About
United Way was founded in 1887 when a woman, a priest, two ministers, and a rabbi executed our nations first united campaign. They all had different backgrounds, but worked together for a common purpose - to benefit 10 area health and welfare agencies.
Today, Mid-Plains United Way continues their legacy. We work with 12 local non-profit agencies that support 16 counties in Western Nebraska. Each agency goes through an application process to receive Mid-Plains United Way funds. Once approved, funds are distributed quarterly. Our partner non-profit agencies then provide us with a review on how funds were used and the impact it had on the community. We choose our partners based on their work in three areas: income, education and health. Investment in these sectors create long-term economic development, which give us the opportunity to increase the average household income, graduation/employment rates and improve the average health state of individuals in our community over a long period of time.
So, what is United Way and what does it do? We are a fundraising workhorse. Fundraising takes a lot of time, energy and planning - time that most non-profits can’t afford to take away from providing services to members of our community. We believe that they should be able to focus their time, energy and resources on helping the children and families who need it the most. Mid-Plains United Way also evaluates other needs in the community outside of fundraising to help combat other obstacles that children and families face.
We pride ourselves on being transparent, which is why we publish our budget every year on midplainsunitedway.com so you can see how your donations are used. Less than 2% of donations are given to United Way Worldwide. The rest stays in our community!
Counties our partner agencies serve: Chase, Custer, Dundy, Frontier, Furnas, Grant, Hayes, Hitchcock, Hooker, Keith, Lincoln, Logan, McPherson, Perkins, Red Willow, and Thomas.
How Agencies Are Funded
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Must have a 501(c)3.
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Organization must do work furthering income, education or health.
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Application Period: January 1 - February 11. Please email npunitedway172@gmail.com to request an application.
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Once your application is submitted, our board of trustees will schedule a time to do a site visit at your organization.
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Each applicant will be asked to attend our Allocation Night where you will be given 10 minutes to pitch your organizations program to the board. It is on this night that the Mid-Plains United Way Board of Trustees votes on which organizations will become partners and how much money will be allocated to each one.
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Partner Agencies report financials and community impact quarterly, attend a quarterly impact meeting, help with our 8 week campaign and attend our campaign kick-off event.
Uniting our resources to build a strong, caring community.