LIVE UNITED TODAY A DAY OF
ACTION
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his year’s annual Day of Action was a success! United Way of North Central Florida brought more than 150 volunteers from all over Alachua County together on a Friday morning to beautify local schools. Our volunteers came from Alachua County Fire Rescue, Alachua County Library District, Alachua County Administration, Enterprise Holdings, Infinite Energy, Institute for Workforce Innovation (IWI), Nationwide, Nordstrom, more than 15 Publix stores, RTI Surgical and TD Bank. They were assisted by members of the Alachua County Public Schools Facilities Office and custodians from the schools, who reported for duty on their day off! (cont. on next page)
Volunteers from Infinite Energy gathered at Glen Springs Elementary School on Day of Action 2015
FOURTH QUARTER 2015
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: A DAY OF ACTION, A DECADE OF RESULTS, SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT, WLC EVENTS
A DAY OF ACTION CONT’D The volunteers were divided among eight Alachua County schools: Alachua Elementary, A.L. Mebane Middle, Glen Springs Elementary, Howard W. Bishop Middle, Idylwild Elementary, Newberry Elementary, W.W. Irby Elementary and Sidney Lanier Center. Volunteer groups also worked on projects with our partners Boys & Girls Club and Girls Place. Some of the projects included repainting aged playground equipment, weeding, mulching, planting bushes, making flowerbeds and clearing the campuses of overgrowth. The event began with a standing-room only kickoff at Sidney Lanier Center with breakfast and words of encouragement from Alachua County Public Schools Vice Superintendent Paul White. United Way of North Central Florida appreciates all the support from our volunteers and partners. The event showed how much you are invested in our communities. A special thank you to our sponsors Florida Food Service, Pepsi and Alachua County Public Schools for their support with this awesome event. Top Left Board Member, Lisa Patton improving the parking lot with a team from Publix at Newberry Elementary Top Right A Publix volunteer painting at Howard Bishop Middle Middle Top Volunteers from Nationwide stand proudly by the new flowerbeds they built for Idylwild Elementary Middle Bottom Volunteers from Alachua County Library, Nordstrom and Alachua County Public Schools at Mebane Middle School Bottom Left Volunteers from IWI, and the County Manager’s Office pose proudly in front of the playground they repainted at Sidney Lanier Center Bottom Right Three volunteers from RTI Surgical pose at Alachua Elementary
UPCOMING EVENTS 2/18
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2016 11:30 a.m.– 1 p.m.
HEARTS UNITE: AN EVENT TO ADVANCE THE COMMON GOOD We invite you to open your heart and lend a hand. More information coming soon. Location: Trinity United Methodist Church, 4000 NW 53rd Ave RSVP: Mary Broadfoot at 352-331-2800 or mbroadfoot@unitedwayncfl.org
3/17
THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2016 11:30 a.m.– 1:00 p.m.
CAMPAIGN FINALE Join us as we thank our workplace campaigns for all they do and present special appreciation awards. Location: Best Western Gateway Grand, 4200 NW 97th Blvd RSVP: www.UWChangeLivesHere.EventBrite.com (registration opens February 1st)
4/14
SMALL BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
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mall businesses play a critical role in maintaining a thriving local economy. They are no less important to the success of United Way, as we endeavor to improve lives through our work in education, income and health. Our Small Business Partners are an important, growing family of donors who are vital to helping us meet the needs of our community. To read the full interviews with Steven Camps, Sr., Carlee Daylor, and David Greenberg, please visit www.unitedwayncfl.org/smallbusinessspotlight. To sign up for our e-newsletter, please visit www.unitedwayncfl.org. To become a Small Business Partner, please contact Chris Wells at cwells@unitedwayncfl.org.
“ Tough times don’t last, but tough people do. Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass... it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
“ Our business philosophy is to do the best job everyday for each of our clients.”
THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2015 5:30 –7:00 p.m.
VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION NIGHT Save the date for the first annual event to thank our amazing volunteers for all that they do year-round! More information coming soon.
Steven Camps Sr., President of Pro-Care Janitorial Services
David Greenberg of David Greenberg Communications
“ United Way is the avenue that lets me keep my city great, while also helping it to constantly improve.” Chris (Boris) Marhefka and Carlee Daylor, Founders and Owners of Eat the 80
TO READ FULL INTERVIEWS VISIT: www.unitedwayncfl.org/smallbusinessspotlight 2 / LIVE UNITED
LIVE UNITED / 3
WELCOME, NAILAH!
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nited Way of North Central Florida has added a new member to our dynamic team! Please help us to welcome Nailah Summers as our new Communications Specialist. In an effort to get to know Nailah better, we gave her a short quiz. Check out her answers!
1. WHERE ARE YOU FROM? That always feels like a complicated question! I was born in Washington, D.C., was raised on Miami Beach. My mother is Cuban American and my father is African American. That covers all my bases, right?
2. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN GAINESVILLE? I came to live in
A DECADE OF RESULTS
Gainesville in 2011 to attend the University of Florida and have been here since.
