Programs and results
What we aim to solve
We are tackling poverty. Across the Greater Cincinnati region too many families - 100,000 of them - are in poverty. These families struggle to make ends meet which makes it harder to focus on their long term goals for both parents and children. In order to help these families move on a path out of poverty we must focus on several areas of their lives - meeting Basic Needs, achieving Financial Stability, access to Quality Education Experiences and services to improve the Physical and Mental Health of all members of the family. In order to address all of these areas through a seamless approach, agencies and programs in our region must work together and create new solutions that address the complex needs of the whole family.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Community Solutions
United Way of Greater Cincinnati unites communities to change lives. Across the Greater Cincinnati region too many families are in poverty. These families struggle to make ends meet which makes it harder to focus on long-term goals for both parents and children.
United Way helps our region by deeply understanding the issues facing our community and bringing together people, organizations and resources to create solutions to our community’s most complex challenges.
With nearly 90,000 supporters, we raise funds, lead critical initiatives, create change through volunteerism and support best-in-class programs at 140+ nonprofit organizations across our 10-county, three-state region. We change systems, break down barriers and make a difference for those who need us most. Together, we do what no one person or one group can do alone.
United Way Success By 6
Success By 6® has a vision that every child will be prepared for kindergarten and their parent/caregiver embraces their role in the success of the child and family.
Success By 6® does this by leading a regional movement to provide knowledge, resources and connections for decision makers and influencers in a child’s early life. We are not a direct service provider or program – our community has plenty of those. But we do seek to understand community challenges, create new solutions to meet needs and bring organizations together to do more to ensure more children are prepared for kindergarten. In fact, Success By 6® partners with more than 240 schools and community organizations across our region to get this done.
Free Tax Prep
United Way’s Free Tax Prep program works with a large group of partners and more than 450 volunteers to help working families file safe, secure and free tax forms online and in-person throughout the region.
We recruit, train and coordinate skilled volunteers to help people not just file their taxes – but take advantage of benefits like the Earned Income Tax Credit, often called America’s best anti-poverty tool.
Partners for a Competitive Workforce
United Way Partners for a Competitive Workforce works with employers, employees and job seekers to grow and strengthen our region’s workforce so it works best for all people. We strive to understand the growing needs of employers in high demand industries and align job training and work supports to ensure we are growing our workforce’s skills for now and the future.
United Way 2-1-1
United Way 2-1-1 connects families with community resources that help them thrive – resources like food pantries, job training programs, and assistance during financial emergencies. This help is provide so families can recover from short term setbacks and focus on long term sustainability.
Those who reach out by picking up the phone and dialing 2-1-1 are connected to trained 2-1-1 Call Specialists who provide information on services and referrals for local resources aligned to the individual caller’s specific situation.
Stable Families
United Way’s Stable Families program works with community partners to identify families who are at risk of losing their homes. Through short term intervention, United Way ensures that families have resources to address critical bills and opportunities to increase earnings. At the same time, caring case managers work with families to assess their housing situation to make sure that they are planning expenses to stay in their home and keep their kids in school.
Basic Needs
United Way of Greater Cincinnati helps our region’s families by supporting key solutions that help families facing short term financial setbacks connect with the resources necessary to weather the storm and provide the basics for their families. These efforts focus on stabilizing families to help build the foundation to allow them to then pursue long term school, work and health goals.
Financial Stability
United Way of Greater Cincinnati helps our region’s families by supporting key solutions that help families access well-paying jobs, critical work supports (such as childcare and health insurance) and financial services to successfully manage financial needs and build economic security.
Physical and Mental Health
United Way of Greater Cincinnati helps our region’s families by supporting solutions that provide access to physical and mental health services. This helps individuals throughout their lives to help families in our region thrive.
Quality Education Experiences
United Way of Greater Cincinnati helps our region’s families by supporting solutions that create quality educational experiences with long term impact for all individuals. From quality early education for our youngest generation to post-secondary job training for adults, United Way is creating quality education experiences.
