May 20, 2025 • 13 mins
Tara Clausen, CEO of Kansa United Way, discusses their upcoming Community Investment Day where volunteers help decide how donor funds are allocated to programs supporting ALICE families (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed).
• Community Investment Day on July 23rd is a full-day event where volunteers review grant applications and hear from nonprofit partners
• Dollars raised through United Way campaigns are invested directly back into community programs in four key areas: healthy communities, youth opportunities, community resilience, and financial security
• Federal funding cuts are putting additional pressure on local nonprofits, making United Way support even more critical
• The United Way recently surpassed its campaign goal but still aims to engage more workplaces and increase funding
• Volunteers for Community Investment Day can register through the Kansa United Way website (KansaUnitedWay.org) or by calling their office
Visit KansaUnitedWay.org to register for Community Investment Day on July 23rd or to learn more about supporting their campaign efforts.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater
Manhattan Community Foundation.
In this episode we feature arecently broadcast segment of
the GMCF Community Hour, asheard on NewsRadio KMAN.
The GMCF Community Hour here onNewsRadio KMAN gives us an
opportunity to speak with anumber of nonprofits and the
(00:20):
work that they are doing so thatwe can share with the community
and take this time on KMAN on aweekly basis to talk about the
great things that they are doing, so that we can share with the
community and take this time onK-Man on a weekly basis to talk
about the great things thatthey're doing.
One of the longtime greatorganizations is the Kansa
United Way.
We got the CEO, tara Clausen,joining us via Zoom today.
Tara, good morning, good morning, happy Monday, happy Monday,
(00:44):
happy Monday that is such awonderful phrase that a lot of
people should learn how toembrace Really, don't you think
For sure something here?
(01:07):
Former director Maxine Coffey.
I want to send our thoughts andprayers out to Maxine and their
family on Ray's passing theother day I saw that just made
my heart ache and Maxine waslongtime director of the Kansai
United Way and just a dear souland a great person in the
community and just want toextend our best wishes to Maxine
and the family.
(01:27):
So that's-.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Absolutely.
I think that's important.
You know, when you lead anonprofit, it's as much you and
your family, your family comesright alongside of you, so
Absolutely.
I do think it's important torecognize that and we also send
our condolences.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
And they have such a charitable heart.
You know the blood drive thatthey established in their son's
name after his death, and so theCoffees are a wonderful couple
in our community and that's ahard loss to stomach, but
thoughts for Maxine and Ray'spassing so community investment
(02:04):
day.
We're just going to jump rightinto the talk here right now,
and I've been a part of this inthe past, but it's a vital part
of your mission at Consul UnitedWay, so tell me what it is.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah, community investment day is an opportunity
for volunteers to join us,learn about the priority needs
in the community and how thataligns with our focus to support
our Alice families, those whoare working hard but just need a
little bit of extra help tokind of make it to the end of
(02:38):
the month and ensure all thosebills and invoices are paid to
support their family.
And so the volunteers who joinus on Community Investment Day
help us gather information andreally help us invest the
dollars that are raisedthroughout the campaign year so
(02:59):
that we can make the mostpossible impact to help our
families thrive.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
When do you have this ?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, the date this year is July 23rd.
It's a full day, so we usuallystart right at the beginning of
the business day and end alittle bit before five, but we
ask everybody to hold thecalendar till five, just in case
there's questions and we run alittle bit long.
So it's a full day, but it's animpactful day.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I've yet to have anybody leave the day and say,
oh my gosh, it's a learningexperience and I'm so glad I was
here.
It's a learning experience forthose that are participating.
It's a real eye opener.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, it certainly can be.
You know, it's an opportunityto hear about the great work
that the nonprofits who partnerwith, to hear about the great
work that the nonprofits whopartner with Kansa United Way
are doing in the community, theneeds that are there and how
we're joining together to ensurethat our community and the
citizens within it aresuccessful and can support their
families.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
You know, I know it's difficult for a lot of people
to commit to a full day out oftheir busy schedule to serve in
this, but there's a lot ofaspects about this.
There's a tremendous sense ofpower that an individual can
gain from learning about whatthe work is to the United Way
(04:21):
and those agencies that yousupport through the Community
Investment Day.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, you know it is a powerful day and the reason
it's one day, honestly, isfeedback from the volunteers
themselves they would ratherdedicate one full day than have
us break it apart, and we haveover 20, anywhere from 15 to 20
partners who want to workalongside us to support our
(04:48):
families, and so it's a bigdecision and it's not a rush
through decision, and so therehas to be time.
