Have you heard about United Way of Central Florida’s Community Investment Teams and the important impact our CIT volunteers make on our community?

United Way invests in local nonprofit programs that measurably improve critical community needs. UWCF works with organizations to fill gaps of service in Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties in the areas of our seven initiatives.

But how do we decide how much goes to what program?

We don’t. Those decisions are made with guidance from a team of local experts on UWCF Community Impact Steering Committees and from more than 100 volunteers like you on our Community Investment Teams.

Volunteers work together to evaluate funding requests over an estimated 12 to 16-hour process each year, including an initial training and orientation, two meetings and a day of seeing our programs in action during site visits.

Teams speak with partner program leadership, study applications and assess the efficacy of services before recommending funding allocations.

CIT volunteers confirm that the current programs are the best use of our donors’ investments. They make the decisions that help kids succeed in school, provide financial stability resources for individuals and families, and enable everyone in our community to improve health.

Each team is comprised of diverse individuals with a combination of the following skills: strategic thinking, outcome measurement, community leadership and financial expertise. All team members personally review and score funding applications from local agencies. Teams also meet with experts in the field, participate in a group discussion and develop an informed, consensus-based recommendation.

The Community Investment process ensures wise investment of hard-earned dollars contributed to our campaign and is a rewarding experience for volunteers.

Thank you to all of our CIT volunteers who are doing this work right now. If you would like to volunteer next year, please contact Christy Apisa, Community Impact Manager, at christy.apisa@uwcf.org or 863-648-1500, ext. 272.