Issuu

for

100 YEARS for

100 YEARS

OUR NEXT CENTURY OF SERVICE for

100 YEARS

for

100 YEARS 1

ON THE COVER

This mural, from the Weinberg Innovation Place in our Montgomery Park headquarters, offers a panoramic glimpse of UWCM’s past and present. From feeding the hungry and supporting those in need during our earliest days as a “Community Chest” and “Red Feather” organization, to providing access to resources and opportunities to educate the next generation of community leaders, United Way advocates for all families, all neighborhoods, and all communities throughout Central Maryland. The next pane of this mural—representing the next phase of United Way’s work—will be painted by you and others who come together to join our 100th Anniversary Campaign. Cover mural by Red Swan

United Way of Central Maryland has always worked to provide what’s needed, where it’s needed. And our deep impact throughout the community wouldn’t be possible without you.

THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY CAMPAIGN

THE CAMPAIGN FOR OUR NEXT CENTURY Together, we’ve put healthy food on the table. We’ve kept families stably housed. We’ve fought for greater economic opportunity for marginalized groups. Our mission is to improve lives by empowering leaders and mobilizing the caring power of our communities. Our work promotes equity, creates opportunities, and increases access to basic needs in housing, health, employment, and education. Your investment means you’ve adopted this mission as your own. We’re proud that you choose to stand with United Way now and in the future. In 2025, United Way of Central Maryland commemorates 100 years of service and partnership to the Greater Baltimore region, and in doing so we also celebrate the strength of our partnership with you. United Way’s milestone anniversary belongs to you. It is an opportunity for us, together, to mark our shared accomplishments and march boldly into Greater Baltimore’s future through deeper investment in United Way’s endowment, innovative work, and initiatives that promote racial, economic, and social equity that break down barriers for those who have been historically excluded from equal opportunities in our region. Your partnership, trust, and investment make our community impact possible. Over the next four years, we will serve more than 100,000 individuals. The 100th Anniversary Campaign is an opportunity to extend your philanthropic legacy even further. This is your campaign for Central Maryland. Please join us by making your mark on our next century of service to our community. FRANKLYN BAKER President & CEO United Way of Central Maryland

DR. CHARLIE REULAND Chair, United Way of Central Maryland Board of Directors Executive Vice President & COO The Johns Hopkins Hospital

THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY CAMPAIGN

OUR NEXT CENTURY OF SERVICE United Way of Central Maryland aims to raise $20 million during the 100th Anniversary Campaign to drive strategic initiatives that will amplify our impact in Central Maryland. Our approach to helping the community is as direct as it is successful: When we support individuals, we bolster families. When we bolster families, we strengthen neighborhoods which, in turn, changes the fabric of entire communities throughout Central Maryland. Our work is recognized locally and nationally for one simple reason: We have a track record of making deep, sustainable impact that changes lives in our region. This $20 million investment will amplify our work, including helping an additional 12,000 students in Baltimore City Schools receive academic support—a 780% increase—and will ensure that an additional 5,000 households (upwards of 20,000 individuals) remain stably housed.

The $20 million Anniversary Campaign will focus specifically on the endowment, equity, and innovation. Our goals are:

$10 million

$5 million

Growing our endowment to address urgent community needs now and in the future.

Advancing racial equity (and equity in all of its forms), diversity, inclusion, and opportunity across Central Maryland.

Launching nextgeneration, visionary initiatives capable of bringing new, dynamic ideas to life.

A Call to Action: MacKenzie Scott's $20 Million Gift to UWCM MacKenzie Scott’s $20 million gift to United Way in December 2020 not only serves as an endorsement of our life-changing work, it allows us to fast-track United Way’s support in neighborhoods across Central Maryland. Because the gift is to be spent or allocated over the next three years, it is accelerating efforts in our new Family Centers in West Baltimore and Howard County and will deepen the scope of our new Young Men United educational equity and economic advancement initiative.

A Springboard to Greater Impact

90%

of MacKenzie Scott’s $20 million gift will be directed, over the next three years, to community-based work and the sustainability that makes this work possible.

