When the United Way Guelph Wellington Dufferin looked at the issues impacting the community during the pandemic, the organization realized it was time to change the way it provided funding and address inequities.
“We don’t want to go back to what was pre-COVID,” said executive director Glenna Banda. “COVID really opened our eyes and saw how we were all in the same storm, but each of us were in different boats.”
After consultations with volunteers, donors and community partners, the United Way has launched a new initiative called the Community Impact Strategy.
It will focus on solutions and supports to address current, deepened community challenges and build trust and collaboration with community partners.
“We’ve learned a lot over the last year and a half, and with our consultations with the community through the process of developing the new strategy, we were actually really challenged and encouraged by the community, that the time is now to change things,” said Banda.
“Even though our focus hasn’t changed from our social service perspective, because of the pandemic and other things right now, it’s sort of forced us to prioritize based on community needs.”
The organization says the new strategy is more flexible in the way that funding is provided and also allows for more opportunities during the year to access funding in a way that better meets the needs of organizations.
The way it works is new and established organizations can submit a letter of intent to the United Way that outlines their project idea. After selecting different ideas, these organizations move onto the next stage, where each has to submit a traditional application, which includes a budget and other project details.
All chosen organizations can expect to receive funding from the Community Impact Strategy starting April 1, 2022.
“We’re really wanting to be accessible and inclusive to organizations we haven't worked with before,” said Banda, “That’s really why we’re making these changes.”
She mentions a drawback to this type of open call is the United Way may not have enough funding for every project. Currently, the United Way already has funding commitments in place, which is why organizations that apply for the Community Impact strategy won’t see funds come in until next year.
“We’re working as far ahead as we can so that people can plan with their budgets," said Banda.
Despite this concern, Banda explains the United Way GWD is excited about this change they are embarking on.
“When we had our meetings with the community, there were a lot of goose bumps moments, because it’s really exciting and people were like, ‘Yeah, the time is right, we have to do this.’”
Besides prioritizing local issues, Banda adds the United Way is also focusing on improving the way they meet the needs of marginalized communities in the area, and providing support to organizations in Wellington County.
“A lot of the issues, it’s not like they’re new issues, but it’s really emphasised the inequities in our community,” she said, “We’re seeing right now that going back to this thing called ‘normal’ isn’t good enough.”
The United Way GWD will be accepting letters of intent now until Sep. 24. All letters can be submitted online at unitedwayguelph.com.
