Charity Navigator Awards UWCGA
Coveted 4-Star Rating

Charity Navigator, America's largest and most-utilized independent evaluator of charities, has awarded United Way of Coastal Georgia the prestigious 4-star rating, Charity Navigator’s highest, given to nonprofits that practice exceptional fiscal responsibility and governance in fulfilling their mission.

The rating indicates that UWCGA adheres to good governance, sound fiscal management and commitment to accountability, transparency, and other best practices that minimize the chance of unethical activities and consistently executes its mission in a fiscally responsible way. This high rating highlights UWCGA’a focus on good stewardship of charitable contributions and maintaining the public trust.

United Way of Coastal Georgia is committed to using financial resources wisely and to the best benefit of our community. Through the dedication of our volunteers and the guidance of our board we strive to stretch every dollar as far as possible. Our donors are instrumental to our work and we appreciate the trust they put in United Way of Coastal Georgia.

Founded in 2001, Charity Navigator has become the nation’s largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities. Charity Navigator works to help charitable givers make intelligent giving decisions by providing information on more than five thousand charities nationwide and by evaluating their financial health. It calculates each charity’s score based upon several broad areas of a charity’s performance: their financial health and their accountability and transparency, including how much is spent per dollar raised, what percentage of funds goes to programs vs. administrative and fund-raising expenses, and the organization’s long-term financial health. It also considers how they expect a charity will use donors’ support today, how well it has sustained its programs and services over time, and their level of commitment to good governance, best practices and openness with information. It then assigns a rating from one to four, with four being the best rating.

In his letter to UWCGA, Charity Navigator’s President and CEO Ken Berger noted, “Approximately a quarter of the charities we evaluate have received our highest rating, indicating that United Way of Coastal Georgia outperforms most other charities in America. This ‘exceptional’ designation from Charity Navigator differentiates United Way of Coastal Georgia from its peers and demonstrates to the public it is worthy of their trust.”

United Way of Coastal Georgia, Inc. has completed the 2012 United Way Worldwide membership requirements.

At United Way, we know success is measured by how our mission is achieved — to make measurable improvements in communities. Setting high standards for ourselves and for our local partners is critical for that success.

United Way certifies our adherence to standards that include comprehensive requirements for financial reporting, governance, ethics, diversity and operations. Click here for details.

Click here for more information on the familyWize prescription discount card program.

Dana Haza selected as new President & CEO of UWCGA

The Board of Directors of United Way of Coastal Georgia is pleased to announce that Dana Haza has been selected as the new President & CEO of United Way of Coastal Georgia. Dana shall join UWCGA on January 16^th and will work alongside the current President & CEO, Missy Neu, until Missy’s departure on February 15^th.

Beth Lemke, 2012 Chair of the UWCGA Board of Directors shared, “As an organization, we knew that it was important that we identified and recruited a dynamic leader to fill the void that Missy’s departure creates. Dana’s professional experience as well has her leadership skills and proven ability to build relationships will enable United Way to continue and expand our important work and vision in Glynn & McIntosh Counties.”

Dana Haza currently serves as the Senior Regional Manager for the Georgia Center for Nonprofits working in the counties of Glynn, Camden, Brantley and Charlton. Dana Haza takes the helm with more than two decades of effective executive experience. She has demonstrated an outstanding ability to provide creative strategic leadership, directing implementation, and extensive broad coalition building experience across both the public and private sectors. Her experience includes the development of three major national programs from concept to fruition. She has had several impactful roles which include an appointment by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to serve as the national Director of the American Health Information Community (AHIC), a Presidential Appointment by President George W. Bush as Director of the Commission on Systemic Interoperability, and a number of other leadership roles. Dana also co-authored a seminal work on health related issues. She has worked closely with leaders on a national level as well as with many of the most critical and impactful non-profit organizations on a local level. Dana has a passion for designing and managing large-scale change to enhance the overall quality of people’s lives and the communities in which they live. Dana lives on St. Simons Island with her husband Maestro Luis Haza and their cat Sunshine.