I mean, we already make itprobably as succinct day as
possible, but we're askingindividuals to make tough
choices.
How do we invest United Way andour donor dollars in the best
(05:11):
way possible to make the biggestimpact?
And that's not a quick answerand it's not a quick decision.
So it is a full day, but it's apowerful day.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Give us the layout of what is all involved in the day
.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah, we start with some rolls and coffee.
We want everybody to be nice andwide awake, but we talk through
the kind of expectations of theday, what you can expect, what
you'll see, some of the toughdecisions that we'll be asking
(05:47):
you to make throughout the day.
And then, very honestly, webreak the day into equal
segments, to equal segments andthose who apply through the
grant process and align with ourmission to support key areas
such as healthy communities,youth opportunities, community
resilience and financialsecurity.
We stay very much within thosekey pillar areas.
(06:10):
But those nonprofits who haveprograms we support the programs
themselves, not the nonprofitas a whole come alongside.
They have a chance to answerany questions that maybe have
seen by the volunteers throughthe grant process, because as a
volunteer you do get to see thegrant application itself, the
(06:31):
budget that supports thatinitiative, so they get a chance
to speak.
The nonprofit gets a chance tospeak about the impact of the
initiative and then there's someQ&A with those volunteers
because we want you to make sureyou have and can make an
informed decision.
And then at the end of the day,we talk through what we heard,
(06:51):
we identify the campaign dollarsraised and the amount we'll be
able to invest back in thecommunity.
And then there's some toughdecisions to ensure where those
dollars can go the greatest andthe farthest, make the biggest
impact with a charge to be anadditional voice in the
(07:16):
community, to engage more, tobecome part of the annual United
Way campaign, becauseeventually we'd like to be able
to fund and fully fund all ofthose initiatives.
So maybe the decision's alittle bit easier and it aligns
with where we can make thebiggest impact, but it's not
fully funding those who want towalk alongside us in our efforts
.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Let's talk a bit about some of these specific
programs and the impact thatCommunity Investment Day has,
and I suppose there's probably,you know there's some additional
, dare we say, anxiety becauseof what's happening, you know,
in the national scope of things,with grants being reduced or
eliminated and that's puttingextra pressure on a lot of these
(07:53):
nonprofits.
So the importance of whatyou're doing with distribution
of some of these funds from theUnited Way to these various
agencies, becomes even greater.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
You know it really does.
It's a tough environment we'reall in in the nonprofit
community, yeah, which directlyaffects the families that live
beside us, I guess is the bestway to say that.
So those dollars and puttingthem where they're making the
greatest impact, I think iscritical to look at, and I do
(08:24):
think we need to have an openlens to see who is being
affected by federal dollars thatare not coming into our
community, that are not cominginto our community Outside of
Community Investment Day.
Kansai United Way alsofacilitates the emergency food
and shelter dollars that comeinto our community and that is
on pause.
So, while that doesn't directlyfund our United Way, we do
(08:49):
facilitate that those dollarscome in for mass shelter and
food and that kind of thing inour community, and so we can see
it from our lens, the impact offederal dollars coming in.
I just think it's important forus to open our hearts, open our
minds if possible, widen ourcheckbook if we're in a position
(09:09):
to be able to do that, becausethe need is not getting smaller,
but the funding opportunitiesfrom outside of our local
community are narrowing and sowe are going to have to think
local, we are going to have tothink about our neighbors and
our friends and what we want ourcommunity to look like, what we
(09:37):
want our small businesses tolook like, because if our
families aren't being able tosuccessfully pay their bills at
the end of the month, there'sless money that's going to be
spent locally in our localeconomy.
So it's all linked and tiedtogether and so to have a
thriving community you have tohave families that can support
themselves, and these familiesare not sitting at home waiting
for somebody to just plop somedollars in their lap and pay
(09:59):
those bills.
They're working hard, sometimestwo and three jobs.
Sometimes they can't take anincrease or a new job with
better benefits because thebetter benefits don't offset
what they might lose if they arereceiving SNAP and some federal
benefits.
So it's not always an easydecision for our families to
(10:21):
uplift themselves, but we needto be that safety net as a
community so, again, all canthrive.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You know, and we're a few months away from your big
fundraising campaign thattypically starts in September.
