How do we decide where the money goes?

By Bonnie Harris

Investing, for me, is a tricky thing. My process for making important investment decisions – stocks, money markets, my (tanking) 401K – tends to go something like this: “Hey, Dad? What do I do?” And then I do whatever he says.

But what if you’re investing in people’s lives? What does that process look like?

I’m learning a little about that right now. This is the time of year when a team of community volunteers and United Way of Central Iowa staff visits our partner agency programs to evaluate how well their strategies are meeting objectives.

It’s an exhausting process on both sides. First, each program director must submit detailed reports on their prior year’s success. They must prove how they are changing lives for the better in the areas of education, income or health. They must meet with volunteers and United Way staff and be prepared to field tough questions about their work.

This week I was part of an investment team that visited New Directions Shelter, which provides free, temporary shelter and services for homeless mothers with children. Last year, with just eight bedrooms in the house on Grand Avenue, they served 104 families – including 234 children. I had just read an article that said one in 50 U.S. children are facing homelessness right now. Nearly half of those children are under the age of six.

As I prepared for the site visit, the mother in me was heartbroken. I thought about being homeless with my twin boys, who are six years old. I thought about the 610 requests from families that New Directions received last year but could not help because the shelter was already full.

But the United Way employee in me was determined to follow the investment process, established to help New Directions and other United Way partners be careful stewards of donor dollars.

New Directions is an amazing place. Tim Shanahan, its executive director, says their work falls under two of United Ways’ priorities – income and health – because they spend countless hours with these mothers and their children to steer them toward financial stability, permanent housing and good health.

But Tim acknowledges “We don’t always fit under community indicators for success. We have only 30 days to help these families. Yet if we weren’t here, it’s hard to say where these families would be.”

My visit to New Directions was just one step in United Way’s investment process. It’s being repeated by scores of other investment teams at 51 other community partner organizations and for 83 programs. Next week I’ll be visiting Employee & Family Resources, where my team will evaluate three more United Way funded programs. I’ll hear about more lives being improved. More changes for the better in central Iowa.

It’s a good thing I’m not running the show.