Last week, our staff joined in the United Way of America Community Leaders Conference opening session via the wonders of technology. Through a Webcast, we watched live as CEO Brian Gallagher announced the first national system goals for United Way’s work over the next decade to advance “the common good” in America:

n Cut in half the number of young people who drop out of high school

n Cut by half the number of working families who lack financial stability

n Increase by one-third the percentage of healthy young people and adults

“It is increasingly apparent that the basic building blocks of a good life — a quality education, stable income and good health — are beyond the reach of too many individuals and families,” he said to the 1,800 conference attendees in Baltimore and the hundreds of others who were watching online. “As a nation, we can’t accept these conditions. We need to challenge our systems to ignite a new social movement and begin to develop new partnerships and strategies which will create opportunities for a better life for all people.”

In the Washington Post article on the announcement, comments were included from others regarding the challenge for United Way. “All they have is a persuasive leverage, and I’m not sure that’s going to be good enough to move a lot of these entrenched local United Ways,” said Pablo S. Eisenberg, a senior fellow at Georgetown University.

Eisenberg is referencing the struggle we all face at the local level to change our historic operating model from being a convenient fundraising entity for a multitude of nonprofit organizations to being a community builder.

This conversation has been taking place throughout the United Way system for a decade, and Gallagher has decided it’s time to “put a stake in the ground.” He admits that this move is “either really stupid or really courageous,” but for years he has been admonishing the local United Ways to move more quickly toward change.

Gallagher’s “stake” is a reality check for all of us. We know we have to change. We know that not everyone will agree. We know we can’t make everyone happy. And, we know that our old model — based on running workplace-based charitable giving campaigns and distributing the funds across a wide spectrum of organizations — doesn’t fit the needs of today’s economy.

What is bold about the announcement of the goals is the measurement. The focus on education, income and health is really a reflection of the work that is already taking place locally. Here, our strategies to help our residents achieve and sustain self-sufficiency are really a quest to build the common good in our community. Born Learning, the early childhood education initiative, and our first 4Community project based on linking middle school curriculum with real world career options are ultimately aimed at improving high school graduate rates. The Community Access Network is primarily concerned with assisting those who lack income to take care of their basic needs. Some of those needs are linked to lack of health care or poor health.

But while it’s relatively easy to point to individuals and families who are in need, movement at the community level — let alone the national level — is much more difficult to attain. The Washington Post points out, correctly, that after 121 years of funding nonprofit organizations, United Way cannot report any measurable progress on these core issues. That’s why the stake in the ground is a big deal. It says, once and for all, that we know our old model isn’t changing our communities, and we are going to hold ourselves accountable for change.

The statistics backing the goals are alarming: 25 percent of teens do not graduate on time; one in four working parents doesn’t make enough to provide for his or her family; only one in three adults can be considered healthy; and 49 million Americans are not covered by health insurance. 

The work will require partnerships across all sectors — business, nonprofits, governments and individuals — and building these partnerships is an ongoing strength of the United Way system. Allen S. Grossman, a Harvard professor quoted in The Washington Post article, commented on the need for nonprofits to measure their achievements due to donor demand. “If this works,” he said, “this can help transform the way a lot of other people give away their money.”

Nancy Vaughan is president of United Way of Madison County Inc.