Leading With Impact
United Way of Greater St. Louis is on a mission to help people live their best possible lives.
United Way of Greater St. Louis started almost 100 years ago with a vision to make our community better.
Heading into a new century of helping, our vision isn’t much different. We continue to see a region where people have access to the resources, tools, and services they need to thrive. Now, we’re leveraging sophisticated measurements, advanced technology and our historical knowledge to help us lead with impact and help our community be its best.
What it takes to build a stronger region
A strong community has many components that each play an important role. To build a stronger community, we believe our region must have high-performing nonprofit organizations, a desire for collaboration around needs and solutions, a focus on racial equity, and strong outcomes for programs serving people.
A strong safety net of healthy nonprofits is the foundation of our region’s success.
Through our research, we understand the breadth, depth and complexity of the needs across our region. That’s why we believe in a safety net approach to supporting the community. This approach includes investments into organizations providing food and shelter, fostering learning, establishing financial stability, improving health and strengthening communities.
We strive for equitable, thriving communities.
Honoring the unique needs of each community we serve and recognizing the breadth and depth of services needed to meet those needs, our goal is to support equitable, thriving communities so that ultimately, every person in our region can live their best possible life.
The interconnected needs of our region drive us.
The needs we are addressing are vast. We can’t ensure all kids are safe until families have access to food and housing. And we can’t ensure people with disabilities have their needs met without a strong system of support. There is no one answer to helping people live their best possible lives but there are many solutions. We will fund safety net agencies that provide direct services to meet needs in our 16-county region, and make investments into collaborations and backbone organizations providing support around community needs. Additionally, as emergency or crisis support is needed in our community, United Way will support programs and organizations meeting those needs through targeted fundraising and grantmaking efforts.
Leading With Impact Report
Download NowCommunity Needs Assessment
Our goal in creating the Community Needs Assessment was to have a better understanding of our region’s needs. Explore the data and download the Community Needs Assessment and Leading with Impact reports.
Explore MoreCommunity Investment Strategy
There is no one solution to our region’s issues, and the needs identified in the Community Needs Assessment are vast. That’s why we will strategically invest in organizations and programs that support a wide variety of needs.
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