United Way Community Allocation Process

Since 1944, the mission of the Catawba County United Way (CCUW) has been to increase the organized capacity of people to help others by mobilizing the caring power of our community to meet the greatest unmet human needs in our county.

An organization must follow a multi-step process to request funding from the Catawba County United Way.

  • Applying organizations must either be incorporated as a non-for-profit, tax-exempt entity or have a 501-C3 legal status within Catawba County, who comply with applicable legal, federal state and local operating and reporting requirements (e.g. government approved accounting practices, annual audit, 990, nondiscrimination).
  • The program that funds are being requested for must serve individuals in one or more United Way Impact areas (Education, Health or Income).
  • Grant request minimum is $10,000.
  • Submit a Pre-Request for Funding (Pre-RFP) – Available mid-February – which outlines the program (s) purpose and defines how it fits withing the CCUW’s impact areas and its specific goals with CCUW funding. The Pre-RFPs are reviewed by the CCUW Board Community Investment Committee and are either approved or declined.
  • If approved, the organization moves on to complete a full Request for Funding (RFP), which includes information about its internal operations, board of directors, audit results, agency budgets, program budgets, program goals (outcomes) and demographic information about those served by the program.
  • These requests for funding must be for specific programs within their realm of services and demonstrate the impact their programs will have on the community.
  • The RFP packages are due Mid-April.

Once these steps are completed, the Community Investment Panel evaluates the RFPs.

The role of the Community Investment Panel in the funding process is to act as stewards of donor funds entrusted to Catawba County United Way. The Community Investment Panel is led by the CCUW Board President. The panel members include local volunteers who reflect the diversity of the community and are educated in the impact areas of Health, Education and Income and the identified program priorities and program outcomes.

  • Towards the end of May, organizations with approved RFPs will present their program(s) before the full Community Investment panel. After all presentations are heard, the Community Investment Panel has extensive discussions regarding the organizations’ performance and impact in our community.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
  • Based on these discussions, program funding is recommended up to the maximum available funds. The CCUW Board of Directors makes the final decisions regarding funding requests at their next regularly scheduled board meeting. Award letters are then sent out to approved organizations.

Organizations whose programs are approved for funding are required to submit mid-year and year-end reports that outline their funded program results.

To learn more call the CCUW staff at 828-327-6851 or email info@ccunitedway.com. 

2024 PRE-RFP Application is now closed.