AFP Focus | New life at United Way

Story by Chris Graham

It takes a special person to work in the nonprofit world. The hours are long, the pay isn’t comparable at all to the for-profit world. But at the end of the day, there are rewards that the IRS can’t tax you for.

“I believe that everybody ought to make it a point in their life at some point to be that person to make an impact in their community. I just happen to get to do it as my job,” said Marta Szuba, the new development director at the United Way of Greater Augusta.

The UWGA team is a group of newbies, by and large. Program development manager Lori Johns is the grizzled veteran with the group with two years of service. Office manager Tina Souders has been in the office for six months.

Szuba and new executive director Cynthia Pritchard started on the job just before the launch of the 2009 United Way campaign in September. Pritchard has been setting the Valley on fire with her relentless enthusiasm for the job and the breakneck schedule that she has been keeping meeting local business and industry leaders and people in charge of the United Way’s nonprofit community partners.

She’s even aiming to raise the bar for future campaigns. The ‘09 campaign is working toward a $750,000 fundraising goal. Pritchard feels that the Greater Augusta area is capable of a million-dollar campaign in the future.

“I’ve looked at other communities with similar demographics, and this community can sustain a million-dollar campaign based on what we see taking place in other communities with those similar demographics. To do that, we need to be able to look past ourselves and our traditional fundraising methods,” Pritchard said.

“In these trying economic times, more people’s friend and neighbors are impacted, so there’s more of a desire of, What can I do to help my neighbor, help my friend, help my community. So I think there’s a whole new set of donors out there,” Pritchard said.

Pritchard has the local United Way harnessing the power of social-media networks on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to make and keep contacts with the local community.

The importance of those efforts came to light during a staff visit to Mary Baldwin College to recruit potential student volunteers.

“There was not one student there that I didn’t have to explain what the United Way was to them,” Pritchard said. “I grew up knowing what the United Way was. Obviously we haven’t kept up with the communication tools of this next generation, and we need to get on board quickly. Because this next generation is the next generation of donors, and the current generation of volunteers.”

Technology is a great tool, but in the end nothing beats feet on the ground.

“This small-town environment is the perfect environment for me,” Pritchard said. “Helping the United Way is helping their neighbors and friends. That’s what makes working for the United Way so valuable. Our community partners have so much more of an impact on what goes on here.”