So I'm sure you're planning onthat too?
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Our campaign actually starts July 1.
So we're right at the cusp ofending the campaign that we're
currently in.
It's our 2025 campaign, superhappy to share that we did
surpass what we set as afinancial goal.
We're a long way from where wewant to be, but we surpassed the
goal that we had for us thisyear and we're looking to engage
(10:59):
more workplaces.
We want to talk to businessleaders who are willing to open
their business and theirworkplace to allow us to come in
and share those needs, sharethe work that we're doing
alongside others to meet theneeds of the family, and we hope
we can grow our campaign evenmore.
Again, I mentioned earlier we'dlike to get to the point that
(11:22):
those who are focusinginitiatives and driving change
in those key areas that UnitedWay champions, we'd like to
fully fund them and we need thecommunity to do that, because
United Way giving and thecampaign dollars that are raised
through the campaign reallycome from the individuals in the
community themselves.
(11:43):
United Way giving is areflection of those of us who
give to the United Way campaignthroughout the year.
We're not putting a bunch ofmoney in savings accounts and
doing different things with it.
When dollars are invested withUnited Way, we turn around that
next year and invest it rightback into the community so that
(12:03):
we're meeting the immediateneeds that are in the community
itself.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Well, let's put out the ask, the invitation for
people to volunteer as part ofCommunity Investment Day, which
is July 23rd.
What is that process?
To get signed up.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yeah, if you have any questions about it, if it's new
to you, we encourage you togive our office a call.
We're happy to talk throughthat with you.
At that same time we can getyou registered.
But we do have an activeregistration link on the events
page of our website so by simplyclicking on that you can
register your name, get thatback saved on your calendar to
(12:41):
hold that.
We'll be having a quickorientation the week before to
answer any questions so that wecan just jump into the day on
July 23rd.
But really would love to havethose in the community who are
looking to learn more about ourcommunity needs, what's
(13:01):
happening to support our localfamilies, to reach out, and we'd
love to have some newvolunteers join us on that day.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
And the website is KansaUnitedWayorg.
That's a great way to getconnected.
Tara Clausen, always a delightto have you on my friend, Good
to see you and continued goodluck and best wishes to all you
do for Kansa United Way and inpreparation for Community
Investment Day.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Hey, thanks so much for having us on today and
sharing the word.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
We'll have Mitzi Richards going to be joining us
here for the final segment.
We've got some things that arehappening in the community that
we want to share with you, andthen we'll also give you a
preview of the next show, butit's two weeks away.
We'll tell you why the GMCFCommunity Hour is next.
It continues.
It continues here after thisbreak on NewsRadio KMAN.
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater
Manhattan Community Foundation.
In this episode we feature arecently broadcast segment of
the GMCF Community Hour, asheard on NewsRadio KMAN.
The GMCF Community Hour here onNewsRadio KMAN gives us an
opportunity to speak with anumber of nonprofits and the
(00:20):
work that they are doing so thatwe can share with the community
and take this time on KMAN on aweekly basis to talk about the
great things that they are doing, so that we can share with the
community and take this time onK-Man on a weekly basis to talk
about the great things thatthey're doing.
One of the longtime greatorganizations is the Kansa
United Way.
We got the CEO, tara Clausen,joining us via Zoom today.
Tara, good morning, good morning, happy Monday, happy Monday,
(00:44):
happy Monday that is such awonderful phrase that a lot of
people should learn how toembrace Really, don't you think
For sure something here?
(01:07):
Former director Maxine Coffey.
I want to send our thoughts andprayers out to Maxine and their
family on Ray's passing theother day I saw that just made
my heart ache and Maxine waslongtime director of the Kansai
United Way and just a dear souland a great person in the
community and just want toextend our best wishes to Maxine
and the family.
(01:27):
So that's-.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Absolutely.
I think that's important.
You know, when you lead anonprofit, it's as much you and
your family, your family comesright alongside of you, so
Absolutely.
I do think it's important torecognize that and we also send
our condolences.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
And they have such a charitable heart.
You know the blood drive thatthey established in their son's
name after his death, and so theCoffees are a wonderful couple
in our community and that's ahard loss to stomach, but
thoughts for Maxine and Ray'spassing so community investment
(02:04):
day.
