Frequently asked questions
How will my gift to United Way be invested?
Your gift to United Way of the Wyoming Valley joins thousands of other contributions to change the odds for children and families living in poverty. The rate of childhood poverty has doubled in the greater Wyoming Valley in the past 12 years. One out of every 3 children under the age of 5 in our region lives in poverty; extended to all youngsters under the age of 18, the rate remains a soaring 29%. Through your generosity, we are able to run innovative poverty-fighting programs such as:
Poverty to Possibility:
The United Way of Wyoming Valley has changed the way it helps the community. It's become an "issue-driven" organization, and research shows a leading problem in the Wyoming Valley is children living in poverty. Through a movement called "Poverty to Possibility," the United Way is focused on making lasting change by reducing poverty among children and their families in our community, by investing in programs that provide the platforms to give children educational and career success, as well as show their families the way to financial stability.LEARN MORE
Success by 6:
A partnership of local businesses, community social service agencies, and county government that is focused on building a comprehensive early childhood system to address the physical, social, emotional, and intellectual needs of children birth to age 6. It is improving the delivery of critical services for very young children and their families and advocating for public policy that supports the community's youngest children.LEARN MORE
Dolly Parton Imagination Library:
An early literacy initiative that provides new, age-appropriate books each moth to children from birth to age 5, completely free of charge. The years from birth to age 6 are the most crucial for the beneficial development of an individual, as well as later destructive behaviors. Those early years are the learning years, and early investment in a child matters to everyone. A child who has trouble reading in 3rd grade is less likely to graduate from high school.LEARN MORE
United Way also plays a leadership role in our community. We bring together thousands of companies, non-profits and individuals to develop larger strategies and use the power of our collective impact to tackle poverty.
More: Frequently asked questions
-
What's your overhead?
United Way of the Wyoming Valley's overhead expense ratio is 13.9%, excluding non-recurring pension expense, based on our FY2019 IRS Form 990 tax return. More than 85% of your gift directly funds our programs and grants. For nonprofits, the Better Business Bureau suggests the overhead expense ratio be no more than 35% of each gift.
We keep our expenses low through a commitment to organizational efficiency, a high level of volunteer participation, in-kind services provided by our board of directors, partners, and responsible investments. In addition to supporting United Way of the Wyoming Valley's community impact, giving and volunteer programs, our overhead expense also enables us to distribute donor–designated contributions to dozens of regional non-profit agencies. -
What is the difference between United Way of Wyoming Valley,
other local United Ways and United Way Worldwide?Although part of a national movement focused on measurable community impact, United Way of the Wyoming Valley is an independent nonprofit organization serving two-thirds of Luzerne County. We pay dues to United Way Worldwide for which we receive membership as a United Way organization and other benefits such as training and NFL advertising. We operate autonomously with the flexibility to address the specific needs of the Wyoming Valley Area—while having the ability to draw on the best ideas of United Ways throughout the country.
-
How can my nonprofit receive a grant or funding from United Way?
We provide financial support to nonprofits in two ways:
Through our annual workplace campaign, we offer contributors the opportunity to direct their gift to the nonprofit organizations of their choice.
Through our Community Investment Committee, we invest in top-performing local programs that contribute to our mission of reducing childhood poverty. To be eligible, an organization/program must be aligned with our focus areas and serve the Greater Wyoming Valley area.
Learn more about our "Poverty to Possibility" campaign, CLICK HERE. -
Does the United Way take steps to protect donor privacy?
About Your Privacy
Your privacy is very important to us.
The following information concerning the gathering and use of data is being provided to enable you to make knowledgeable choices about whether to provide information to us and to give you the opportunity to limit the manner in which data is used. We recognize that visitors to our site may be concerned about the information they provide to us, and how we treat that information. The personally identifiable information we collect from individuals is only the information they provide to us voluntarily and knowingly; we do not require you to register or provide information to us in order to visit the public portion of our site.
United Way of Wyoming Valley only gathers personally identifiable data: addresses, zip codes, email addresses, etc. when voluntarily submitted by a visitor. For example, personally identifiable information may be collected in order to record a stated desire to donate online to United Way of Wyoming Valley via a direct gift or through a company sponsored campaign. This information is used solely by United Way of Wyoming Valley or other parties to the transaction for the purpose of executing the transaction.
Online Security
We use PayPal’s high-grade encryption and the https security protocol, SSL, to communicate with your browser software. When you register or log in to PayPal, PayPal confirms that your browser is running Secure Socket Layer 3.0 (SSL) or higher, which secures the communication from your browser to paypal.com.When Information is in Transit (PayPal):
All of your information is protected by SSL, which ensures that your information is encrypted so no one can steal it when it is sent across the internet.
Your personal information is stored on PayPal’s servers and heavily guarded, both physically and electronically. And to give your credit card and bank numbers an extra layer of protection, PayPaL does not directly connect their firewall-protected servers to the Internet.
This method is the industry standard security protocol, which makes it extremely difficult for anyone else to intercept the information you send us.
LEARN MORE: ABOUT US |OUR TEAM | BOARD OF DIRECTORS | FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (About Us) |ANNUAL REPORT (PDF)
DONATE