United Way of Greater Atlanta announced during The Mayor’s 5K on the 5th Runway that within its overall $80M campaign goal, the campaign intends to raise $50M for the United Way Impact Fund. This funding designation will secure the resources needed to drive the five-year strategic goal to improve child well-being in the Greater Atlanta region. Last year, donors gave $46.9M to the United Way Impact Fund.

Each year the investments made by United Way donors, volunteers and agency partners yield amazing results for the thousands of individuals and families in Greater Atlanta. However, the cumulative efforts of their work has not significantly shifted the region’s national ranking on important issues such as infant mortality, low birth weight, child poverty and preschool readiness. To significantly improve those outcomes at scale will require bold new approaches. United Way’s first step is to ask the community to invest generously in the United Way Impact Fund.

The United Way Impact Fund was created to raise and deploy funds specifically earmarked for United Way volunteers to tackle the community’s biggest problems through collective impact. United Way knows that many of Greater Atlanta’s most pressing social issues, like homelessness, or low high school graduation rates, or low economic mobility, aren’t standalone problems—they’re interconnected. No one organization or solution can move the needle on these complex issues by itself.

“This focus on the United Way Impact Fund allows us to partner with donors to tackle society’s most pressing social issues, focusing the greatest impact and energy on child well-being. We know that communities can thrive and reach their greatest potential only if their children are thriving. By increasing year-round engagement opportunities for donors and volunteers, we will see greater community impact through United Way initiatives like the Kids Home Initiative led by the Young Professional Leaders and the campaign to end human trafficking led by the Tocqueville Women’s Leadership Council,” stated United Way of Greater Atlanta’s President and CEO Milton J. Little, Jr.

Little added, “This is a shift to a year-round engagement focus on the United Way Impact Fund, and I am honored to have the leadership and support of Mike Donnelly spearheading this year’s campaign. He understands the needs of the community and he is dedicated to the region through his own active civic engagement. Mike demonstrates his commitment to creating a thriving Greater Atlanta as Chairman of Atlanta BeltLine Partnership, his membership in the Metro Atlanta Chamber and his work with the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education. For seven years Wells Fargo has been a top United Way donor nationally and Mike’s servant and philanthropic leadership is a shining example of Wells Fargo’s strong commitment to the work of United Way.”

“At Wells Fargo, we work from the premise that success has as much to do with attitude as aptitude – what’s in our hearts, not just our heads.” said Donnelly. “That combination of both a deeply felt commitment and a smart new strategy is exciting to me in my role as chair.  I am ready to do my part to increase United Way’s impact, especially for our children.”