CSBJ Daily

Pikes Peak United Way will not kick off its annual campaign in August with the formal announcement of a financial goal — a projected sum that individuals and key leaders throughout the community worked to raise by fiscal year’s end.

There also won’t be any thermometers tallying performance to show progress toward the final outcome, meaning success or failure won’t be measured based on total dollars raised.

“Those days are over. That thermometer is gone” said PPUW President/CEO J.D. Dallager. “Although financial goals are still set, the organization’s primary emphasis is now placed on determining the community’s greatest needs, addressing their root causes, and helping create the sustainable change required to solve the existing problems not perpetuate them.”

An example of such action is the Quality of Life Indicators Report, initiated by PPUW during 2007. More than 150 people, representing nine areas of concern, were brought together to assess community performance on about100 quality of life issues.

On Sept. 16, a second report will be made public.

Based on this new data, PPUW will engage the community in setting the direction, agenda and dimension of solutions.

“The new thermometer will track human conditions — not just dollars raised,” Dallager said.

A formal announcement of initiatives is expected next summer.

In the transition, the United Way will remain a safety net for those in need.

“We’re striving to raise a total of six million dollars this year,” Dallager said. “Not so that we can show a monetary increase in total dollars raised, but so that we can positively impact the existing human condition within our community.”

To volunteer your support as an advocate or donor, call James Green at 955-0738.