The last time you gave money to a charity, did you research the needs of the community, review the organization's financial data, take a tour of the facility, and interview the Executive Director and Board to find out how your gift is being used? For an individual, this would be nearly impossible to do every time you wanted to give money to help someone. But for United Way, this is just a part of doing business.

United Way of Kern County doesn’t just “give” your money away. Instead, our Community Impact volunteers carefully consider community needs and establish funding priorities. Panels of volunteers make decisions about investing donor funds to agency programs only after spending a lot of time researching each program, visiting the agency, meeting with staff and board members, and carefully reviewing the program’s financial data. As a donor, you can be assured that the programs funded by the United Way of Kern County are being held to high standards of program and financial accountability.

United Way’s Community Impact Team is responsible for developing policies and recommendations related to how your investment will be distributed, and presenting this information to the United Way of Kern County Governing Board. This information is vital in determining how monies are distributed to make sure your investment is making the most significant impact possible for the priority health and human services issues in Kern County. Funded programs fall into six Areas of Impact: Basic Needs, Special Needs, Youth, Health, Seniors, and Family Support.

United Way monitors the impact of your investment through detailed results-based accountability reporting. This means instead of just reporting how many people are served, programs report the true impact their program is having on its clients. With outcomes measurement reporting, the program knows exactly where its successes and challenges are and can utilize the information to make improvements to further strengthen their program. United Way of Kern County provides training and assistance to the programs we fund to help them develop strong tools for measuring the results of their programs.

Members:

Community Impact Team:
Tom Dorlis, (Chair) State Farm
Michael Blake, Union Bank of California
Keith Brice, Mid State Dev. Corp.
Steve Buchanan, State Farm Insurance
Sheryl Chalupa, Goodwill Industries
Susie Geiger, Occidental of Elk Hills
Bette Horn, Aera Energy LLC
Jordan Kaufman, County of Kern
Daphne Washington, Kern County Waste Management

Assessment of Community Needs Team
Resource Development Team
Community Impact Team
Marketing Results Team