United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley Recognized as Center of Excellence

Allentown, Pa. - United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley has been recognized by United Way Worldwide as a Center of Excellence for best practices in Workplace Campaigns. This week, the organization welcomed guests from around the country to Renaissance Allentown Hotel for a two-day program exploring how UWGLV has set best-in-class standards around strategic goals and operational excellence.

With more than 18,000 generous donors and 400 companies, UWGLV raises money and invests in programs to transform the lives of more than 60,000 people in the Lehigh Valley. These statistics highlight why UWGLV, a midsized market celebrating their 100th anniversary this year, is an outstanding model of campaign excellence. United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley has set bold goals around education, food access, healthy aging, and emergency services. Their most recent campaign raised more than $12.1 million.

"We've been able to grow resources in the community by connecting donors to real issues that they care about," said David Lewis, President of UWGLV. "As a result, our donors have been extremely generous in their efforts to help our commmunity."

The Center of Excellence recognition from United Way Worldwide is the first of a series focused on strengthening workplace giving and philanthropy, with several others in development for first quarter 2018. Along with UWGLV senior leadership, distinguished speakers at the two-day program included Gerry Nau, CEO, Lafayette Ambassador Bank; Lisa Daugherty, Director of Business Excellence, Victaulic; Bill Schaninger, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company; Lissette Santana, Senior Manager of Corporate Relations, PPL Corporation; Bonnie Hall, Vice President of Global Quality Assurance, Crayola; and Pete Ruggiero, Vice President, Crayola.

"We are thrilled to be hosting a Center of Excellence for our United Way colleagues from across the country at United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley," said Mary Sellers, U.S. President of United Way Worldwide. "David Lewis and his team are working on critical issues in their community and are demonstrating well-defined practices, connecting donors to the issues they care most about."

Kelli Kreps, Vice President of U.S. Network Engagement at United Way Worldwide, added, "David Lewis and the team at United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley are helping lead the way in the United Way network. Their bold goals and laser focus on improving lives across the Valley, combined with their ability to engage people in solutions, makes them one of our top performing United Ways. This community is fortunate to have this United Way's vision, leadership and talent."

United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley serves Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties with 37 full-time staff, 400 volunteers, 18,000 donors and 108 community partner investments. Recent organizational accolades include Keystone Society Award winners (state-level Tocqueville Society members), nationally-recognized leader in Community Schools, and the highest percent of new dollars raised in Pennsylvania for three consecutive years.

"My colleague and I made the trip from Utah because, like so many United Ways, we are expected to do more with less. We are anxious to know how UWGLV saw fundraising increase so consistently," said Tim Harrison, Corporate Engagement Director for United Way of Salt Lake. "We always relish opportunities to help our United Way network act together as one, and learning from other local United Ways is no different. Right off the bat, learning about how United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley actively engages community and board members in their fundraising efforts is pretty inspiring."

Michelle Braun, President and CEO, United Way of Northeast Florida, said, "We came to the Center of Excellence because we know that we need to reinvigorate our workplace campaign. Our campaign has begun to stagnate and we need to get back to basics. We need to believe again in the real potential that exists in the workplace campaigns today. We can get too busy 'doing' and we need to stop and take time to think and plan. We have been absolutely delighted with the incredible information and insights that the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley team and our other colleagues have shared."

United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley would like to thank UWGLV board member Bill Schaninger for sponsoring a reception for guests, which was held during the two-day event.

Mission of United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley

The mission of United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley is to provide the leadership, convene the partnerships and develop the resources and solutions that improve our community. We remain committed to these goals and sincerely appreciate the continued support of partners, program providers, and donors throughout the Lehigh Valley.