Who We Are

The Mission of the Livingston County United Way is to represent and serve the overall interests of the citizens of Livingston County in matters concerning individual and community health and well being.

The Livingston County United Way was officially incorporated as a United Way on February 4, 1977. Prior to that time, beginning in the early 1950s, each of the county’s six communities had its own community chest, all doing their own individual fundraising, administration and allocation processes. At the time this seemed to work best for the individual communities. However, the population of Livingston County grew rapidly in the seventies, and a more regionalized structure better served the greater need for services.

Today that six-community Community Chest has expanded to an annual campaign fundraising effort of $1,600,000. With these committed funds, the Livingston County United Way provides funding to over 60 health and human service programs available to assist Livingston County residents. Funding for some of these programs still takes place within each individual community through our "local allocation committees".

We continually revisit the areas of greatest need within Livingston County. Currently, the focus of the Livingston County United Way is to fund programs in the need areas of Community Wellness and Healthy Aging, Assisting the Disabled, Emergency Services, Strengthening Families, and Youth Services.

Much of the work at the Livingston County United Way is done by community volunteers. Our office is staffed by a small number of people in an ongoing effort to keep administrative costs to a minimum. Decision-making is very grass-roots at the Livingston County United Way. We are governed by a Board of Directors of local community volunteers, not by any state or national organization. In addition, our annual funding distribution process involves over 90 area volunteers making recommendations as to how to make the greatest impact with the donated dollars from our contributors.

Our Board of Directors and staff work within the parameters of an established strategic plan and look for opportunities for improvement within all areas of our operations. We adhere to an outcomes-based measurement process and require our member agencies to submit their outcomes measures with their funding requests, working together to best serve the residents of Livingston County.