On Universal Children’s Day (20 November 2012), Doug Taylor, CEO of United Way Australia discusses why reading to children under 5 years is one of the best investment opportunities on offer.

Imagine for a moment that you are at the start of a 100 metre running race with other people who are the same age as you are. You walk into the arena, line up at the starting line and then to your surprise an official informs you that you are actually starting 20 metres behind everyone else.

What’s more you will be running with a 10 kg backpack. The gun fires and you do your best but become disheartened mid way through because you realise that despite your efforts you are never going to catch up.

In many ways this metaphor speaks a truth for so many kids I have worked with over the years that come from tough communities. We have an instinctive belief that the children who succeed in life are the ones who have worked hardest and made the most of their capabilities.

Unfortunately, this simply isn’t the case. The fact is that in Australia today, 1 in 4 kids start school unprepared to learn social, literacy and numeracy skills. In the race of life, they not only start behind, but they carry a weight that makes it difficult for them to ever catch up. Why? Because in the human lottery of life they’ve been born into a family unable or unsure of how to provide them with the opportunities to help their little minds start developing through their first educator, their parent. Sadly in Australia today, 30% of parents don’t read regularly to their children. This is not only because parents are more ‘time poor’ than they used to be, but is often linked to the socio-economic status of the parents.

So what can we do about it? Reading with children is one of the simplest but most effective methods of getting children ready for school. Not only does it assist with basic literacy development but also attachment and bonding with caregivers. All of this has been scientifically linked to firing millions of little neurons for brain development- crucial when you consider that 90% of this development takes place by the age of 5 .

At United Way Australia our vision is to see children start school ready to read and learn. Our READLEARNSUCCEED program focuses on equipping and inspiring parents to read to their child, providing quality and relevant books direct to children who need them most and mobilizing local communities to be part of the village that raises a child and gives them every opportunity to reach their potential. Businesses, such as ING DIRECT, see the return from investing in children who become literate adults and productive employees.

To find out more about United Way, or to support United Way’s Christmas Giving Appeal, visit http://www.unitedway.com.au/giving

[1] Australian Early Development Index. (2011). A snapshot of early childhood development in Australia: Reissued March 2011. Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

[1] Australian Early Development Index. (2011). A snapshot of early childhood development in Australia: Reissued March 2011. Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

[1] http://www.ccfc.ca.gov/parents/learning-center/brain-development/#/?a=braindevelopment.

Jean-Guillaume de Tocqueville's speech to United Way of Central Maryland about United Way and his inspirational ancestor, Alexis de Tocqueville.

In Latin America, early childhood development is the backbone of community impact for United Ways. Eleven United Ways are working collaboratively in the region to build on a shared vision for young children in Latin America. United Ways are building on the collective strength and success of the region to increase public awareness of the importance of early childhood development using tips, tools and resources from the Born Learning campaign.

Fundación Caminando Juntos (United Way in Argentina) has been training child caregivers in early childhood development skills as part of its implementation of the Born Learning campaign. With support from Procter & Gamble, United Way trained 25 community leaders at 12 community centers, impacting thousands of children through highly trained caregivers. Small grants were made to three community centers to support the development of child care areas.

Born Learning in Argentina began its pilot phase in 2011 with caregiver training at 12 community centers in Tigre. Since then, it has expanded to four other areas, including two in Buenos Aires, Municipality of San Martín and the locality of Pilar. In 2012, more than 80 community leaders have been trained in age-appropriate early childhood development skills, impacting more than 2,600 children from birth to age six and their families.

The Solidary Day of the Child focused on games and physical activities between the children and volunteers, a musical performance, and an outdoor presentation of “Soccer for Everyone,” which was filmed during the day’s events and was transmitted by Fox Sports to the entire Latin American region in early September, 2012.

This award is made with the support of the National Center on Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Capital; the United Nations Program for Development; the European Academy of Management and Business Administration; and the Argentinean Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security.

Latin America experiences high poverty, underemployment and unemployment. Investments in education in the region are roughly 4.5% of GDP, while nations like Korea, Japan and Israel invest 10% of GDP. The Latin American NGO Responsibility Award aims to strengthen the culture of social responsibility; help establish international standards; elevate the status of Latin American NGOs; and present best practices of social responsibility.   

