United Way of the Plains

Background

The United Way movement began in 1887 in Denver, Colorado when religious leaders in the community founded the Charity Organizations Society to coordinate fundraising for 22 nonprofit service agencies. United Way of the Plains was founded in 1922 as Wichita Community Chest. The name of the organization changed in 1943 to Community War Chest, in 1957 to United Fund of Wichita and Sedgwick County, and in 1987 to United Way of the Plains. ¹

Programs

Focus areas for United Way of the Plains are health, education, and financial stability in south-central Kansas. Programs in these focus areas include direct services and grantmaking. Community volunteers review grant applications and make recommendations to the United Way of the Plains board to award grants supporting these focus areas.

The 211 program is an information and referral help line that connects people in need with services in the area. ²

The Give Items of Value program takes donations of items from corporations and offers them to area nonprofits. Walmart is a major donor to this program. ³

Promise of the Plains was started in February 2022 to support Black History Month. The program intends to invest $100,000 in nonprofit organizations that support the black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities in the areas of health, education, financial stability, and basic needs. ⁴ The grantees must have at least 50% BIPOC leadership and the organizational mission and goals must support the BIPOC community. ⁵

Policy Advocacy

In the 2022 United Way Policy Agenda, addressing racial and gender inequities is listed as a core policy goal within the health, education, and financial stability focus areas. ⁶

Within the health focus area, United Way supports the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) premium tax credits and outreach to communities of color, addressing racial equity in healthcare, and expanding Medicaid. ⁶

Within the education focus area, United Way supports racial equity in education and federal funding for early childhood learning and childcare. ⁶

Within the financial stability focus area, United Way supports racial equity and making the American Rescue Plan improvements to the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit permanent. ⁶

Financials

In 2019, total revenue was reported as $16,949,002 including contributions and grants of $15,165,411. Total expenses were $16,949,002 including $2,991,351 in compensation and benefits. ⁷

In 2019, United Way of the Plains researched, applied for, and obtained $1,500,000 in government grants, including grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to support homeless services. ⁸

In 2020 United Way of the Plains awarded $1,722,093 in grants to support the health focus area, $1,928,556 in grants to support the education focus area, and $2,908,734 to support the financial stability focus area. ⁹

Donors

Many donations for United Way of the Plains come through donor advised funds such as American Endowment Foundation, Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust, and Schwab Charitable Fund.  Additional donors include Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Centene Corporation Charitable Foundation, Cessna United Friendship Fund (Cessna is a subsidiary of Textron Inc.)., Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, and National Low Income Housing Coalition. ¹⁰

In 2020, Spirit Aerosystems and Textron Inc. both contributed a million dollars to United Way of the Plains. ⁹

Labor Partners

United Way of the Plains partners with the local labor unions in south-central Kansas. Unions endorse and encourage United Way of the Plains’ annual fundraising campaign and participate in grant reviews and decision making. ¹¹

Labor union partners include local chapters of American Postal Workers Union, Communications Workers of America, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, United Steelworkers, United Food and Commercial Workers, and United Teachers of Wichita. ¹¹

Leadership

Peter Najera joined United Way of the Plains as president and CEO in 2020. ¹²  Previously, Najera was president of the Rudd Foundation in Wichita, Kansas from 2017 to 2020, and COO of Sterling Foundation Management in Reston, Virginia from 2014 to 2020. ¹³

Jodi Noah was elected board chair in 2022, replacing Steve Dixon. ¹⁴  Noah has been a board member since 2018. ¹⁵ She is vice president and controller of Textron Aviation since 2017 and has been with Textron Inc. since 1998. ¹⁶