Over the next three years, Ms. Scott's gift:

70% 20%

Promotes innovation and equity programming.

10%

Enables United Way to invest in critical organizational infrastructure to operate efficiently and strategically for years to come.

Bolsters our endowment and operating reserves which directly and indirectly support our impact work.

While MacKenzie Scott’s gift is accelerating our near-term impact in the community, the 100th Anniversary Campaign is a unique opportunity to amplify that impact for generations to come.

Now is the right time for a major campaign. Amplifying impact through the Anniversary Campaign means, among other things: ¡ Growing our endowment, increasing its annual contribution to sustaining United Way’s critical work. ¡ Magnifying the voices of marginalized communities to learn from them about the barriers they face and how we can support their efforts to improve their lives. ¡ Igniting and stoking innovation, supporting and working beside minority-led organizations and other local changemakers to reduce the systemic barriers to equity facing far too many of our communities.

Annual campaign gifts fund operations that tackle the issues we confront every day. This campaign will offer us the footing, foundation, and upstream solutions to meet the next public emergency, economic downturn, housing crisis, and beyond.

Ms. Scott’s remarkable generosity ignites the possibilities of our 100th Anniversary Campaign. Her investment reaffirms our strategic approach to driving responsible, exponential impact. As Central Maryland emerges from the pandemic, we hope her gift will achieve its full potential by serving as a call to action—inspiring local philanthropists to deepen their investment in United Way’s endowment and missioncritical work.

100TH ANNIVERSARY CAMPAIGN PRIORITIES

1. THE ENDOWMENT A strong endowment is an essential revenue stream, ensuring United Way’s long-term sustainability and viability to the community it serves. $10 million in support of the endowment will fuel our operational capacity and drive our work for generations to come. Since its establishment in 1971, our endowment has been vital to how we confront urgent challenges facing our community, and how we prepare today for challenges we will face in the future. At $27 million,* United Way of Central Maryland’s current endowment is more than $10 million below peer United Ways such as those in Cincinnati, Twin Cities, and Phoenix.

“We’ve lived in Baltimore for 40 years and it’s a city we always want to support. We've chosen to make a $1 million planned gift to United Way of Central Maryland because we believe that United Way has the leadership, the drive, and the tenacity to help Greater Baltimore realize the best version of itself. Our family believes that of those to whom much is given, much is required. We are proud to support United Way and its worthy mission.” FREEMAN AND JACKIE HRABOWSKI

For 50 years, gifts to our endowment have supported United Way’s mission-critical work and its operational viability. Gifts to the endowment reflect a special investment strategy for donors dedicated to bolstering the organization’s work, while ensuring the longevity of United Way’s community impact into its second 100 years of service. Members of United Way’s Tocqueville Legacy Circle (endowment gifts of $200,000+) and Legacy Circle (endowment gifts less than $200,000) compose a select group of investors who partner with United Way to commit their philanthropic legacies to confronting systemic inequities that can only be resolved through sustained investment.

*As of June 2021 and based on unaudited financial reporting

Each year, United Way of Central Maryland’s Board of Directors authorizes approximately 5% of the endowment to support current initiatives in health, housing, employment, and education—making the endowment’s annual contribution a versatile reserve that addresses both immediate and future needs. The vitality of the endowment helps ensure United Way remains a responsive and reliable resource for all residents of Central Maryland.

Homelessness Prevention “We believe United Way makes a critical impact in our community. We wanted to make a significant gift to the endowment to help power its mission in the future, while retaining funds for our children’s inheritance. A Charitable Lead Trust allowed us to do both - and provided a tax deduction for a significant portion of the gift. A win/win for United Way and for us.”