There have been many highlights over the course of the weeks but mine was seeing our girls win Australia’s first gold in the 4 by 100 meter freestyle relay. While normally fierce competitors, the girls came together for the relay and, against all odds, blew the competition out of the water.

There’s something inherently appealing and logical about working together to achieve a common goal and it’s most evident in our community when we face a crisis or natural disaster. Somehow on those occasions the social sector is able to shift from running our own individual race to forming a champion team.

And there is no better example of this than the one related by my friend Mike Brennan, CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan. Mike was recently in Sydney and presented to over 200 community, government and corporate leaders over the course of a few days.

Mike’s community is in crisis. With the collapse of the auto manufacturing industry in Detroit, a community of two million people was reduced to just 700,000, with a loss of one million jobs. In Mike’s words this was “Hurricane Katrina without the water” – and without the tide of financial and other support that followed it.

The impacts were wide-ranging but two key social problems stood out:

• One in two children start school unprepared and are likely to face a lifetime of disadvantage.
• High school graduation rates of only 60 percent led to ‘drop-out factories’ rather than educational institutions preparing young people for a changing society and economy.

Detroit is rebuilding because community, government and business leaders are working together to address these issues. What’s galvanized these people is a long-term commitment to making Detroit one the five best places in the United States to live and work by 2030 (the date when those born today will graduate from high school).

This is a bold vision, particularly when the city so often finds itself in the ‘top five’ lists for all the wrong reasons, and it is this vision coupled with involvement of leaders across the sectors that has resulted in a USD 25 million grant from the GM Foundation.

So what does this mean for each of us as we strive to create social change in Australia? We have the local resources and leadership in many of our communities to do the work of building the common good, but do we have the blueprint to create lasting change and the resolve to be accountable for our progress?

Perhaps the answer to finding a blueprint lies in Collective Impact.

“Large-scale social change requires broad cross-sector coordination, yet the social sector remains focused on the isolated intervention of individual organizations. Substantially greater progress could be made in alleviating many of our most serious and complex social problems if nonprofits, governments, businesses, and the public were brought together around a common agenda to create collective impact,” Mark Kramer, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2011.

Continuing the Olympics metaphor, check out this animation which uses a group of rowers to illustrate the power of collective impact. A great local example of this is 90 Homes for 90 Lives - a coalition of leaders that secured resources to provide permanent homes for 70 Rough Sleepers in Woolloomooloo, with demonstrated early success.

As for accountability, much of this comes down to what we define as being “our responsibility.”

Are we only accountable for running our organization’s program and getting a personal best in our own individual event? Or are we willing to take responsibility for the overall health and wellbeing of our community and take a step in a new direction to make change of truly Olympic proportions?

When we team up with the person in the lane next to us, magic can happen. And, against the odds, maybe we can even win gold.

Access this story in Pro Bono Australia.

The Dental Vans will be equipped with specialized equipment to deliver a full range of dental services, along with two dentists and two dental assistants. More than 30 patients will be seen daily over the course of the Healthy Smiles initiative. In addition to receiving dental care, patients will learn oral health care tips, including tooth brushing and flossing instruction.

School principals, teachers, volunteers, social workers, local NGO staff and parents convened for the discussion. The conversation yielded interesting perspectives on migrant children. Knowing that children from migrant families have the same talents, creativity, resilience and willingness to learn as all other children, the group felt that the inequality of educational resources for migrant families throughout Metro Shanghai was a critical issue.

While migrant families are not necessarily poor in financial terms, they are often poor of opportunities. In addition, youth who come from migrant families are often discriminated against and often become involved in juvenile delinquency as a result of limited opportunities.

Cherished Dream Foundation, regarded as the most transparent foundation in China by Forbes, shared the challenges of teacher attrition despite positive working environments and professional development opportunities. Teachers frequently leave the area because higher salaries can be found in metropolitan areas.

