United Way of the Bay Area Blog
Live United
United Way is working diligently to establish another five SparkPoint Centers in the Bay Area during the next 18 months, which will join four existing centers in Oakland, American Canyon (Napa), San Bruno and San Rafael. In Contra Costa County, Mechanics Bank Vice President Erwin Reeves is one of several leaders United Way has gathered [...]
Last week, United Way kicked-off our 22nd annual Koko Challenge at a gathering of law and community leaders hosted by Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. The Koko Challenge is a fundraising contest among local law firms that run United Way fundraising campaigns. The firms compete for top honors by excelling in total dollars raised, innovation and [...]
Who says philanthropy can’t be fun? On Friday, September 10th Bank of America celebrated its 21st Annual Golf Classic with all proceeds benefiting United Way of the Bay Area. It was a fun day in the sun at Walnut Creek’s Boundary Oaks Golf Course, where the bank gathered over 90 golfers for a relaxing day [...]
The 20th annual Week of Caring was a tremendous success. More than 8,000 employees from all across the Bay Area took place in the largest annual corporate volunteer event in the Bay Area and the country. In all, more than sixty companies took part and completed almost 200 projects at local nonprofits. Local nonprofits couldn’t be [...]
Here is an inspiring success story from United Way grantee Opportunity Junction: Mary Castillo had her life all planned out. She married her husband when she was 20 and spent the next 35 years staying home and raising their four children while her husband supported them. All of that changed when her husband was diagnosed [...]
“We can’t just worry about getting people placed into jobs, it’s about getting people placed in the right thing with a career ladder,” – Denise Gammal, United Way of the Bay Area vice president of research and evaluation. From the Santa Cruz Sentinel article, “Lack of good jobs makes Santa Cruz County toughest spot in Bay [...]
“When I see a youth that has potential, I let them know. Even if they have struggles or challenges, I tell them, ‘You have potential and this is just a tough time right now that you are going to have to break through.’” – Mayela Gutknecht, Youth Specialist, MatchBridge From the CBS-5’s news story, “Service [...]
Nonprofit organizations have great potential to address our community’s most challenging problems, but often lack the resources to fulfill that potential. Correspondingly, more than half of the Bay Area nonprofits who responded to United Way’s Nonprofit Pulse Survey stated they needed more in-kind support from specialists, such as pro-bono legal or marketing counsel. Forty-four percent of [...]
Congratulations to Costco, which recently completed its 2009 United Way fundraising campaign. Eighty-five percent of Costco’s Bay Area employees participated in this year’s campaign, representing 17 stores that serve the region. To spread the spirit of giving, cashiers wore LIVE UNITED shirts as they helped customers on the day of the campaign kick-off. “Costco employees [...]
Real Estate 4 Tomorrow’s Adults is a partnership between MatchBridge, United Way of the Bay Area, and the San Francisco Real Estate sector to provide paid internship opportunities to young men and women interested in real estate careers. This summer, 26 interns worked at various San Francisco property and real estate companies. The young people [...]