United Way of Central Maryland’s portfolio of housing programs— including our Homelessness Prevention sites—offer a diverse set of interventions that keep families in their homes. The first two Homelessness Prevention sites were launched in Park Heights and Brooklyn/Curtis Bay in 2012. By 2020, United Way had established 16 sites across Baltimore City and the five surrounding counties. Increasing the scope and scale of our homelessness prevention work by 8,600% included employing 90 additional case managers to work with individuals and families. 8,000

4,000

Number of families served Number of individuals served

JOANNE AND MARK POLLAK 0

December 2012

December 2016

December 2020 7

100TH ANNIVERSARY CAMPAIGN PRIORITIES

2. THE EQUITY INITIATIVES FUND INVESTING IN EQUITY, ONE COMMUNITY AT A TIME

Confronting racial, economic, and social inequities is the heart of United Way’s work. Because people of color have been disproportionately affected by inequities in housing, health, education, and employment, all our work improves the health and well-being of those who have been historically marginalized. Our Equity Initiatives Fund seeks $5 million investment to expand our equity-focused direct- service work. We have proven time and again that when we help individuals and families, neighborhoods come back to life and communities thrive. Approaches include increasing scope and scale in: Building equitable communities: Our Neighborhood Zones include our nationally recognized family centers which help teen parents remain in school— with a 70% graduation rate versus the national average of 40%. We can expand this proven approach to new neighborhoods across Baltimore City and the five counties.

Enabling equitable access to justice: Our Veterans Treatment Court, serving veterans within the criminal justice system, has a remarkable 97% antirecidivism rate. Expanding capacity for this program means more veterans (especially veterans of color) can receive timely and lifechanging assistance to help them live lawfully and independently.

Supporting racial equity in education, employment, and access to opportunity: Over the course of 10 years, our Young Men United equity and workforce readiness initiative will support young men of color through internships, mentorship, educational service, and career training to change the odds for over 1,000 young men of color and prepare them for careers of the future.

Promoting digital equity: Our connection hubs in underserved communities make digital access and skills available to all, and two new Wi-Fi hotspots in South Baltimore now provide internet access to upwards of 3,000 people. Expanding nine Wi-Fi hotspots to marginalized West Baltimore neighborhoods will enable an additional 13,500 residents to have digital access.

United Way knows that investing in equity means greater prosperity for all of us. 8

60%

of Black households in Maryland are Asset-Limited and IncomeConstrained, but Employed (or ALICE). They are struggling to break cycles of generational poverty while simultaneously facing housing insecurity, flat wages, and a rising cost of living. United Way’s Equity Initiatives Fund will allow us to serve more people, sooner—enabling us to do even more to strengthen lives, neighborhoods, communities, and ultimately the economic vitality of Central Maryland for years to come.

The Family Center at Our Neighborhood Zone in Brooklyn At the Family Center, expectant and parenting teens can learn valuable parenting skills while staying in school and on track for graduation. Launched in October 2014, the Family Center initially supported 23 young people and 15 children. Through 2021, the Family Center has served a total of 186 young people and 87 children. United Way is proud of each of the 46 Family Center moms and dads who have, to date, graduated from Ben Franklin High School. They’re committed to providing stable homes for their children and striving for stable, well-paying jobs that enable them to support their families. Our success at the Family Center in the Neighborhood Zone in Brooklyn has become a foundation for community impact. In 2021, approximately $1.7 million in leveraged funds (cash or in-kind resources) were infused into Ben Franklin High School and the surrounding neighborhoods. United Way of Central Maryland’s work that leads to thriving communities has ignited change that brings the people and the resources together.

100TH ANNIVERSARY CAMPAIGN PRIORITIES

3. THE INNOVATION FUND

INNOVATION IS THE DRIVING FORCE OF UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL MARYLAND. We are known for ambitious, cutting-edge solutions to challenges facing our community. The Innovation Fund will dedicate resources specifically to the development of visionary, nextgeneration ideas outside of traditional budget cycles. The Innovation Fund will translate bold community-based ideas into the practical solutions that will impact generations of residents.

Innovative, data-informed initiatives like United Way’s resident-driven Emerging Neighborhood Zones grow out of grassroots conversations with the community that identify the most pressing barriers to the self-sustainability of neighborhoods. These Emerging Neighborhood Zones become the foundation for our nationally recognized Neighborhood Zone work to continue. Focused on multi-generational support, this work propels social, economic, and educational advancement. Initiatives include on-site Family Centers, housing and employment assistance, dropout prevention programs, mental health services, and more.

