CONTENTS
Executive Director's Report
President's Report
Community Investment Report
Campaign Report
Treasurer's Report
Results!
Sponsors

Results Matter
Executive Director’s Report
By Patrick Jinks

“What we call results are beginnings” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

158 years ago this week, the safety pin was patented.  Now I have never patented anything worth as much as a safety pin or a pet rock, or a “What Would Jesus Do” bracelet, let alone anything like a toaster, or fuel engine.  So I am pretty impressed with anyone who has had anything patented.  It’s an achievement.  But the device itself dates all the way back to one of earliest civilizations known – the Mycenaeans in ancient Greece , around the 14^th century B.C.  Nobody knows who invented it, of course, but that was an achievement too!

Now just think about how many safety pins have been produced over the past century and a half.  Today, over 3 million safety pins can be made by one factory in a day -- almost 1 billion a year. There are only two U.S. companies that make safety pins, although there are many more companies abroad.  These manufacturing firms achieve quite a feat to produce such a mass of products each day.  All of these things are important to us, because when we need a safety pin, it’s important to have such quick and easy access to them.  They’re all over the place!  But why is all that important?  Because of what the safety pin itself is able to achieve!  Think about it – for years, they held up baby diapers.  A few still use the cloth diapers on their babies today! 

How many times has the safety pin rescued you from certain shame and embarrassment when a button or zipper broke, or the seat of your pants tore?  How many splinters have been removed?  How many curtains fastened?  How many necklaces have been crafted?  How many school projects, name badges, corsages, keys, and dry cleaning tabs owe their secure suspensions to the safety pin?  These are results!  We call them outcomes.

For the products our United Way partners manufacture, there is also a count.  How many kids got matched with an adult mentor?  How many patients got served with health care?  How many tutorial sessions were held?  How many meals were served?  How many classes were taught?  These are important numbers, because they speak to the scope and scale of the impact our non-profit partners are able to achieve.

But what really matters is:  How are the mentored kids’ lives better now?  What physical and mental improvements were realized for the health care patients?  What kind of grade improvements were realized as a result of the tutorial sessions?  What new knowledge, attitudes, or behavior is being employed as a result of the classes being taught?  That’s what matters.

Our partners have been making impact for many years.  Now, we have new measurements that make that impact tangible and touchable, tweakable and teachable.  We know that more kids are learning to refrain from dangerous activities.  More seniors are able to live independently, longer.  More parents are spending quality learning time with their babies.  More uninsured citizens have access to healthcare and effective prescription drugs, and they are waiting less time for help.  More Alzheimer’s patients are remaining safe in the custody and care of their loved ones.  This is what matters!

In the inside pages of this publication, you will see the measurements we have tracked over the past year, and you can be more confident than ever that the support you give United Way is creating meaningful results.  But as Emerson’s quote above states, results are beginnings.   The work doesn’t stop.  New programs emerge, new partnerships are forged, and seasoned programs constantly find ways to improve.  Irving Berlin once said that the toughest thing about being successful is that you have to keep on being a success! 

So, your United Way continues to push toward greater results, greater accountability, greater synergy, and greater impact.  You have entrusted us with your generosity, and we are as dedicated as ever to reward that trust.  The results documented in this report are the beginning of a long-term effort to improve as many lives as possible in our community.  And YOU made it happen!  Your gift was transformed into a productive resource that has created valuable product for thousands in our area.

Change is difficult.  As we continue to find ways to make sure your support is used in the most effective ways possible, adjustments are made, problems are solved, and performance is improved.  Thank you for engaging with us in such a worthwhile endeavor.  Thank you for doing the difficult work.  Thank you for caring.  Thank you for sacrificially supporting what matters.