United Way TJA - Charlottesville Tomorrow

Meet Your Nonprofit, a weekly profile of nonprofit organizations in our community, is brought to you by the Center for Nonprofit Excellence.

Describe your nonprofit’s mission.
Community Philanthropy: We provide opportunity and access to be a giving community by connecting expertise, dollars, and volunteerism.

Catalytic Leadership: We convene and engage key stakeholders to advance community goals.

Dynamic Grantmaking: We grant funding to a fabric of ideas that creates big impact in our focus areas of School Readiness, Self-Sufficiency and Community Health.

What need in our community brought about the creation of your nonprofit?
In 2018, we will celebrate our 75th year of service since our founding in 1943 as the Charlottesville and Albemarle War and Community Fund by the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce. Our local leaders of that era were charged with raising funds from this area of Virginia for World War II efforts, and had the foresight to include community needs in that fund drive as well. From their vision to provide in an organized way for those with the greatest need, or at the greatest risk, evolved what is now the United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area.

How has your nonprofit made a difference in our community?
Our programs and grants annually serve approximately 10,000 citizens in our area.

Examples of the economic impact of our work are –

• Through the coalition United Way launched in 2008, Cville Tax Aid (formerly the Earned Income Tax Credit Coalition) annually completes an average of 2,500 returns utilizing 2002 volunteers. The average income of the beneficiaries is $24,355, and the average refund is $1,770. The most common tax credits associated with the program were the Earned Income Tax Credit ($1,124,526 for 2015), the Child Tax Credit and Additional Child Tax Credit ($535,314) and the Education Credit ($102,975). The total economic impact for our community totals $5,832,640 for tax year 2015, with a cumulative value since tax year 2008 of $27,117,523.

• Each year more than 400 patients are served by our RX Relief Prescription Assistance program, with an estimated retail value of more than $1.5 million. Our Pharmacy Tech is on site at the Charlottesville Free Clinic, Region 10, and works with Martha Jefferson doctors. The estimated value since the program’s inception in December 2007 totals $19,106,790.

How can community members help you achieve your mission?
People can and do connect to the United Way in a variety of ways- most primarily as volunteers and donors. Examples include United Way Day of Caring, workplace campaigns, Mentor/Tutor Fair, Santa Fund, Women United, and Impact Teams.

Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Community Voices

The content in this Meet Your Nonprofit profile is provided by the organization and should not imply endorsement by Charlottesville Tomorrow. The organizations are members of Center for Nonprofit Excellence. The goal of the Meet Your Nonprofit feature is to share information about the many local organizations working on behalf of a wide range of community interests. We encourage readers to contact the nonprofit directly for more information.

Tell us a story that has come out of your work.
Erin didn’t know much about prenatal care or how to take care of a baby. A United Way-funded program made sure that Erin saw her doctor, had good nutrition, and supported her schoolwork so she would graduate on time. After Genesis was born, Erin joined another United Way-supported program where she learned parenting skills. A United Way Child Care Scholarship enables Genesis to attend a high-quality preschool so she’ll be ready for school, while Erin works full-time in a career-ladder position at the UVA Hospital Emergency Department.

Learn more about the United Way TJA.

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