A
3. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Mint Chocolate
s with the passing of each year, and the ushering in of its funding model to reflect an outcomes-based framework. a new season, this is the time for reflection, re-tooling To date, only 16% of United Ways nationwide have made and re-invigorating prior commitments. It is the season this switch. By 2011, we employed a framework that was for us to re-visit promises made, to evaluate progress gained anchored on Results-Based Accountability (RBA) to help along the way and to make adjustments that will help us stay achieve our Collective Impact mission. This mission was the course toward a goal originally set back when all we had the product of a community-wide visioning process, led by was hope and passion. For us at United Way of North Central the UWNCFL, to collaborate with partner agencies and other Florida, regional organizations including the University of Florida, local it is the season to remember why we got into impact work government and law enforcement, nonprofits, and others in in the first place, and to take a long, order to identify key areas of need across hard look at our road ahead if we are the region. Those needs were determined to The UWNCFL was going to keep the commitment we made be education, financial stability, health and among the first to hitch immediate needs and became the foundanearly 10 years ago to “Turning the Curve” on our community’s most tion for our funding strategy. It was a “new itself to this new way important issues. day” for UWNCFL and its partners.
of fundraising and by
Let me take you back to the early 2000’s In total, we funded 26 programs across 2009, had completely when United Way Worldwide—based in 19 agencies within our six-county footprint, transformed its funding each related to our focus areas. We Virginia—began to look into alternative ways of increasing its efficiency and committed three years of funding to model to reflect an maximizing its impact as a leading them—amongst the longest in the state of outcomes-based nonprofit agency. It was 2006 when Florida. Earlier this year, we called the framework. UWW launched the “Impact Model”—a partners back to get their feedback on how brand-new, if not controversial at the things were going. We learned a lot from time, transformation of the agency’s pure fundraising model to that process. We learned that we could improve what kind of an impact-based version, where effectiveness would no longer data we were requesting so that in our next funding cycle, be evaluated and measured in dollars raised alone, but by the which begins July 2016, we will have better systems in place to output and effectiveness of funded programs in the community compare apples-to-apples and to eliminate any duplications of as a whole. This major shift happened at the dawn of the data. This refinement will help us to meet our most pressing Great Recession so it further catalyzed the movement by many community needs. non-profits toward overhauling their fundraising strategies to So, as we prepare for our new funding cycle in 2016, we focus on how they could glean measurable outcomes from reflect on what we’ve learned these past 10 years: Real change funded initiatives and discover their competitive advantage. is collaborative, flexible and responsive. And, that our real This new way of doing business, while difficult for many impact is measured only by our commitment to Live United. initially to adjust to, had the ability to prove a program’s Deborah V. Bowie, CCE, IOM propensity to create lasting change. President & CEO The UWNCFL was among the first to hitch itself to this new United Way of North Central Florida way of fundraising, and by 2009, had completely transformed 4 / LIVE UNITED
Chip. Always.
TOYS FOR TOTS ENSURES A HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON FOR MORE CHILDREN THIS YEAR.
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nce again this holiday season, United Way of North Central Florida has been running the Toys for Tots program. More than 750 children will receive toys through United Way and the U.S. Marine Corps program this year. The total number of children served is a 68% increase from last year. We are pleased that we are able to serve so many more children to ensure they have a very happy holiday season.
This year, Toys for Tots is set to serve more than 750 children in Alachua County.
4. WHAT IS SOMETHING SURPRISING THAT MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU? When I was a teenager I wanted to own a chain of hair salons that catered to hair like mine. I still enjoy doing my friends’ hair.
5. WHY ARE YOU EXCITED TO LIVE UNITED? There’s not much that’s more important to me than people and helping them be empowered. There are so many people that UWNCFL helps locally every year from our education initiatives like ReadingPals and Check and Connect to 2-1-1, who provide connections to resources that can help someone going through a hard time. What UWNCFL does with its Community Investment Fund is something anyone can be proud of. Nailah Summers, Communications Specialist
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WLC EVENTS
UWNCFL IN THE GATOR NATION HOMECOMING PARADE
HOLIDAY FUNDRAISING LUNCHEON
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he United Way of North Central Florida team celebrated being a part of the Gator Nation during the University of Florida’s Homecoming Parade on Friday, November 6. UWNCFL was in the parade with a number of partners including Boys and Girls Club of Alachua County, Partnership for Strong Families and Catholic Charities.
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n Wednesday, November 18, we held our Fifth Annual Women’s Leadership Council Holiday Fundraising Luncheon. Thank you to everyone who attended. All ticket sales and 20 percent of vendors’ proceeds raised more than $5,000 for ReadingPals! A special thank you to our event sponsors FrontStreet Commercial Real Estate Group, Best Western Gateway Grand and Belk.
United Way Board Member Jennifer Hunt and Simone Harbert of Campus USA Credit Union with their paintings.
