The United Way of Fort McMurray is a locally run charity that provides funding to more than 70 programs in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. We do this by running our community's largest fundraising drive and investing these funds into initiatives that support a diverse community impact strategy, a strategy that looks to change the root causes of social issues.

Supported programs are diverse and run the gamut from suicide prevention training to after school activities, from seniors' support to housing first coordination. All United Way Member Agencies, programs and supported partnerships are listed in the community brochure.

United Way Member Agencies (those receiving financial support through United Way) are all registered charities in good standing with the Canada Revenue Agency. In order to recieve United Way investment, member agencies go through an annual process that includes:

• Completing a formal application;
• Submitting a copy of the most recently reviewed financial statements;
• Submitting responses to any follow-up information requests;
• Being interviewed by the Community Investment Committee (a panel of local volunteers);
• Completing a membership agreement that includes specific guidelines for reporting and accountability, and;
• Completing quarterly updates about their agency's progress.

The United Way places the utmost importance on openness and transparency, both with our agencies and within our own organization. Internally, we do this by focusing our investment on target areas, monitoring programs to ensure results and conducting an annual external audit of our financial information and making audited information publicly available.

The Areas of Focus for United Way have recently changed. They are now as follows:

• Healthy people, strong communities-  Our goals are to improve access to social and health related support, to support resident and community engagement and to support community integration and settlement.
• From poverty to possibility- Our goals are to move people out of poverty and to help meet basic human needs such as food, shelter and jobs.
• All that kids can be- Our goals are to improve access to early childhood learning and development programs, to help children and youth do well in school and complete high school. We aim to support youth in making healthy transitions into adulthood and post-secondary education.
• Capacity Building - We offer support and guidance to ensure that the social profit organizations in our community have the necessary tools, staff, and leaders in place so they can grow and offer meaningful and relevant programs to the community.

The United Way also continues to focus on Community Impact, our commitment to creating meaningful, sustainable improvements to the quality of life in our community. We're a partner of the Wood Buffalo Capacity Building Project, manage The Redpoll Centre shared space project, were a leader in the development of the NonProfit Sector LINK and are involved in a variety of initiatives aimed at strengthening our social service sector.