United Way of Greater Lorain County Inc

What it reported doing in 2024

Community impact - involves the process of planning, investing and evaluating resources to achieve measurable and sustainable community change in three priority areas: empowering children and youth to achieve their full potential, helping working families become financially stable and independent, and creating a healthier community. More than 150 organizations have pledged to work collectively on achieving this high level of community impact.united way of greater lorain county (uwglc) places a high priority on working with systems and partners to ensure that children enter kindergarten ready to learn and that early adolescents have the tools and resources to succeed in high school and beyond. Uwglc is investing in a variety of initiatives, including afterschool and summer academic and cultural enrichment, in-school academic support, mental health and behavioral health support, exercise and nutrition improvement, parenting education and resourcing, and risky behavior prevention and intervention. Multi-year funding has made it possible for collaborative partners to measure baseline data, pilot test best-practice programs with small groups, and implement larger-scale programs with promising early results. For example, literacy programs are bringing age- and language-appropriate books to 61% of all children 0-5 living in elyria, lorain and oberlin each month; and an additional 1,276 literacy kits were delivered to preschoolers. Further, 21/21 of partner early childhood education programs in lorain have achieved Ohio healthy progam certification status; 13,392 books were logged in elyria's 1000 books before kindergarten; and oberlin's pre-k classroom was used 880 times by families. Across the three school districts participating in common view, over 1,000 students participated in social-emotional programming; over 100 students attended collaborative sponsored summer camps in lorain and elyria; 349 youth participated in leadership building sessions; and 67 mentoring sessions were attended by elyria youth sponsored by the collaborative. Additionally, 50 parents in lorain attended padres comprometidos events to learn skills that support their child's education. Lorain and elyria's freedges together served 7,053 persons. Over 10,000 youth are currently participating in collaborative programming.uwglc places a high priority on working with systems and partners to ensure that working families living in poverty increase their incomes, build savings, and gain assets to improve their financial stability. Uwglc is investing in activities that ensure that families suffering a short-term financial crisis avoid eviction, utility termination, and job loss and are able to build future resources. Eleventh-year collaborative funding has resulted in the ucan partnership assisting 395 households (over 1200 persons) avoid eviction (285 housing bills), utility disconnect (146 payments), and job loss (7 jobs), with a less than 6% recidivism rate. Health cuts across the financial stability and education impact areas of the agenda for community impact. Our agenda promotes health and productivity through diet and exercise with an emphasis on reducing risk factors for metabolic syndrome, including diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. Uwglc is investing in activities that increase access to physical activity of all types, including the winter months; ensure access to locally grown healthy foods; maintain healthy workplaces; and improve nutrition. Multi-year funding has allowed collaborative partners to measure data, continue to pilot test best-practice programs on a small scale, and implement larger-scale initiatives. This includes fresh affordable produce pickups in north ridgeville, wellington, and lagrange, with 1,059 produce bags this year. Additionally, thrive, key- and h&s-sponsored indoor and outdoor fitness events had a total of 7,286 attendees, including during winter months. The 5-k walk-run event in wellington attracted 121 participants of all ag

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 74.8%; rating input score 75
• Program expense ratio: 75.6%; rating input score 76
• Fundraising efficiency: $9.05 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 20th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 84.7%; rating input score 85; 23rd 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 3.2%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.88; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 8.9%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: -1.3% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 0.4% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings