A few years ago, Greater Twin Cities United Way sharpened its focus and instead of making small splashes in many walks of charitable life, it focused on ten goals in three key areas – health, basic needs & education.  This more intentional community focus yielded stronger results as United Way is currently exceeding 9 of the 10 very ambitious long-term goals (find out more at https://www.unitedwaytwincities.org/our_impact/).  In my view, with 351 programs at 182 nonprofit agencies working with the greatest needs in the Twin Cities, United Way is the best investment I can make in the local community.

While United Way’s Emerging Leader Program has been around for many years, it was kicked into high gear a few years back with a grant from Bill George which allowed the Emerging Leaders committees to develop some programming.  This new direction brought a renewed event focus in two key arenas:  Volunteer activities and Leadership & Education events.

Volunteer events are really our bread and butter.  Our amazing volunteer committee organizes multiple events every month at various United Way partner agencies.  By getting involved at the ground level, participants can see firsthand how United Way impacts the community.  Upcoming events are planned at: HIRED, Home Free, Hearts & Hammers, Harbor Lights, Crisis Nursery, Simpson Housing, and Bridging.

If volunteer events are the foundation of helping the community, Leadership & Education events are the glue for young professionals wanting to help the local community.  A wonderful recent example was a joint event with the Minneapolis Chamber’s DRIVE Emerging Leaders held at the Summit Brewery that focused on education and the importance of reading by 3^rd grade.  These events pull together young professionals to learn about issues affecting the community and build their community knowledge and leadership skills.  Offering something for those just starting to explore nonprofit ventures, we also partner with MAP for Non-Profits to deliver board boot camps designed to educate Emerging Leaders on the roles and responsibilities of serving on a nonprofit board of directors.  Finally, we have a Leadership Speaker Series – a quarterly series of prominent local executives discussing the professional importance of philanthropy.

Click here to explore more about United Way Emerging Leaders and see what we have planned.

Call to Action: A simple (and timely) way to start learning about all that the Greater Twin Cities United Way supports is to join the next Emerging Leaders event, SPARK – the Fundraising Event for Young Professionals©, on April 28.  It used to be known as the Emerging Leaders wine tasting but this year we are going with a State Fair theme, so it now includes great Minnesota beers and some delicious high calorie foods on a stick. And since it is a fundraiser, we will have great silent auction items to bid on as well.

The details:
Thursday, April 28
6:30 – 10 p.m.
Nicollet Island Pavilion
$25 in advance, $30 at the door
Buy tickets at www.unitedwaytwincities.org/spark.

Wondering what the new “normal” landscape looks like for the social service landscape?

On June 9th from 7:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. United Way will convene senior leadership (paid and volunteer) from the social service sector along with foundation leaders and federal, state and local government staff.  The event will be held in the Minneapolis Convention Center.

On deck to present:

Sarah Caruso, President and CEO, Greater Twin Cities United Way
Ellen Goldberg Luger, Executive Direct, General Mills Foundation
Tom Stinson, Minnesota State Economist

There also are workshops planned for participants around philanthropic trends, building new revenue models and leveraging technology.

The event is free.

For more information and to register, click here.

[Full disclosure, I work for Greater Twin Cities United Way in the donor relations department.  I don’t usually blog about my work, but this event was very successful in 2009 with hundreds of attendees.  Knowing that many Leadership and Community readers engage in the social service sector in some way, I thought it important to help spread the word.]

A couple of weeks ago, I participated in what I think is the best formalized organizational diversity experience in my working career.

The session was held at the Greater Twin Cities United Way, my current employer.  It was an interactive experience that left me with a greater understanding of myself and my fellow co-workers.

Wing Young Huie, a nationally recognized photographer, was the facilitator.  He applied his creative method and process for his upcoming project along University Avenue, scheduled to open in early Summer 2010.

I began the experience by being paired with a colleague who I did not know very well.  The instructions seemed pretty easy:  interview each other using 6 set questions and then collaboratively come up with a word, sentence or phrase that describes each other.  Write it on a small chalkboard and photograph each other.

The six questions were:

1.         What are you?

2.         How do you think others see you; what don’t they see?

3.         What advice would you give a stranger?

4.         What’s your favorite word?

5.         Describe an incident that changed you.

6.         How has race affected you?

The result is the picture you see along with my post.

What experiences have increased your understanding of diversity and inclusion?