As a result of the community conversation, community partners saw Shanghai Charity Foundation differently. Beyond providing a community report or sharing work updates, the conversation encouraged participants to think about issues collectively and to involve community members in their work to gain context of community needs. In addition, a new partnership with Cherished Dream Foundation to support educational success for children and youth in Shanghai is growing.

To advance the United Way mission in Shanghai, a volunteer-based Corporate Advisory Council is being established to lead United Way work in the city and ensure maximum organizational transparency. The success of this council will be the model for other major cities in China as the United Way movement expands throughout the region.

After two weeks of monsoon rains flooded Manila and surrounding areas, 123,484 families are affected in 46 cities/municipalities. Massive evacuation for families residing in low-lying areas and near rivers is underway. The Philippines began a massive clean-up on Thursday after floods swept the capital and nearby provinces, forcing residents to wade through shoulder-deep waters in some places after rains killed 91 people.

Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP, United Way Philippines) has set up a relief fund and is requesting donations from around the world. To make a donation, click here. To learn more about United Way response in the affected areas, click here to access United Way Philippines’ Disaster Relief Program blog.

Gifts made directly to PBSP are not tax deductible. However, donors who are interested in providing support totaling $5,000 or above to PBSP and would like to receive a tax deduction for their gift should contact Kendra Davis, Director of the United Way International Donor Advised Giving program at Kendra.davis@unitedway.org or 703.836.7112, ext. 114.

In 2012, Ubuntu Community Chest (United Way in Durban, South Africa), hosted its second Mandela Day volunteer event in partnership with Cummins SA at the Molweni Zimele Center for Disabled Children to advance the common good. The center is a charitable organization that provides daily support to survivors of head injury and stroke.

The event engaged nearly 70 people, including Cummins SA, Community Chest and school volunteers, to contribute more than 400 hours of volunteering. With supplies provided by Cummins SA, volunteers planted seedlings in the organization’s garden, which supplies food for residents and also provides a source of income generation to sustain the center. After spending the day working in the center’s garden, volunteers played games and sports with the center children and prepared a grilled meal.  

Ubuntu Community Chest plans to continue participating in Mandela Day to support the organization’s mission of enhancing communities and restoring hope.  

To learn more about Mandela Day, click here.

“It is only right for SKC to lead the local community as a corporate citizen. In the future, SKC will continue to play a key role in creating a happier local community by developing more effective social contribution programs,” said President Choi. 

Choi is the Chairman of Community Chest of Kyong-Ki, one of the local members of Community Chest of Korea.

During the visit with the Alake, board members discussed the growth of United Way in Nigeria and its mission to improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of communities to advance the common good. The Alake was delighted to hear about the United Way business model, and pledged to support the organization’s work going in the future.  

With Dolly Parton and city officials as guests to support the community initiative, Thrive at 5 was launched in August 2011. The first year of the program was dedicated to fundraising and creating opportunities for involvement of grassroots community groups, libraries, schools and nonprofits. The program will begin in Everton, a deprived area of Liverpool, where 59 percent of children are living in poverty, compared to the United Kingdom average of 21 percent.

LCVS | United Way and its partners will:

• Increase children’s access to books.
• Encourage parents to read more with their children.
• Support children and their families in the development of a love for reading.
• Prepare children for school and learning.

LCVS | United Way plans to improve the lives of 900 children per year through literacy rich environments in homes and local communities.

The volunteers reached thousands of commuters at these major railway stations to build awareness of maintaining better environmental conditions in public places. Volunteers wore aprons, carried placards, posters and banners with messages to encourage commuters to keep the stations clean and to help maintain the city.

The following community outreach activities were very successful:

• Street performances at the railway stations attracted the attention of many spectators. Volunteer college students conceptualized and enacted a street play themed, ‘Why is it our responsibility to maintain cleanliness in public places?’
• Volunteers interacted one-on-one with commuters to inform them of the importance of being friendly towards our environment and for maintaining cleanliness in public premises.
• Volunteers also interacted with the stall owners on the platforms to elicit their support in keeping the station premises clean. 

The 100 youth volunteers were from city colleges, (Valia College, Anjuman Islam Junior College and Bal Bharti College) while the school children were from Anjuman Islam School, and the NGO Parivartan. The young volunteers passionately reached out to Mumbaikars appealing to them for their cooperation in ensuring better care for the environment at the railway stations and beyond.

The campaign touched over 20,000 commuters and complemented the efforts of the Western Railway in maintaining cleanliness at the railway stations.

About United Way Mumbai Helpline

United Way Mumbai is a registered charitable trust established in 2002. United Way Mumbai Helpline (UWMH) is a special initiative of United Way Mumbai. UWMH has been making collaborative and consistent efforts in addressing aspects related to disaster preparedness and civic issues such as cleanliness, waste management and greenery. This initiative brings together local civic authorities, residents, NGOs and other stakeholders to address environmental issues at the ward level in addition to a disaster preparedness plan for the area. United Way Mumbai has also been appointed as the official Third Party Auditor of the Clean-Up Mumbai campaign by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. 

• Connect Airbus Corporate Foundation volunteers with mentors to support students who will benefit from a caring adult to boost their motivation to succeed through ongoing relationships as well as a recent job forum.
• Expand the network and knowledge of school/career options available to female students through professional mentorship with female Airbus Corporate Foundation volunteers.  
• Provide youth with local college tutors on a regular basis to improve their academic performance.

The pilot equips youth with the skills to tackle challenges in school, work and life in order to achieve their full potential, as well as develop leadership skills for both college and middle school students. Mentors and tutors support youth through school difficulties and offer guidance for future success through an academic and professional approach. College tutors accompany students in their job discovery and help them connect their aspirations to a professional ambition, and provide counsel on the education necessary to succeed in their chosen field of work. .

United Way France, the project facilitator, is working with Airbus Corporate Foundation to pair volunteers with students in Toulouse, including one-on-one mentoring, as well as exposing youth to the professional world. In addition, students, mentors and tutors meet as a group to aid youth in developing their long term aspirations in life. As encouragement for participating in the program, Airbus Corporate Foundation will offer students a communal flight experience, in support of the organization’s youth development goal.

The pilot will expand to serve more youth in the Toulouse area. In partnership with United Way of the Plains, Airbus Corporate Foundation will launch the next phase of the pilot project in Wichita, Kansas. In 2013, Airbus Corporate Foundation plans to expand the reach of the Flying Challenge to support youth in Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Kramer’s work, along with his colleagues, has been seminal in recent years in re-thinking the role of nonprofits and business in solving social problems as outlined in the ideas of Creating Shared Value and Collective Impact. On the 125th Anniversary of United Way, this thinking has resonated and reinforced our resolve to become a community impact focused organization.

Like so many institutions, we lost our way for a few decades as we became more focused on the means and not the end of social change making. Our theory of change for a long time was to raise as much money as possible and fund nonprofits to provide services to their “clients” in the community.

In the U.S. and Australia, this has coincided with an explosion in the numbers of nonprofit organizations. This has benefitted a great many in society, as these community based organizations have increased the quality and diversity of services provided to people who are often not able to address their specific needs alone.

However, one of the unintended consequences of this is a vast system of institutions working individually and often on the same issue to create, in Kramer’s words, “isolated impact.” They each have a primary purpose to manage the problems of the clients they seek to benefit primarily through funding contracts. The problem with this is that “no single organization is responsible for any major social problems, nor can any single organization cure it.”  

In Kramer’s own words most nonprofits are trying to address social problems with their “hands tied behind their back” because they are not working and learning together and they don’t evaluate their work using consistent frameworks. The increased complexity of the social systems and problems provides a compelling case for a more collaborative approach. He made two overarching suggestions on how to move beyond the current service delivery models that predominate.

He spoke about the importance of raising our expectations for change and setting community-level goals. For too long we’ve let government pick up the tab for improving major social problems and as a result let business and nonprofits off the hook. 

This is no more evident for me than in Detroit where my good friend Michael Brennan, CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan (Detroit), has worked with others to create change in high schools where only 60 percent of young people graduate. This problem is not unusual across the U.S. but is startling when you consider the long term prospects for young people if they don’t finish school. It was also a concern to the local car manufacturing industry who, post–General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, needed to be better positioned in terms of technology integration and a better skilled workforce.

