Henderson County United Way Inc

What it reported doing in 2024

United Way of Henderson County (UWHC) has served our community since 1953 and is committed to serving our Henderson County neighbors for decades to come. Our work to organize and mobilize community resources to improve the lives of Henderson County residents is making a lasting and transformational impact throughout our community. On September 27th, 2024, Tropical Storm Helene caused devastating damage throughout our community. Building upon decades of partnerships, trust, and experience mobilizing resources, UWHC stepped up to serve at an elevated capacity to help our community. Our team was on the ground the first week after the storm mobilizing volunteers and supplies, raising funds, driving emergency information routes for EMS, and creating the framework for our county's nonprofit response and recovery. Our rapid and impactful response in the aftermath of Helene demonstrates our steadfast ability to build upon seventy years of partnerships and service to meet our communities' greatest needs. As you will read below, these monumental accomplishments occurred in tandem with the growing impact that we continue to create through our signature programming. Our strategic direction is guided by our 2023-28 Strategic Plan. The plan focuses on 4 bold goals relating to community impact, resource development, community engagement and education, and organizational capacity, while ensuring that we build capacity and embed equity throughout our organization. UWHC maintains rigorous standards of financial stewardship and public accountability. We undergo an annual independent audit conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. UWHC holds a Four-Star rating from Charity Navigator and a Platinum Transparency designation from Candid. Governed by a committed volunteer Board of Directors, UWHC ensures that all community investment funding decisions are made by panels of community volunteers who evaluate programs and outcomes. This community-driven approach ensures transparency, accountability, and alignment with local priorities.UWHC works hard to leverage broad community support (financial, in-kind, volunteer) to ensure that our community receives the maximum benefit. We are proud that UWHC puts over a dollar of value back into the community for every dollar raised when accounting for cash and non-cash value of in-kind and volunteer hours. Our core mission support, covering our fundraising, management and general expenses, is 7%. UWHC's cash investment to assist the community during the 2024-25 fiscal year was more than $2.6 million. In total, UWHC awarded more than 75 grants to local nonprofit agencies FY25 and helped to provide more than 40,000 local services to Henderson County neighbors in need. Our 2024-25 Community Investment grant funding includes support for 42 programs across 25 local nonprofits supporting the health, education, financial stability and basic needs of Henderson County neighbors. We also provided pivotal funding for 13 local food pantries to increase access to healthy, nutritionally dense foods for families in need and awarded 30 local Helene Response and Recovery Grants to support our community as we continue to recover from Helene. Our ability to organize and mobilize local volunteers and leverage gift-in-kind donations provided over 10,000 volunteer hours for a non-cash value of over $470,000 in local support. In October 2024 alone, we connected more than 1,500 volunteers to serve 6,600 hours to support Helene response and recovery. Our Annual Days of Caring initiative mobilized 280 volunteers who contributed 1,293 hours in May 2025. Collectively, we completed 26 projects at 22 organizations in addition to providing essential support for the National Letter Carriers' Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive that collected over 39,000 pounds of nonperishable food from residents to support local food pantries. Throughout the year, our Women United affinity group and local corporate partners held donation driv

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 77.7%; rating input score 78
• Program expense ratio: 92.1%; rating input score 92
• Fundraising efficiency: $27.63 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 16.3%; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.03; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.41; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 3.6%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: -1% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings