United Way KW Celebrates 70th Anniversary

With age comes wisdom, and 2011 marks the 70th year that United Way KW has been gathering wisdom about our community, its social service needs and the best way for these needs to be met.

My column in the May edition of Business Times recounts the early beginnings of United Way KW, relying heavily on well-documented details from a history prepared by former United Way KW CEO John Thompson, who retired his role to me in 2005 after 28 years with the organization.

What started out in 1941 as Kitchener-Waterloo Federated Charities, a fundraising appeal initiated by a small group of community and business leaders to raise funds for local efforts supporting the Second World War, has grown into the United Way KW we’re familiar with today.

While so much has changed over the years, both within United Way KW and in our community at large, a surprising number of similarities remain from that war-time era. The original “economies of scale” rationale behind our inception – the idea that a unified fundraising campaign would be far more cost-effective and efficient that numerous separate fundraising efforts – remains viable today. The concept of the workplace campaign introduced back then also carries on as a mainstay of our current efforts, as does a heavy reliance on volunteers and support from community leaders.

United Way KW was there to help back in 1941, and thanks to the ongoing support of so many in our community, I fully expect we’ll be there helping to be change, make change and see change in the KW area another 70 years as well.

Jan