United Way of the Bay Area

What it reported doing in 2024

Emergency food & shelter program (efsp): efsp is critical to uwba's poverty-fighting agenda. This year, efsp entered its 41st year of funding safety net programs. This federal funding is allocated to the federal emergency management agency (fema), which works with united way worldwide as the fiscal agent for the program. Efsp is a unique public-private partnership between the federal government and the united way system. Since its inception, uwba and local boards (local boards are mandated local committees that have oversight of the federal funding) have allocated federal funding to hundreds of food and shelter programs. For this most recent round of funding, efsp allocated $2,705,115 to agencies in eight counties. A total of 267,686 unduplicated individuals were served by one of the 116 efsp-funded agencies in the bay area during the current grant period. While this is not funding raised by uwba, it is vital that uwba's expertise and relationships are leveraged to support our local food and shelter programs.emergency assistance network (ean): ean is a collaboration with seven local santa clara county partner agencies that offers assistance to families and individuals experiencing emergency situations. This collaborative provides food assistance, rent and mortgage aid, utility assistance, medical and transportation aid, often alongside case management and financial education. Uwba is acting as the backbone convener of the ean to provide convening and staff support to the network. This year the ean served 90,091 individuals at food pantries and distributed over $15 million in direct assistance as a network. Ean agencies assisted 37,898 households in the community, specifically with housing and utility assistance.labor community services: the labor community services program is a comprehensive resource for working families. Uwba provides grant funding to three central labor councils that provide information and referral, direct hardship assistance, high-impact workforce programs, community organizing, immigration legal services, and civic engagement opportunities. The three labor community services councils served 37,507 households (61,082 individuals) with direct financial assistance for hardships or provided navigation services and connection to other local social services agencies.youth opportunity pathways: youth opportunity pathways, a uwba program provides career exploration and readiness opportunities for young people aged 14-28. This year, uwba continued to partner across the region. Through partnerships, we provide youth with mentorship, job readiness activities, and college access support. We engaged with 6 community partners, serving 4,116 youth. These youth received mentorship services, and 1,476 enrolled in further skills training or participated in career exploration events. 246 youth participated in internships or other work-based learning activities. We hosted our annual college essay review event which supported 16 youth in their college application journey. Additionally, our signature event, on track, was hosted at the oakland museum and had 20 corporate partners volunteer to table and mentor young people.housing justice: uwba continued our housing justice work through projects in gilroy and solano county. There was $347,200 in uwba grantmaking served 8,471 individuals in over 5,417 households. We continued our community ambassador grantmaking efforts, training and supporting uwba ambassadors to review applications and awards. The ambassadors led a process to grant $216,000 to 20 grantees. Uwba continued a region-wide public will-building campaign, "learn, understand, act," to engage and encourage people to advocate for local and regional policy changes that will increase affordable housing in the bay area.public policy: uwba recognizes that to achieve uwba's goal of ending poverty in the community, we must advance public policies that support uwba's mission. Uwba's public policy team influences policy and enga

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
• Program expense ratio: 72.7%; rating input score 73
• Fundraising efficiency: $3.93 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 20th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Pass
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 79.4%; rating input score 79; 16th 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; 66th 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: -54.3%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.13; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 9%; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: -7.2% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: -4.2% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings