United Way of Douglas County falls $150,000 short of fundraising goal

For the second year in a row, the United Way of Douglas County has fallen short of their major fundraising campaign’s stated goal.

CEO Erika Dvorske said the campaign rustled up $1.65 million, $150,000 short of their $1.8 million goal. Similarly, last year’s fundraising efforts were shortchanged by nearly $100,000 of the goal, which was also $1.8 million.

The organization announced the final numbers and recognized incoming board members Wednesday night at their annual meeting, Dvorske said.

Josh Mihesua, Jennifer Hamer, Greg Gardner, Jamie Lowe and Sarah Plinsky were all welcomed to the board at the meeting, Dvorske said.

There, those who contributed to the fundraiser were also acknowledged, Dvorske said.

“We had over 5,000 people giving something, and we’re really grateful for all the folks who stepped up and did something,” she said. “We’re still going to accomplish a lot with the $1.65 million.”

Money from the United Way’s fundraising campaign will be allocated between 29 nonprofit agencies that provide services in one of three key areas: education, health and self-sufficiency, Campaign Director Colleen Gregoire said.

Last year the United Way was able to make up the difference in funds by utilizing their reserve funds, Gregoire said. This year the organization isn’t able to do that.

“We’ve made some adjustments in our budgets to accommodate the shortfall,” she said. “And the community partners took it in stride and worked it out amongst themselves in how they’ll take a slight reduction in funding.”

Although the fundraising campaign didn’t quite reach its goal this year, Gregoire said raising $1.65 million is still something to be proud of.

“We’re just really grateful the community came forward to help us raise $1.65 million,” she said. “And that is an accomplishment to celebrate.”