Organizational Culture at United Ways

For the past decade or so, there has been a lot of conversation about organizational culture. At a basic level, organizational culture has been defined as the personality of the organization. Organizational culture can include the expectations, values, norms, and philosophy of the organization. Looking at some well-known companies as examples, Apple is known for a culture of innovation, Southwest Airlines is known for a culture of fun and inclusiveness, and Disney is known for a culture of storytelling. But organizational culture is equally important for nonprofit organizations like United Ways.

The article “Organizational Culture as a Tool for Change” in the Summer 2020 edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review addresses the issue of organizational culture. Perhaps the most powerful point in the article is that “culture is expressed and reified through practice; it is not merely established by proclamation.”

As I have worked with United Ways over the past 30 years, I have reached the same conclusion – the organizational culture of a United Way is not what they say, it is what they do.

This is especially true when it comes to community impact. While many United Ways proclaim that they are community impact organizations, they do not act like community impact organizations. If you want to create a culture of community impact at your United Way, then there are four tenets of community impact you need to be acting upon:

Tenet 1: Address a Limited Number of Community Issues

A lot of United Ways spread their funding a mile wide and an inch deep across dozens of agencies and programs. However, this is not community impact. Rather, these United Ways are merely a mutual fund for donors to invest in a variety of local nonprofit organizations. When you look at the actions these United Ways take you will see that they group funded programs into broad categories of issues, like education, income, and health, instead of individual community issues, and communicate the number of agencies and programs they fund.

A United Way with a true culture of community impact is focused on addressing specific community issues, such as hunger, homelessness, kindergarten readiness, or poverty. If you want a culture of community impact at your United Way, the actions you will need to take include focusing on a limited number of community issues (usually just one issue, but some larger United Ways have the capacity to handle up to three issues), publicly-stating goals for each of your issues, clearly communicating about the issues you are addressing, and saying “no” to opportunities and distractions that do not directly impact your issues.

Tenet 2: Develop Impact Strategies to Address Your Issues

A lot of United Ways ask their partner agencies to submit requests for programs they would like funded by United Way. However, this is not community impact. Rather, these United Ways are acting as just another funder for partner agencies to provide their programs. When you look at the actions these United Ways take you will see that their requests for proposals allow most any program to be submitted.

A United Way with a true culture of community impact will research and identify programs that are needed in their community to address their specific issues. If you want a culture of community impact at your United Way, the actions you will need to take include convening the community to examine the root causes of your issues, researching programs and services to address the root causes, and asking local organizations to provide these programs and services.

Tenet 3: Implement Impact Strategies in Partnership with Others

A lot of United Ways have lists of “partners” or “partner agencies” that are comprised exclusively by the organizations United Ways fund.  However, this is not community impact. Rather, United Ways are taking a narrow view of partnership by limiting it solely to the organizations they fund. When you look at the actions these United Ways take you will see that they list and communicate all of their funded organizations, their funded programs, and often the amounts of funding each one has received.

A United Way with a true culture of community impact will convene a variety of community organizations, both funded and unfunded by United Way, but all of the convened organizations will be working to address the specific issues United Way is addressing. If you want a culture of community impact at your United Way, the actions you will need to take include convening all organizations addressing your issues not just the organizations funded by your United Way, aligning the efforts of all of the organizations to address the issues, and facilitating communication and sharing measurement of your issues between all organizations.

Tenet 4: Measure and Communicate Progress

A lot of United Ways measure and report the outcomes of their funded programs. However, this is not community impact. Rather, United Ways are merely reporting how successful local organizations are at providing programs. When you look at the actions these United Ways take you will see that they report the number of people served by their funded programs, and sometimes the percentage of people who achieved a positive outcome from the funded programs.

A United Way with a true culture of community impact will measure progress toward addressing an issue, such as the number of families who are no longer living in poverty or the percentage of children entering kindergarten ready to learn. If you want a culture of community impact at your United Way, the actions you will need to take include coordinating measurement of your issues at a community-level, regularly measuring progress toward your issues, and reporting progress toward your issues.

Issue-Focused United Ways have a Culture of Community Impact

United Ways with a true culture of community impact are most often issue-focused United Ways.. An issue-focused United Way typically selects one issue to address, establishes a bold goal for that issue in their community, determines and implements strategies to address their issue, and measures and reports their progress toward addressing their issue. Community impact is at the heart of everything an issue-focused United Way does, and their culture is derived from their community impact work.

As with most anything worth doing, developing a culture of community impact is not easy. To guide United Ways in this process Perspectives created the issue-focused model in 2011. The issue-focused model is a comprehensive system and approach for achieving a culture of community impact at your United Way. The issue-focused model includes a step-by-step process for transforming your United Way from where you are now to an issue-focus, with specific strategies and tactics. We have developed board retreats, a strategic planning process, and full library of guides and instructions to help your United Way plan and implement your culture of community impact efficiently, effectively, and successfully. You can learn more about our issue-focused model here.

Don’t be one of those United Ways that just proclaims they are a community impact organization – create a culture of community impact at your United Way by having your actions back up your words.