In October last year, Missy Neu announced her decision to step down as President & CEO of United Way of Coastal Georgia effective February 15, 2013, and the leadership of UWCGA immediately began the important task of identifying the next President & CEO for the organization. The Executive Committee formed a Search Committee made up of nine individuals representative of key stakeholders including five UWCGA Board Members, human resource specialists, donors, corporate leadership and representatives from the non-profit and public service sectors. A national search was conducted, which resulted in over 100 applicants. The Search Committee spent two months reviewing the qualifications of the applicants and conducting interviews, and is confident the ideal leader for United Way of Coastal Georgia has been selected with Dana Haza. Search Committee Chair and UWCGA Board Member, Donna Gowen Poe shared, “On behalf of UWCGA’s Board of Directors, I would like to express our deep gratitude to the Search Committee members for their time, effort and leadership. They were extremely engaged, thoughtful and dedicated, and brought an immense amount of experience and expertise to the search process complimented by a deep understanding of the needs of our communities, United Way and our partners. The Board of Directors is extremely pleased that Dana Haza has accepted the position as our next President & CEO.”

United Way of Coastal Georgia and the Georgia Center for Non-Profits are working together to ensure that there is a smooth transition for both organizations and the non-profit community as a whole. In addition, as UWCGA moves forward Missy Neu will serve in the volunteer role of Co-Chair of the High School Graduation Blueprint Implementation Commission alongside Jack Kilgore.

Tom Sublett - Longtime United Way Supporter and Community Leader

December 11, 2012

The United Way of Coastal Georgia’s Board of Directors, volunteers, and staff were very saddened to learn of the passing of our friend, Tom Sublett. We wish to extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to Carol and their children and grandchildren, as well as Tom’s entire family.

Tom has been a long time supporter of our United Way as a leader, donor, and volunteer. For many years, Tom served on our Board of Directors including serving as Board Chairman and Campaign Chairman. Tom’s passing will leave a deeply felt void at our United Way as well at the many other community organizations at which he served. He will be remembered not only as a community leader and public servant, but as a man who loved his family and friends and worked tirelessly to build a stronger community.

With Deepest Regard,

Beth Lemke

2012 Board Chair

We're Halfway There! United Way of Coastal Georgia reaches 50% of $1,200,000 Campaign Goal!

United Way of Coastal Georgia's campaign goal for 2012/2013 is $1,200,000. We are excited to announce that we have met the halfway goal of $600,000! THANK YOU!!!

Check out this wonderful celebration video made with help from Gary Colberg, our Campaign Chair, and United Way volunteers. We are halfway to our goal!

High School Graduation Blueprint Community Presentation

On Monday, November 5, 2012 over 100 community members gathered at the College of Coastal Georgia's Southeast Conference Center to hear UWCGA unveil its plan to raise high school graduation rates in Glynn County. This plan, the High School Graduation Blueprint Project, is the culmination of a transparent, community-wide process led by the Blueprint Commission. The Blueprint Project will target 8th grade students who are identified at risk of dropping out of school. These students, with parental consent, will receive additional services such as mentoring, tutoring, and family support services.

This Blueprint serves three functions: (1) it presents an outline for a community Mobilization Plan to increase high school graduation; (2) it provides national data and trends on the problem that guided local fact-finding; and (3) it describes essential strategies for increasing graduation rates and presents research on effective approaches for using the strategies. We believe this plan represents the best approach to increasing the number of our youth graduating from high school. Click below to read the Executive Summary and Graduation Blueprint Full Document.

High School Graduation Blueprint Executive Summary

High School Graduation Blueprint Full Document

2011 Year In Review

United Way of Coastal Georgia (UWCGA) brings together people and resources to build a safety net to help meet the needs of our friends, neighbors, co-workers and families. A volunteer driven organization, UWCGA is helping make a difference in our communities by creating meaningful and tangible impact.

As the leading facilitator of community enrichment for Glynn and McIntosh counties, UWCGA envisions mobilizing the caring power of communities to improve people’s lives by investing in the building blocks of a good life: a quality education that leads to a stable job, enough income to support a family through retirement, and good health.

A constant reminder that when we as individuals think outside ourselves we have the power to facilitate change. When we think of others’ lives as linked to our own, our compassion grows. When we reach out a hand to one, we influence the condition of all. We build the strength of our neighborhoods. We bolster the health of our communities. And we change the lives of those who walk by us every day.