United Way of Greater Augusta announces grant awards for 2019-2010

This week, the United Way of Greater Augusta completed the work required to reinvest over $200,000 raised in Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta Country back into agencies and programs that are making significant and direct impact on the financial stability, health, and education of our community neighbors.

“We’re excited and proud about the grant awards for this year,” explains Jeff Miracle, United Way of Greater Augusta CEO.  “More funds raised locally are being reinvested back into local non-profits.”    Since the agency’s ‘Bridge the Gap’ campaign last year, during which the United Way raised additional funds to meet its grant obligations, the agency has significantly reduced its overhead and secured outside funding for programs including the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program and Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

At the same time it was cutting costs, United Way was experiencing an increase in the number of requests for funding; with the increases in funding requests outpacing giving.  “Need is growing in our area,” Mr. Miracle explained.  “Other area funding agencies are also experiencing significant request increases.”

“We awarded $194,000 in grants last year,” Mr. Miracle continued, “This year we were able to increase that reinvestment to $205,000.  However, we had requests for over $375,000 and as a result, we had to make some very difficult funding decisions.”

While the majority of applications were at least partially funded, not every request was able to be financially supported this year. In these cases, United Way continues to offer executive coaching partnerships, networking and collaborative programming coordination, smaller grant opportunities, and training to help support partner agencies.

For the 2019-2020 Awards Cycle, Citizen Investment Review Team members reviewed funding applications and participated in agency site visits. These citizen volunteers made funding recommendations to United Way Board of Directors for the programs that they reviewed using local impact data and United Way priority guidelines. The Citizen Investment Review Team and the Board Awards Team worked together using an Impact Model to see that donor funds are directed to community needs and programs that demonstrate measurable and sustainable outcomes.

United Way will celebrate the reinvestment of the community’s donations and recognize the organizations, individuals, and companies that help donate to community change at its Annual Awards Celebration on June 6th at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton.

The non-profits and programs funded this year are listed in the table below.  For more information regarding the 2019-2020 Grant Award funding or the United Way of Greater Augusta, please contact Jeff Miracle at [email protected] or by call 540– 885–1229. Also, please visit United Ways of Greater Augusta’s web site at www.unitedwayga.org.