Building community with the United Way of King County

United Way of King County (UWKC) is an incredible organization that serves the community of King County, Washington, which includes the city of Seattle. It addresses racial inequities head-on by fighting homelessness, helping students graduate, and breaking the cycle of poverty to help families become financially stable. I was introduced to the United Way through Microsoft nearly three decades ago. Microsoft’s contribution to UWKC has been substantial, and I’ve spent time learning more about their programs and partners. The depth, scale, and efficiency of the work the United Way is doing in our local community is really impressive which is why my wife Leigh and I have signed up to be the fundraising co-chairs for the United Way of King County this year, with a goal of raising $41 million. We’re honored and humbled to support an organization that aims to build a strong, inclusive community.

The United Way is a model for a community-led approach to solving humanitarian issues in our local neighborhood. Rather than giving to a single nonprofit like a homeless shelter, the United Way determines what’s needed to solve broad problems in our local community, and it rallies a network of nonprofits behind it. For example, it brings together organizations that fight problems like homelessness, unemployment, and evictions to make real progress across all these inter-related areas.

The way that the United Way operates reminds me of how we try to run Microsoft. Like Microsoft, the United Way gets close to its non-profit partners and the members of the community they serve to glean insights that help build better solutions. It listens to partners’ pain points to develop potential solutions. It creates pilot programs to prove out concepts and then helps partners work together across teams to implement solutions at scale. I deeply admire how UWKC works with its partners, listening closely to the real issues that people in our community are struggling with.

While the United Way focuses on homelessness, poverty, and education, the work it’s doing to help young children is particularly moving. Children from low-income communities of color routinely start school well behind their peers as their families often face bigger inequities. Nearly two out of three low-income kids in King County are behind their peers when they start kindergarten. The United Way’s ParentChild+ program helps close this gap by supporting parents during the crucial early years of their kids’ development by providing coaching and tools to help young learners keep pace with their peers when they start school. And when parents become their children’s first and best teachers, kids can start school on a path to success.

The United Way also has the highest return on our dollars to make a positive impact. Thanks to a generous endowment from the Gates Foundation, 95 cents of every dollar you donate goes to making a difference in our community. With your help, we can build a community where people have homes, where students graduate, and where families are financially stable. I’m so inspired to see how the United Way of King County consistently works to meet people where they need the most support. Leigh and I have seen how the group’s community-led approach enables staff and volunteers to quickly connect with people in difficult situations and effectively solve challenges.

If you’re interested in learning more about volunteering and providing financial support, visit https://www.uwkc.org/. We’re grateful to have this opportunity and hope you’ll join us in helping build a community where everyone thrives!