Where we work
External reviews

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Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
% of children served (0-5) who acheive developmental milestones
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Infants and toddlers
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
% of youth served who graduate high school on time
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
% of middle/high school youth served who develop soft skills
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
% of individuals served who gain employment
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
% of individuals served who earn job-relevant licenses, certificates, and/or credentials
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Young adults
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
% of individuals served who increase their disposable income by accessing benefits and/or reducting their costs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Total dollar amount of refunds returned to individuals/families through VITA and/or My Free Taxes
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Families
Related Program
Free Tax Prep
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
% of children/adults served who eat healthier, increase their physical activity, and/or move towards a healthy weight
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Adults
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
% of youth/adults served who avoid or reduce risky behaviors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Adults
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our overarching goal is to break the cycle of poverty for families in Greater Cincinnati. To do that, United Way continues to close in on its Bold Goals for our region -that by 2020, at least:
90% of our region's labor force will be gainfully employed
85% of children will be prepared for kindergarten
85% of youth will graduate from high school prepared for the next step
45% of adults will have an associate's degree or higher
70% of the community will report having excellent or very good health
95% of the community will report having a usual and appropriate place to go for health care
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We all share common needs that must be met in order to thrive as individuals and families:
Financial Stability, Quality Educational Experiences, Basic Needs, Physical & Mental Health.
Ensuring all four are met is essential to break the cycle of poverty for families in Greater Cincinnati.
FINANCIAL STABILITY: we create solutions that help families access well-paying jobs, critical work supports and financial services to successfully manage changing financial needs and build economic security.
QUALITY EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCES: we define solutions that support educational experiences with long-term impact for all individuals, from high quality early education for the youngest generation through post-secondary job training for adults.
BASIC NEEDS: we help families meet their basic needs and weather temporary set-backs like a job loss or emergency car repair.
PHYSICAL & MENTAL HEALTH: we develop solutions that provide access to physical and mental health services for individuals throughout their lives so that families can thrive.
Families have unique needs at different times in their lives. Since families come in all shapes and sizes, a family-centered approach helps us to break the cycle of poverty and recognize the undeniable connection between parent’s and children’s success. We meet families where they are and ensure whole family solutions are available across a variety of partners and services. Together we can do more than any one of us could do alone.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
United Way is recognized as a regional leader and convener with the breadth, history, and skills to mobilize our community toward helping people measurably improve their health, education, and financial stability. We have been serving this community for 100 years. We are a local leader in performance measurement, and the collaboratives we lead are nationally recognized for best practices. For more than a decade, we have aggressively focused on measurable impact to make a difference in the quality of life of our region.
Our United Way is one of the strongest in the country, having the third highest per capita giving among the top 50 United Ways in the USA. We receive a 3-star rating from Charity Navigator and unqualified opinions on our audits. We are committed to the highest standards of accountability.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
- 1,300 families were supported by 12 UWGC leading partners to deeply understand poverty and measure family progress
- 98 agencies improved their services through Family Centered Innovation Network - United Way capacity building efforts
- United Way Success By 6 Expanded the 'Me and My School' kindergarten transition program to 24 Northern Kentucky schools.
- Increased the number of Cincinnati Public School children ready for Kindergarten to 58%
- 5 state public policies were enacted, promoted or modified to enhance early childhood success
- United Way’s Partners for a Competitive Workforce reached the milestone of over 15,500 individuals trained since 2008 for jobs in high-growth career pathways.
- 86% of those served by Partners for a Competitive Workforce completed training and 80% obtained employment
- In calendar 2019, so far more than 20,500 families in Greater Cincinnati received over $22 million in tax refunds, thanks to the United Way of Greater Cincinnati’s Regional Volunteer Tax Assistance (VITA) Collaborative
United Way also tracks community-level indicators to determine the impact we achieve. Every two years, we release the State of the Community Report which tracks social-economic indicators over time. Data are continuously updated through the Facts matter portal www.factsmatter.info
- United Way volunteers gave more than 69,000 hours to local services
- United Way of Greater Cincinnati secured a 3-star Accountability & Transparency rating from Charity Navigator
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
United Way of Greater Cincinnati
Board of directorsas of 02/22/2022
Steve Shifman
Michelman
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
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Gender identity
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Sexual orientation
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Disability
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