Dear Friends and Supporters,
We are proud to present United Way Bay Area’s annual report for fiscal year 2023, highlighting the strides we’ve made collectively toward our shared mission of dismantling the root causes of poverty in our communities. As we continue to work towards a Bay Area where everyone can thrive, we reaffirm our commitment to equity, transparency, and accountability in the use of our resources.
The challenges confronting our region over the past year have been profound. Even as some of us are regaining a sense of normalcy in our daily lives, many in our local community have continued to be impacted by the lingering challenges of the pandemic, compounded by the loss of temporary supports that were extended in the immediate wake of COVID-19. In addition to addressing persistent systemic inequities, we have remained committed to ensuring Bay Area families have access to immediate basic needs, like food, housing, and child care.
Despite these challenges, our dedicated team has worked collaboratively across this region, delivering crucial resources from emergency support for families in crisis to financial coaching and resource navigation for those on the path to rebuilding and recovery.
Our heartfelt gratitude extends to all our donors, funders, volunteers, and community partners who have come together to ensure the viability of our shared mission. This extraordinary network has been instrumental in achieving the impactful milestones of this past year, continuing – as it has for over a century – to be our most valuable asset.
As we look to the future, we eagerly anticipate continued collaboration with each of you in making a meaningful difference in partnership with those we serve. Together, we will persist in advancing toward a more equitable Bay Area, where everyone has the opportunities and resources necessary to thrive.
Warm regards,
UWBA brings together partners from the nonprofit, business, and government sectors to address Bay Area poverty. We partner across these sectors to develop solutions, capture the data we need, and use those insights to support public policy and create research backed community initiatives.
UWBA envisions an equitable Bay Area where all people have the opportunities and resources needed to thrive.
UWBA mobilizes the Bay Area to dismantle the root causes of poverty and build equitable pathways to
prosperity. Through initiatives and policy change, we provide immediate and long-term support for employment, housing, financial stability, and meeting basic needs.
MOBILIZE >> DISMANTLE >> BUILD
At the close of fiscal year 2023, we find ourselves at the halfway point of UWBA’s ambitious, three-year Strategic Plan. This plan, grounded in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) principles and actions, and focused on serving one million people in our Bay Area communities, aims to meet the basic needs of our communities, helping them to achieve financial stability and create personal pathways to prosperity.
The UWBA Strategic Plan has been an essential tool to inform our work at the individual, department and organizational level. Our team used the plan to envision and set goals, measure progress and evaluate our effectiveness. This year we leveraged the power of partnerships across our region, by deploying a variety of impactful strategies and events in response to urgent community needs.
In service of our Community Impact pillar of work, UWBA celebrated the launch of City College of San Francisco SparkPoint and completed our second year of Housing Justice grants – including $250,000 awarded through a participatory grant-making process by UWBA Ambassadors with lived experience. Record breaking funds were distributed through the Emergency Food and Shelter Program this year, and 211 provided critical emergency response to unprecedented winter storms.
To support our Regional Impact pillar of work, UWBA welcomed communities back into physical spaces after an extended hiatus due to the pandemic. Creating opportunities to learn and rebuild connections, UWBA hosted three community partner convenings on basic income, funding disparities, and affordable housing, and five town hall events across our eight Bay Area counties.
UWBA welcomed new colleagues with the expansion of our Public Policy Team (with North Bay, Silicon Valley, and East Bay managers) also hiring a new Housing Justice Director and VP of Equity and Strategy, to support our DEI Action Plan and Strategic Planning efforts.
In alignment with our Financial Growth and Sustainability pillar, our Marketing and Development teams have developed strategies across our region to increase UWBA visibility, building relationships to identify new donors and securing funds to ensure our ability to reach our ambitious goals, including a $3 million partnership with Albertson’s and a multi-year grant to develop the business plan to replicate the dynamic SparkPoint model nationwide.
We are excited to continue this important work in FY24 and invite you to learn more about our efforts by visiting our page on our strategy.
FY23 HIGHLIGHTS
UWBA aims to increase the number of people served in communities who face systemic barriers and bear a disproportionately higher burden of poverty:
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