How United Way Works

United Way of Greater Cleveland helps you help our community. When you donate to United Way, your gift helps to support 216 health and human service programs and three federated agencies that help more than 450,000 children and adults in the Greater Cleveland each year.

And you can be confident that your charitable contribution is reaching those in need in our community because more than 150 volunteers, who are donors themselves, spend hundreds of hours analyzing research on our community and visiting programs to see firsthand how people and programs work to improve lives. Through this continuous process and armed with this knowledge, these Community Investment volunteers  make decisions on where to best invest your donation to meet the needs of our community in today’s environment on your behalf.

Another important fact about United Way is that because so many of our community’s leaders are committed to this work, they give freely of their time and talent to ensure its operations are top notch and their administrative expenses are low, just over 12 cents on every dollar.

Here in Cleveland, as well as across the country, health and human services budgets are being squeezed and at the same time, many Greater Cleveland individuals and families, are facing unprecedented challenges to maintain their economic and personal health. And they need our help. To provide adequate assistance, United Way needs your support, now more than ever. Even a small donation can help in big ways.

A recent survey confirmed that Greater Clevelanders care passionately about this community and those in need in here.  You can depend on United Way to help you help them. Please give as generously as you can.