These factors were the foundation for a collective effort that resulted in a 25 percent reduction of chronic absenteeism in schools in Detroit. As a result of this success, General Motors Foundation has committed $27.1 million to take these promising strategies to 30 other schools with the goal of 80 percent graduation. This could only happen when local institutions stopped just taking responsibility for their own service and interest and instead made a community-wide impact through collaboration with others.  

Kramer also spoke about the value of engaging businesses, which he believes for too long have focused on writing checks to nonprofits and not being core partners in solving community problems. His words reflected in his Creating Shared Value paper highlight the opportunity for businesses to find ways to address their own needs in solving community issues.

Creating Shared Value compels businesses to think more broadly about their potential to create value for customers and communities and in doing so, enhance profitability. He argues that when shared value is created, the result is growth in the variety and volume of resources available (and not all of it money) for research and development, which is the fuel of innovation.

To make his point Kramer spoke about the Cisco Learning Academies which were developed to create a skilled future IT workforce. This program has yielded Cisco access to four million alumni across the world that are ready to become employees in an industry that only a few years ago was not even invented.

I recall being part of a team of people who rolled out an Academy in Western Sydney. This continues to be an important program providing industry entry points for young people and skilled employees for business. We made this happen, in Kramer’s words, by making use of a “local cluster” of organizations working across sectors to address a social need.

In Australia, we’ve seen great outcomes achieved by the 90 Homes for 90 Lives Coalition who have collaborated to address homelessness in Woolloomooloo. This coalition identified a best practice model, developed a business case and leveraged a $2.9 million grant for Bridge Housing (read more). As a result, 22 people have been housed. Critical to this work was the collaboration and the setting of a clear community-level goal.

Raising our collective gaze from our services to individual clients to the broader needs of the community is everyone’s responsibility. Kramer spoke about the critical role of “backbone” organizations, such as United Way, in improving community level conditions. It’s challenging work but increasingly necessary given the predominance of wickedly complex issues in our local communities.

In many ways it’s the harder road, and it’s easy to fall back to our own institutional agendas. However, it’s important to remember that “if it’s important to you, you’ll find a way; if it’s not, you will find an excuse.”  It’s time to stop letting ourselves off the hook with excuses.

Kramer M. & Kania, Collective Impact, Stanford Social Innovation Review

Porter M. & Kramer M, Creating Shared Value, Harvard Business Review

By: Doug Taylor, CEO, United Way Australia

Help us celebrate these winning partners below by joining the conversation on Twitter @UnitedWay, hashtag #SpiritofAmerica and #LIVEUNITED.

2012 Spirit of America Award Winner:

P&G

In celebration of its 125th anniversary, United Way Worldwide recognized Procter & Gamble (P&G) with the 2012 Spirit of America award for philanthropy, volunteer efforts and community impact.

P&G's partnership with United Way is rooted in a shared sense of global citizenship and a mutual focus on children’s health and education. United Way’s mission to mobilize and empower communities combined with P&G’s aim to improve life for 300 million children around the world has resulted in numerous early childhood education partnerships, including Born Learning in Panama, Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. In addition to its philanthropic work, P&G leveraged its unique marketing expertise and social media channels through the P&G brandSAVER program, making donations in order to increase viewership and engagement, with over 50 million U.S. households reached.

P&G is the largest financial contributor to the United Way of Greater Cincinnati (UWGC) and runs United Way campaigns at all U.S. plants and most international locations. Globally, P&G invests more than $100 million annually in charitable cash, product and employee donations. Company employees volunteered more than 52,500 hours in 2011, plus senior leaders served on more than 200 prominent local, national and global boards.

P&G has previously won five Summit Awards from United Way Worldwide, three in 2010 and two in 2011 for its work in community impact and volunteer engagement.

Learn more (press release)
Learn more (Spanish) (press release)

“A portion of this donation will enable 500 families, with an average of five people per house hold, to gain access to safe water and disease prevention. The entire community benefits when people live healthier lives. I appreciate the difference the Macdonalds have made in the lives of people enduring water scarcity in Kamira, Luweero district in Uganda. Frankly, we could not do what we do without donors such as Larry and Gloria. We, and those we serve, deeply appreciate their generosity,” said Monica Mukisa, Program Officer for United Way Uganda.

