An organization you can trust…

Overhead costs for United Way of the Columbia-Willamette currently stand at 16.2%.  In the most recent fiscal year ending June 30, 2007, administrative costs for management and general operations was a very competitive 6.1%.

We spent 10.1% to run the annual community campaign, which:

• Covers our entire metro region: Clark, Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington  counties  
• Serves over 1,000 companies, helping them run employee-giving campaigns  
• Reaches more than 270,000 employees  
• Builds awareness of health and human services issues, as well as the programs and partnerships dedicated to improving lives and strengthening our communities  
• Encourages participants to not only make an annual gift for the good of the whole community, but also to get involved actively as volunteers and leaders  

We’ve also made a commitment to lower our overhead ratio even further. Ultimately, our goal is to deliver a total overhead cost under 15%. We know that as we aggressively pursue increasing the community’s fundraising campaign, our efficiency will continue to improve. The end result – more dollars invested in real long-term change to improve people’s lives and strengthen the whole community.

United Way Cornerstone Partners cover our overhead costs so that 100% of contributions received go to support local programs related to education, income, and health.  However, we think it's important for you to know that we work hard to keep costs as low as possible.

Charity Navigator, the nation’s largest evaluator of charities, gives United Way of the Columbia-Willamette a prestigious four-star rating for exceeding industry standards. This rating was based on financial data for United Way’s fiscal year ending June, 2007. Charity Navigator analyzes more than 5,000 nonprofit organizations.