FAQs

You are someone else’s someone else. We have thousands of donors locally. They comprise a great breadth of the community. Individuals and organizations alike. Big businesses and small, working people and retirees, children, all of their support combined makes this a better community. Our strength is that when so many people help out, there can be a magnificent outcome without any single person being inordinately disadvantaged. By contributing yourself, you will encourage others to follow your example. Equally importantly, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve become part of a legacy of caring and sharing and helping those least advantaged. We are grateful to each and every one of our donors who help to the extent that they are able. Indeed, this is the very definition of a community.

An amount that you are comfortable with. We have people who donate in the tens of thousands of dollars, and we have donors who contribute ten dollars a year. We have thousands of donors by payroll deduction who contribute from fifty cents per week to one hundred dollars per week. In each instance it is our hope that each donor feels comfortable with their level of support, and that they know that they are helping those most in need in the most efficient fashion possible.Often a monthly or weekly donation on a credit card or by direct debit levels out your support throughout the year and is the easiest way to help.

No. Our priority is people. We are not into bricks and mortar or capital campaigning. Local people need help, they need it immediately, our donor dollars are put to work immediately helping those least advantaged among us. The benefits to the individuals and to the community are tangible. The immediacy and the proximity help to ensure efficiency.

The essence of this question speaks directly to part of the reason why the United Way was created in the first place. There was thought to be “charity clutter.” As a solution, the leaders in our community thought it would be more efficient to have a single campaign for a broad diversity of need. The savings in time and money would be obvious, and a single broadly based and supported campaign would help to raise the profile of the various causes which affect those disadvantaged among us.

When you support the United Way you are supporting many agencies and programs which address a great deal of need in the community with a single donation. You are promoting efficiency and scale.  You are supporting the good work of your neighbours, and building a healthier and more enriching community.

Of course, we have successful campaigns in most of the major employers in our area. It is inevitable that in many instances there are two donors in a family. As governments may be forced to do less, it is crucial that we at the community level do more. Your contribution will compliment the work that your spouse or partner  helps to enable, and in many instances you may combine your giving to receive greater tax benefits.

Each and every dollar helps entirely  in this local community. None of the money which is raised here goes overseas, or to Ottawa, or Queens Park.

All of the agencies on our list (see elsewhere on the website) are located within our geographical area. (Oshawa-Whitby-Clarington-Ajax-Pickering-Uxbridge-Brock & Scugog) None of the money is given to the government. While donors can designate their donations to other United Ways, (where they live for example) our priority is helping people within our community. We support more than 119 local social service programs which in turn provide service to more than 80,000 people.

In 2020, United Way delivered services to over 206,000 people in Durham Region.

Our network in Durham Region encompasses 21 agencies and 119 programs. Your support makes this possible. This network of support was on the frontlines as this crisis was at its most acute state and stands ready to assist when called upon.