We're just going to jump rightinto the talk here right now,
and I've been a part of this inthe past, but it's a vital part
of your mission at Consul UnitedWay, so tell me what it is.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah, community investment day is an opportunity
for volunteers to join us,learn about the priority needs
in the community and how thataligns with our focus to support
our Alice families, those whoare working hard but just need a
little bit of extra help tokind of make it to the end of
(02:38):
the month and ensure all thosebills and invoices are paid to
support their family.
And so the volunteers who joinus on Community Investment Day
help us gather information andreally help us invest the
dollars that are raisedthroughout the campaign year so
(02:59):
that we can make the mostpossible impact to help our
families thrive.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
When do you have this ?
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, the date this year is July 23rd.
It's a full day, so we usuallystart right at the beginning of
the business day and end alittle bit before five, but we
ask everybody to hold thecalendar till five, just in case
there's questions and we run alittle bit long.
So it's a full day, but it's animpactful day.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I've yet to have anybody leave the day and say,
oh my gosh, it's a learningexperience and I'm so glad I was
here.
It's a learning experience forthose that are participating.
It's a real eye opener.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, it certainly can be.
You know, it's an opportunityto hear about the great work
that the nonprofits who partnerwith, to hear about the great
work that the nonprofits whopartner with Kansa United Way
are doing in the community, theneeds that are there and how
we're joining together to ensurethat our community and the
citizens within it aresuccessful and can support their
families.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
You know, I know it's difficult for a lot of people
to commit to a full day out oftheir busy schedule to serve in
this, but there's a lot ofaspects about this.
There's a tremendous sense ofpower that an individual can
gain from learning about whatthe work is to the United Way
(04:21):
and those agencies that yousupport through the Community
Investment Day.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, you know it is a powerful day and the reason
it's one day, honestly, isfeedback from the volunteers
themselves they would ratherdedicate one full day than have
us break it apart, and we haveover 20, anywhere from 15 to 20
partners who want to workalongside us to support our
(04:48):
families, and so it's a bigdecision and it's not a rush
through decision, and so therehas to be time.
I mean, we already make itprobably as succinct day as
possible, but we're askingindividuals to make tough
choices.
How do we invest United Way andour donor dollars in the best
(05:11):
way possible to make the biggestimpact?
And that's not a quick answerand it's not a quick decision.
So it is a full day, but it's apowerful day.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Give us the layout of what is all involved in the day
.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Yeah, we start with some rolls and coffee.
We want everybody to be nice andwide awake, but we talk through
the kind of expectations of theday, what you can expect, what
you'll see, some of the toughdecisions that we'll be asking
(05:47):
you to make throughout the day.
And then, very honestly, webreak the day into equal
segments, to equal segments andthose who apply through the
grant process and align with ourmission to support key areas
such as healthy communities,youth opportunities, community
resilience and financialsecurity.
We stay very much within thosekey pillar areas.
(06:10):
But those nonprofits who haveprograms we support the programs
themselves, not the nonprofitas a whole come alongside.
They have a chance to answerany questions that maybe have
seen by the volunteers throughthe grant process, because as a
volunteer you do get to see thegrant application itself, the
(06:31):
budget that supports thatinitiative, so they get a chance
to speak.
The nonprofit gets a chance tospeak about the impact of the
initiative and then there's someQ&A with those volunteers
because we want you to make sureyou have and can make an
informed decision.
And then at the end of the day,we talk through what we heard,
(06:51):
we identify the campaign dollarsraised and the amount we'll be
able to invest back in thecommunity.
And then there's some toughdecisions to ensure where those
dollars can go the greatest andthe farthest, make the biggest
impact with a charge to be anadditional voice in the
(07:16):
community, to engage more, tobecome part of the annual United
Way campaign, becauseeventually we'd like to be able
to fund and fully fund all ofthose initiatives.
So maybe the decision's alittle bit easier and it aligns
with where we can make thebiggest impact, but it's not
fully funding those who want towalk alongside us in our efforts
.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Let's talk a bit about some of these specific
programs and the impact thatCommunity Investment Day has,
and I suppose there's probably,you know there's some additional
, dare we say, anxiety becauseof what's happening, you know,
in the national scope of things,with grants being reduced or
eliminated and that's puttingextra pressure on a lot of these
(07:53):
nonprofits.
So the importance of whatyou're doing with distribution
of some of these funds from theUnited Way to these various
agencies, becomes even greater.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
You know it really does.
It's a tough environment we'reall in in the nonprofit
community, yeah, which directlyaffects the families that live
beside us, I guess is the bestway to say that.
