Strategic Plan

Everything we do at United Way of Tarrant County falls into four areas of action:

• Identifying issues through research and data from a variety of sources to help drive actions
• Informing the community about major social issues to advance knowledge and potential solutions
• Inviting the community to engage in solutions by advising/guiding, giving and volunteering
• Investing in equitable solutions that yield long-term systemic change for all

OUR STRATEGIC PLAN defines our role in Tarrant County and our responsibility as the steward of investments by donors – individuals, organizations and businesses.

OUR OPERATING PLAN, which includes short-term and long-term goals, works in tandem with the Strategic Plan to ensure leadership and investments are aligned.

Both plans introduce our new allocations model – Systems Change – and focus on Donor Centricity and Public Philanthropy.

In 2009, United Way of Tarrant County conducted an extensive market research project to pinpoint the most challenging issues Tarrant County residents were facing. Our research found the issues were related to education, income and health.

What we found is that while United Way and our partners have moved the needle regarding changing the lives of individuals, we have not effected change or impacted populations and communities on the scale we had hoped.

Our new model to effect change is SYSTEMS CHANGE. Systems Change is a shift in how we approach enduring social problems. It focuses on understanding the root causes of problems and finding universal solutions for issues that continue to occur.