Three of the Ways You Can Donate to United Way

 

United Way
Image: unitedway.org

Paul Katsus has worked as a service consultant for a major energy distribution company. Outside his professional life, Paul Katsus supports United Way.

United Way helps people all over the world in multiple ways, championing health, education, and income stability. As a worldwide charity with many causes, there are also many ways you can donate to the organization, including the following.

1. Popmoney. Popmoney is an online service and app that offers simple and secure money transfers from one user to another with low fees. One of the quickest and easiest ways to donate, Popmoney works with over 2,400 financial institutions, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, and Ally Bank.

2. Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a popular cryptocurrency that is not regulated by any government or banking entity. Bitcoin donations specifically go to helping United Way Worldwide’s Innovation Fund, which aims to drive the organization’s technology development and strategy, further broadening its impact.

3. Stock. With United Way’s stock donation process, you can donate appreciated securities that you have owned for over a year. The simple process requires you to contact your local United Way, which will provide you with instructions to pass on to your broker. Your broker will then initiate a broker-to-broker transfer, sending the securities to United Way.

How to Contribute to the United Way

An electrical consultant, Paul Katsus has experience in engineering, design, and project management. In his spare time, Paul Katsus enjoys supporting meaningful causes, such as the United Way.

Individuals seeking to contribute to the United Way can make a difference in three ways. A monetary contribution to the organization can be easily done online at http://www.give.liveunited.org by using a credit or debit card. Donors can also make donations using the convenient PayWithMyBank service, which requires no account numbers or registration. Funds received are used for education, health, volunteer, human services, reserve funds, and development initiatives.

The second option is to become a United Way advocate. Advocates come in a variety of forms, but they have the collaborative goal of improving income, health, and education. Avenues for advocating for the United Way include voting on legislative reforms that impact the organization’s goals, engaging with the community to address issues close to home, and raising awareness about the organization through various forms of social media.

Becoming a United Way volunteer is a third great option for contributing to the cause. Donating time through mentoring, tutoring, and reading will have a positive influence on a child’s life. As a result, children are more likely to achieve academic success after working with a caring United Way volunteer.

United Way Academic Success Programs Improve Educational Outcomes

As a service consultant for a major electrical utility company in Houston, Texas, Paul Katsus designs electrical distribution systems to meet clients’ energy needs. Outside of his work in the energy distribution field, Paul Katsus contributes to United Way.

The United Way of Greater Houston supports positive educational outcomes for local schoolchildren through several academic success programs, including Bright Beginnings and Reading Together. Operated at pre-kindergarten child care and learning centers, United Way Bright Beginnings provides young children with opportunities to develop the capacities they need to achieve success in later education. Since its inception, the program has aided more than 6,000 early learners from disadvantaged families. Without Bright Beginnings, these children may not otherwise receive hands-on instruction during a vital period in their early maturation when 90 percent of brain development occurs. A 10-year evaluation found that children who received Bright Beginnings instruction went on to outperform their peers on 45 of 51 standardized tests, and data shows they are twice as likely as their classmates to read at an advanced level by third grade.

Since literacy is a foundational competency for educational progression, United Way focuses specifically on supplementing elementary-level literacy education through the Reading Together program. Currently established at five schools in the greater Houston area, Reading Together helps elementary students with deficits in reading ability become proficient readers by the beginning of fourth grade, matching each child in need of additional reading instruction with a volunteer who provides personal reading tutelage for one hour every week. Through 150 such established reading support relationships, United Way Reading Together volunteers are presently helping grade-school pupils read with more confidence and greater understanding, achieve higher grades, and develop a positive view of reading that will continue to serve them well throughout life.

United Way Campaign for the Common Good

In addition to his work for a major energy distribution company, Paul Katsus supports charitable organizations like the United Way. The United Way works to support education, healthcare, and income disparity, and the help of supporters and donors like Paul Katsus allows the organization to expand the scope of its various charitable programs.

The United Way Campaign for the Common Good is one of the organization’s current initiatives. The broad-based campaign addresses all three of the organization’s major goals. The stated goal of the campaign is to cut the school dropout rate by half by 2018 to increase the overall prosperity of communities across the nation. The organization offers detailed information on the effects of education on health and overall well-being and makes the importance of these initiatives clear.

Advocacy is one major component of the Campaign for the Common Good. The United Way stays in close contact with members of the executive and legislative branches of the federal government and ensures they are aware of the potential benefits of education and health spending.