So those dollars and puttingthem where they're making the
greatest impact, I think iscritical to look at, and I do
(08:24):
think we need to have an openlens to see who is being
affected by federal dollars thatare not coming into our
community, that are not cominginto our community Outside of
Community Investment Day.
Kansai United Way alsofacilitates the emergency food
and shelter dollars that comeinto our community and that is
on pause.
So, while that doesn't directlyfund our United Way, we do
(08:49):
facilitate that those dollarscome in for mass shelter and
food and that kind of thing inour community, and so we can see
it from our lens, the impact offederal dollars coming in.
I just think it's important forus to open our hearts, open our
minds if possible, widen ourcheckbook if we're in a position
(09:09):
to be able to do that, becausethe need is not getting smaller,
but the funding opportunitiesfrom outside of our local
community are narrowing and sowe are going to have to think
local, we are going to have tothink about our neighbors and
our friends and what we want ourcommunity to look like, what we
(09:37):
want our small businesses tolook like, because if our
families aren't being able tosuccessfully pay their bills at
the end of the month, there'sless money that's going to be
spent locally in our localeconomy.
So it's all linked and tiedtogether and so to have a
thriving community you have tohave families that can support
themselves, and these familiesare not sitting at home waiting
for somebody to just plop somedollars in their lap and pay
(09:59):
those bills.
They're working hard, sometimestwo and three jobs.
Sometimes they can't take anincrease or a new job with
better benefits because thebetter benefits don't offset
what they might lose if they arereceiving SNAP and some federal
benefits.
So it's not always an easydecision for our families to
(10:21):
uplift themselves, but we needto be that safety net as a
community so, again, all canthrive.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
You know, and we're a few months away from your big
fundraising campaign thattypically starts in September.
So I'm sure you're planning onthat too?
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Our campaign actually starts July 1.
So we're right at the cusp ofending the campaign that we're
currently in.
It's our 2025 campaign, superhappy to share that we did
surpass what we set as afinancial goal.
We're a long way from where wewant to be, but we surpassed the
goal that we had for us thisyear and we're looking to engage
(10:59):
more workplaces.
We want to talk to businessleaders who are willing to open
their business and theirworkplace to allow us to come in
and share those needs, sharethe work that we're doing
alongside others to meet theneeds of the family, and we hope
we can grow our campaign evenmore.
Again, I mentioned earlier we'dlike to get to the point that
(11:22):
those who are focusinginitiatives and driving change
in those key areas that UnitedWay champions, we'd like to
fully fund them and we need thecommunity to do that, because
United Way giving and thecampaign dollars that are raised
through the campaign reallycome from the individuals in the
community themselves.
(11:43):
United Way giving is areflection of those of us who
give to the United Way campaignthroughout the year.
We're not putting a bunch ofmoney in savings accounts and
doing different things with it.
When dollars are invested withUnited Way, we turn around that
next year and invest it rightback into the community so that
(12:03):
we're meeting the immediateneeds that are in the community
itself.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Well, let's put out the ask, the invitation for
people to volunteer as part ofCommunity Investment Day, which
is July 23rd.
What is that process?
To get signed up.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Yeah, if you have any questions about it, if it's new
to you, we encourage you togive our office a call.
We're happy to talk throughthat with you.
At that same time we can getyou registered.
But we do have an activeregistration link on the events
page of our website so by simplyclicking on that you can
register your name, get thatback saved on your calendar to
(12:41):
hold that.
We'll be having a quickorientation the week before to
answer any questions so that wecan just jump into the day on
July 23rd.
But really would love to havethose in the community who are
looking to learn more about ourcommunity needs, what's
(13:01):
happening to support our localfamilies, to reach out, and we'd
love to have some newvolunteers join us on that day.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
And the website is KansaUnitedWayorg.
That's a great way to getconnected.
Tara Clausen, always a delightto have you on my friend, Good
to see you and continued goodluck and best wishes to all you
do for Kansa United Way and inpreparation for Community
Investment Day.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Hey, thanks so much for having us on today and
sharing the word.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
We'll have Mitzi Richards going to be joining us
here for the final segment.
We've got some things that arehappening in the community that
we want to share with you, andthen we'll also give you a
preview of the next show, butit's two weeks away.
We'll tell you why the GMCFCommunity Hour is next.
It continues.
It continues here after thisbreak on NewsRadio KMAN.
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