Providence, R.I. (October 4, 2011) United Way of Rhode Island today announced a new initiative in partnership with Serve Rhode Island, the state’s largest volunteer organization. The goal of the partnership is to develop and implement a customized program that focuses on community service projects as a vehicle to help United Way’s donors deepen their engagement in the mission of helping Rhode Islanders in need.
“We’re excited to enter into this partnership with Serve Rhode Island as a way to further strengthen the positive impacts we are making in communities across the state,” said Anthony Maione, president & CEO, United Way of Rhode Island. “By creating opportunities that focus on United Way’s four building blocks of a good life; Education, Income, Housing, and Safety-Net Services, we have the opportunity to better engage our donors in maximizing the impact of their support.”
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Through this collaboration, Serve Rhode Island will provide comprehensive project planning to increase donor engagement through meaningful and impactful service projects in partnership with United Way’s community partners. The partnership initiative aims to engage a wide range of United Way of Rhode Island supporters; workplace groups, individuals, leadership donors, young leaders, and women leaders to facilitate change across the Ocean State.
“Volunteerism is critically important to our state,” stated Bernie Beaudreau, executive director, Serve Rhode Island. “When people come together in support of a common cause, whether giving of their time, or making a donation, we’re able to make a profound impact on the lives of our neighbors in need. Our unique partnership with United Way of Rhode Island will take full advantage of the opportunity to not only deepen a donor’s commitments to the areas that matter most, but also in creating meaningful results that meet the needs of our partners within the nonprofit community.”
Building off of United Way of Rhode Island’s focus on the importance of the four building blocks of a good life – Education, Income, Housing, and the Safety-Net of United Way 2-1-1 in Rhode Island – the partnership will generate a wide-range of volunteer opportunities to concentrate on each critical issue. Each service project will engage a minimum of 10 to 20 volunteers who represent United Way donors, with at least one project engaging 50 or more individuals. Service projects will be customized to ensure that donors have the opportunity to provide community service in ways that best target their areas of interest.
To do so, the initiative will develop two types of volunteer projects to appeal to a wide range of donors: physical projects and direct client contact projects.
Physical service projects will involve supervised, manual labor opportunities that positively affect the internal and external working environments of United Way’s community partners. These may include painting, landscaping, building maintenance and light carpentry. Direct client contact projects will engage donors by bringing them into United Way’s office in support of initiatives that will connect them directly to community members in need. Volunteers will also focus on financial literacy issues such as the Earned Income Tax Credit Initiative, along with efforts to recruit surge capacity volunteers to assure that 2-1-1 will have sufficient resources to meet community need during times of disaster.
“By creating an avenue for our donors that provides them with the chance to experience the issues they are most passionate about, we have an opportunity to further reinforce their relationship with United Way,” continued Maione. “It’s all about creating a good match between a donor and the needs of the agencies we support. We want each and every project to be a worthwhile experience that meets the needs of everyone involved.”
For more info, contact Chris Medici, United Way of Rhode Island at chris.medici@uwri.org.
About United Way of Rhode Island
United Way of Rhode Island has been working to improve the quality of life in Rhode Island communities for over 80 years. UWRI’s mission is to mobilize the caring power of the community to improve the lives of people in need and address the issues Rhode Islanders care most about. United Way’s goal is to create long-lasting changes that prevent problems from happening in the first place. We believe that all Rhode Islanders deserve the opportunity to have a better life, as when any one of us succeeds, we all succeed. At United Way, we refer to this as advancing the common good. For more information, visit www.LIVEUNITEDri.org.
About Serve Rhode Island
Serve Rhode Island is committed to connecting volunteers and volunteer groups with service opportunities that enhance Rhode Island communities. Established in 1994 by the RI State Commission for National and Community Service, Serve Rhode Island administers the AmeriCorps program of the federal government. Serve Rhode Island presently administers 11 AmeriCorps programs funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service. In 2010-2011, Serve Rhode Island made grants totaling over $1.8 million in federal funds to support the work of 259 AmeriCorps members assigned to ten community agencies in Rhode Island working to meet community needs. For more information, visit www.ServeRhodeIsland.org.
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