Their generous gift will be used to provide clean water to a rural community in Uganda and to support the education of girls in a rural Muslim community in Northern Ghana.

“The impact of Larry and Gloria Macdonald’s generosity is measured by the lives that are changed forever. Children in six communities not supportive of education programs, especially among female children, now have a bright future full of promise,” said Jonathan Akuamoah, Executive Director for United Way Ghana.

History with United Way

 Larry Macdonald got involved with United Way in Calgary in 1988 when he was asked by a member of the United Way campaign cabinet to make donor calls to energy companies. He continued to volunteer in different capacities, eventually becoming a board chair in 1999.

As chair of the campaign, he encouraged his peers to make philanthropic gifts that reflected their financial capacity. That year, Larry and Gloria made a $25,000 contribution to the campaign, the largest gift ever received from an individual. Their leadership resulted in the formation of the major donor program at United Way of Calgary and Area.

In 2006, Larry became a member of the United Way International board (which together with United Way of America, formed United Way Worldwide in 2008), serving through 2009. During his tenure he traveled internationally to engage potential supporters and to exchange ideas with local United Way volunteers.

Interest in Africa

 Larry and Gloria have made an ongoing commitment to volunteer and support philanthropic causes in Calgary. Their interest in the African region developed when Gloria served as the official host of the International Olympic Committee delegates from Kenya during the 1988 Calgary Olympics. This relationship led to a deep interest in the region, leading the family to visit Kenya and Tanzania in 1993.

After meeting Mama Angelina, Ugandan Ambassador to Kenya, and Vice Chair of the Board of United Way Uganda during a regional meeting, Larry was inspired to increase his support for African causes though United Way.

“Larry and Gloria have been consistent and steadfast supporters of the United Way movement on the African continent. Larry was instrumental in the gift from Newmont that helped support the implementation of Work Place Giving in Ghana and they both have been great supporters of the work in Uganda,” said Janet Butler, Vice President, Africa Region for United Way Worldwide.

 United Way Canada-Centraide Across Borders

Larry has also served on the board of the United Way of Canada-Centraide. In that capacity he founded and funded the creation of United Way Canada Across Borders. The program, a collaboration between the United Way Worldwide International Donor Advised Giving (IDAG) program and United Way Canada-Centraide, allows Canadian donors to support United Ways in developing countries with financial gifts and to receive a tax deduction for the gift. IDAG serves as the intermediary between United Way in Canada, and United Way Uganda and United Way Ghana to ensure the delivery of high quality programs.   IDAG is a critical asset to United Way Canada Across Borders, given the long-term expertise of staff working with developing countries.

Throughout the week-long series of meetings Brian talked about the many benefits, to all sectors, of investing in communities and people. “Attention must be focused on creating both economic and human opportunities,” he said. “There is no economic success, without long-term, enduring human success. People must be the priority.”

He suggested that they are also essential to any solution. “We need to get people back involved in creating community success. It’s the only way to create sustained change at scale.”

Brian is one of the Forum’s few Nonprofit/NGO sector leaders. Additional information on Brian’s sessions as well as the World Economic Forum can be found at http://www.weforum.org.

In Hong Kong, all residents 18 years or older receive financial assistance from the HKSAR government as part of an economic stimulus fund. The Community Chest of Hong Kong encouraged the community to support The Community Chest and give to Rainbow Fund to help advance the common good in the communities. With the assistance of its 18 social welfare agency partners who offer a total of 74 assessment centers, the Chest has allocated over HK$46 million to over 12,500 families since its creation.

The grant will further the programs in the relief effort by including counseling services for those who have been affected mentally and emotionally, securing transportation, childcare support and capacity training to increase job opportunities. The grant will also aid in the reconstruction of Japanese communities.

Born Learning was created in 2005 to help any United Way or early learning coalition boost community engagement around young children. Today, some 700 United Ways and early childhood coalitions or organizations are using Born Learning community engagement tools to boost awareness, educate parents and move communities to action.