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n Tuesday, September 15, the Women’s Leadership Council hosted the Painting & Pinot at Do Art Studios. Nearly 50 ladies were in attendance.
Giant Live United t-shirts representing our Community Impact Partners during the parade!
More than 20 local vendors, including Kitchen and Spice, Stella and Dot, Alternatives Global Marketplace, and Scentsy, participated in the annual holiday shopping mall, available exclusively to luncheon attendees, located in the hotel lobby and promenade. After an hour of shopping, lunch was served from 12 to 1 p.m., with time allotted for more shopping after lunch.
Keynote speaker, Dr. Nancy Hardt shared her passion for connecting science and GIS mapping toward devising poverty solutions. In 2008, Dr. Hardt worked with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office to invent a new tool to zero in on poverty-stricken WLC Steering Committee Member and ReadingPals hotspots in the city. This allowed public health professionals to devise mentor, Laura Gunter with Suzanne Friis. comprehensive treatments and preventive care measures that targeted the highest risk communities. For her efforts, Dr. Hardt won the 2013 Sapphire Award for Individual Excellence. Her address during the luncheon stressed the importance of early childhood learning and the importance of volunteer involvement to help underprivileged children in our areas.
United Way North Central Florida staff at the University of Florida’s Homecoming Parade.
These women enjoyed a colorful evening full of laughter, creativity and wine. All ticket sales and donations from the event went to support the ReadingPals initiative. Thank you to Do Art Studios for helping to host this fun event for a great cause!
Ladies painting, eating and chatting during Painting & Pinot.
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In addition to Dr. Hardt, Senior Reverend Alan Struckmeyer spoke about his experiences as a ReadingPal for the past three years. He shared personal stories of how he and his ReadingPal, Matthew, have positively impacted each other’s lives.
From Top Ally Nygaard and Virginia MacKoul of FrontStreet, who sponsored the luncheon The Enterprise Holdings team: (back row) Kim Slone, Andi Fullam, Sara Cafarelli, Natalie Harris and Patti Dugan. (front row) Andrea McClintic, Joey Goodman and Jenn Pohl. (left to right) Lynn Hughes, Susan Berg, Genile Morris, Pascale Spears, Meredith LaPradd, Cat Ferris and Jaye Hamblet. Deborah Bowie talks about ReadingPals and the importance of early literacy.
UWNCFL staff excited to be part of the parade.
UWNCFL staff representing our Impact Partners during the parade.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS TRAINING
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n October, the United Way of North Central Florida Board of Directors gathered for an information session and SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) exercise. The Board also received an update on statewide efforts to assist the state’s working poor and middle class.
Left Board of Directors Chair, Kay Ayers with President & CEO Deborah Bowie Right Board members and UWCNFL staff members participating in a fun icebreaker, lead by Dr. Jen Day Shaw. LIVE UNITED / 7
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ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
YOUR UNITED WAY TEAM Staff/Executive Team
Board of Directors
Deborah V. Bowie, President & CEO Rhonda Johnson, Director of Operations Mary Broadfoot, Executive Assistant
Executive Committee Kay Ayers, AvMed, Chair Nick Banks, Front Street, Vice Chair Carolyn Lukert, Dementia Education, Inc., Past Board Chair Dr. Ed Bonahue, Santa Fe College, Member-At-Large Kenneth Kurdziel, James Moore & Company, Member-At-Large Melanie Ross, UF Health, Member-At-Large
Community Impact Team Jennifer Stojkovic, Director of Community Impact Norinda Rosario Yancey, Education and School-Based Initiatives Manager Angela Hutchings, ReadingPals Coordinator Barbara Brady, Check & Connect Specialist Annetta McCloud, Check & Connect Specialist Stephanie Burke, Check & Connect Specialist
Development Team Dana Clayton, VP Resource Development Chris Wells, Director, Small Business Partners Jessica Stephens, Development Manager, Individual Giving and Retirees Britt Pearson, Development Associate, Affinity Groups Sylvia Waldman, Director of Database Systems Dawn Adkins, Database Systes Jacquelyn Tartaglione, Campaign Associate
Communications & Marketing Team Amy Azoulay, Senior Manager of Communications Nailah Summers, Communications Specialist
Board Members Tracy Bachmann, Waymaker Communications Bill Gair, University of Florida Sam Goforth, Community Volunteer Jennifer Hunt, CAMPUS USA Credit Union Jackie Johnson, Alachua County Public Schools John Jopling, Dell Graham Shaney Livingston, Alachua County Library District Greg Moraski, Nationwide Lisa Patton, Publix Brad Pollitt, UF Health & Shands Todd Powell, Plum Creek Doug Ray, Gainesville Sun/Ocala Star Banner Dr. Jen Day Shaw, University of Florida Andy Sherrard, O2BKids! Dr. Patricia Snyder, University of Florida Adrian Taylor, Gainesville Chamber of Commerce Scott Thomas, Infinite Energy Jenna White, Enterprise Holdings, Inc.
Special thanks to our Academy Sponsors
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