a regional scale to make our most efficient impact to date. Newly named United Way of Linn, Benton, & Lincoln Counties, United Way fights for the health, education, and financial stability of every person in every community across our tri-county region. We are thrilled to join a network of more than 1,100 United Ways across 40+ different countries working to make each individual community the best it can be! ​

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UNITED WAY WORLDWIDE
​United Way seeks to improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities around the world to advance the common good. True to our founding spirit, whenever there is a need in our communities, United Way is there. We bring a comprehensive approach to every challenge, actively listening and responding to local needs. Our reach across tens of thousands of communities means we can share innovations and scale impact to improve lives around the world.

United is the way!

OUR FOCUS

Education

Success in life begins with a quality education. And yet, many children and youth lack the support they need to strengthen their literacy, stay on track in school, graduate high school and find a career.

Financial Stability

Chronic unemployment. Financial illiteracy. Homelessness. In communities across Linn, Benton & Lincoln Counties individuals and families are facing financial obstacles that prevent a good quality of life.

Health

By making it easier for individuals to access substance abuse programs, receive quality health care and access nutritious foods, we’re fighting to help everyone get—and stay—healthy.

​We do more than raise money. We step up. We join in. We set bold goals and measure progress to ensure we’re making the biggest impact possible. We identify gaps in existing local services and build new programs to fill them. We partner with local nonprofits, companies, volunteers and community members to create lasting change. Together, we’re solving our ​biggest problems for today, tomorrow and forever.

We raise money. 

We work with a dedicated group of volunteers and Campaign Coordinators who lead their companies and organizations to raise more than $1 million in contributions each year.

We vet agencies. 

​We do the due diligence that individual donors don’t always have the time, resources, or knowledge to do. Local people volunteer their time to vet all of the nonprofits we fund in the areas of quality programming, governance, finance, and sustainability. 

We fund solutions. 

We empower people to unite and solve complex problems. Our fundraising campaign dollars are allocated to address the immediate basic needs of local families and strategically solve systemic barriers to education, financial stability, and health.