“We are witnessing a sea change in the way we look at healthy neighborhoods and gauge the success of our work. The goal of Emerging Neighborhood Zones is to empower residents to become self-sustaining by growing local resident leaders who push forward their own, collective agenda and continue the work. Partnering with residents, listening to their voices, and developing their strengths is the primary strategy for driving solutions forward. This is an innovative, long-term, focused approach to individual and community power that leads to healthy outcomes for entire neighborhoods. And that is what creates the foundation for sustainable change.” PAMELA BROWN, PhD Executive Director, Anne Arundel County Partnership for Children, Youth and Families

Who is The Innovation Fund for? The Innovation Fund is for investors dedicated to venture philanthropy that strikes out in new, bold directions. It is an opportunity to envision, invest, test, and bring to scale the solutions that enable United Way to anticipate and meet tomorrow’s challenges.

This important impact is only possible when start-up funds are dedicated to getting new, bold ventures up and running in the community.

“I sincerely believe the work United Way does helps make the world a better place. Our family’s planned gift ensures that we’ll be able to support that work for years to come.” KATE NORMAN

From our state-wide ALICE report, to timely and ongoing neighborhood need trends captured from 211 call analysis, United Way of Central Maryland has long been the resource for important community impact data. Now, we are driving data into action through the work of our new Acceleration Institute—established to fast-track innovative initiatives and proven program models to propel strategic, efficient, and longterm positive change. This innovative work can bring large scale social change for local populations with the early investment to bring them to scale. Supporting the Innovation Fund ensures that a pipeline of critical, data-informed initiatives can be brought to life.

A Strategic STEP Forward United Way is known for innovative programs. One example is our STEP (Strategic Targeted Eviction Prevention) initiative which grew out of our Homelessness Prevention services. One in five Maryland residents were behind on rent during the pandemic. Facing the prospect of a wave of evictions, United Way mobilized to find innovative, practical solutions to keeping people in their homes. We piloted the STEP Program in Baltimore County, distributing upwards of $4 million in back-rent assistance for qualifying participants. At the request of additional jurisdictions, we are expanding the STEP program into other communities. We’re spearheading the distribution of $43 million from the federal Emergency Rental Assistance program to help an additional 3,100 households avoid eviction. STEP was a game changer for Central Maryland families. It has received national recognition as an innovative, sure-fire solution to keeping families in their homes. 11

INVITATION

MAKE YOUR MARK ON OUR NEXT 100 YEARS Our $20 million campaign to support the endowment, equity initiatives, and innovation ensures that United Way will always be prepared to act decisively and compassionately to address critical challenges facing our community. United Way has a reputation for tackling some of the most deep-rooted and pervasive problems confronting our neighborhoods. We do this in partnership with volunteers and donors who know that sustained investment in our communities requires more than good intentions and aspirational thinking. Our 100th Anniversary Campaign will exponentially increase the impact we already make in the lives of residents, in their neighborhoods, and to the economic vitality of Central Maryland communities. This is the work we’ve been doing for nearly 100 years.

And we’re ready to answer the call and to Live United for another century. We invite you to join us by investing in: ¡ United Way’s future impact with a legacy gift to our ENDOWMENT ¡ Our new EQUITY Initiatives Fund—as we fight to dismantle the barriers faced by underrepresented and underserved communities ¡ Our new INNOVATION Fund—as we launch ambitious, cutting-edge solutions to pervasive community problems. You can select one or all of the options that align with your philanthropic priorities. By joining us, you are aligning yourself with an organization that has a proven understanding of the region, intimate connections with grassroots groups, and tried and true programs that can be scaled—which means that your gift will have immediate impact on the lives of Central Maryland residents.

THANK YOU FOR CONSIDERING JOINING US IN OUR NEXT CENTURY OF SERVICE. 12

The 100th Anniversary Campaign is a timely opportunity to build the foundation for what comes next—for our residents, our neighborhoods, and our entire region. Please join us in advancing United Way’s work for its next century of service." GUY & NUPUR PAREKH FLYNN JOANNE & MARK POLLAK Co-Chairs, United Way of Central Maryland’s 100th Anniversary Campaign

for

100 YEARS for

for

100 YEARS

for

100 YEARS