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It's Not About Meeting a Goal; It's About Meeting a Need
When people
ask me how things are going at United Way of Southwest Minnesota, they are
often interested in how we are coming at meeting our annual fund-raising
campaign goal. How red is the United Way thermometer?
While we do
set an ambitious campaign goal each year, I am more interested in telling the
story of the impact we're having on the community. While we need to reach a
financial goal in order to have the funds to do the work, it is the work we do
with the funds that is the important thing.
United Way of
Southwest Minnesota works to advance the common good through community
initiatives and partnerships focused on education, income and health. We do
that by recruiting people and organizations that bring together the passion,
expertise and resources to get things done. Things like providing food,
shelter, clothing, mentoring, school supplies; improving financial stability,
education, literacy and much more. All of this is for the benefit of
people who live and work in Lincoln, Lyon, Murray, Yellow Medicine and western
Redwood Counties of Minnesota.
Like all
investors, our donors want to be sure that they are getting a good return on
their philanthropic investment. We can assure them they are. Annually local
volunteers carefully review agencies' programs for proposed impact; they review
financial and governance information and make sure the funds will be used
wisely. All these measures ensure that the funds invested on our donors' behalf
are making the greatest impact possible.
Like any
investment manager, we aim to be transparent and provide information on the
impact those funds make - the community's "Return on Investment." There
is a great deal of information about the local work of our organization, photos
of programs in action and other resources on our webpage. Take a look or
call our office, 507-929-2273, to learn more.
The United
Way of Southwest Minnesota annual fund-raising campaign is underway. Our
ambitious goal is $515,000. We strive to meet and hopefully exceed that
goal. And, because I know you want to know, there is good progress toward that
at this time.
But it's not
about meeting that goal; it's about how those funds will enable us to meet
community needs. We invite you to join us in meeting that need. For
more information or to make a donation: www.unitedwayswmn.org
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