Guest column: Investments—who do you trust?

By Lydia Birk

The air waves are filled with commercials regarding which investment firm you should rely on; after all, you want to eventually retire and live comfortably and healthy and maintain your lifestyle. Yet, how much do you personally know about investing: the timing, the company’s track records, transparency, can they be trusted? There is an overload of information spinning around, and for many of us, it is confusing and time-consuming, so we trust our investments to the professionals.

Those of you who donate to the United Way of Anderson County and check the box to have Fund Distribution Volunteers make investment decisions are doing the same thing. Trusting educated, informed, committed people to invest your dollars where they will do the most good. In Anderson County, we have a multitude of programs that serve the needs of youth through food programs, backpack programs, after-school programs, preschool programs, utility assistance so they don’t shiver at night, programs to inspire, to encourage, to challenge. And programs that address the mental and physical health of our youth. Which of these programs are most effective, which ones address the most pressing issues, which ones are transparent in managing your gifts, do you chose to put a roof over their heads or food in their bellies?

Informed community investment is United Way of Anderson County’s strength. We’ve done it for 57 years and we know what to look for, what questions to ask and how to balance the various needs that exist. We refer to this as the Fund Distribution Process. Our 32 agencies are divided across six panels, each panel addressing a particular issue such as the needs of seniors, at-risk youth, mental and physical health. Each panel is made up of five to six volunteers, people just like you, who review each agency and their programs’ goals and outcomes, their finances, their audits, their staffing, and their fiscal and business management skills. After all, a nonprofit business is a business that does not make a profit, yet provides an important community service using community investments.

The panel volunteers will review all the data and then make site visits where they meet the staff, tour the facilities, meet service recipients, and validate the material in the funding application. Once that is complete, the panelists come back together to discuss needs of the various services, the strengths of the agency, the outcomes of their programs. In business terms, it’s called ROI, or return on investment. And remember, these investments, like your financial investments, will impact your future and your ability to live comfortably and healthy and maintain your lifestyle. These investments are investments in the health of our whole community.

If you have already invested in UWAC this year, thank you. If not, it is not too late; you still can donate. And if you want to be part of the panels that evaluate the programs serving Anderson County, you can do that as well. UWAC is still seeking your time, talent, and treasure. We invite you to call UWAC’s Rick Morrow at (865) 483-8431 and become a fund distribution panelist. You will only invest 10-12 hours of your time and you will come away feeling blessed, encouraged, and hopeful for our future.

If you wish to make a financial pledge, it may be made directly to United Way of Anderson County by calling (865) 483-4831 or mailing to P.O. Box 4158, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-4158.

United Way of Anderson County works to make significant and measurable differences in our community by focusing our support three critical service areas: enabling seniors to live with honor, developing our youth, and providing and meeting basic human needs for all of those we serve. For more information on UWAC, visit their website at www.uwayac.org.

Lydia Birk is the 2014 UWAC Campaign Chair.