Our business is engagement and our purpose is impact. And we all have a role to play. There are many ways you can join us to take action. Take a look at our “Take Action Toolkit.” Check out our Loaned Representative program. You can also take action by volunteering, becoming a partner or sponsor, or holding a workplace campaign. You can recognize action taken through our Community Builder Awards program. You can also take action through giving. Our Honour Roll is one of the tools we use to recognize those who support our actions in the community. Taking action for your community has never been easier. Together let’s make change happen.
Take Action ToolkKit
You can make change happen in your community and we can help. Our "Take Action Toolkit" is a fully packed briefcase with everything you need to get involved on your own or with friends and colleagues. It’s a one-stop resource that gives you the tools to have real impact. Click on one of the sidebar links below to see how you can Be United.
Be a Loaned Representative
Like life on the frontlines? Are you energetic, personable and enjoy motivating other people? Is this a good time in your career to hone your management and leadership skills and expand your horizons? Then become a loaned representative for our next workplace campaign.
Every year, dozens of employees from government and the private sector are loaned to us for a four-month period to manage the more than 1,800 workplace campaigns across the city that raise the bulk of our annual funding and enable our work. This is a gathering of high-energy professionals convened in a dynamic and fast-paced setting. You’ll get the training and resources you need to help companies run effective campaigns. You’ll develop new skills and build new networks in the business community. And, most of all, you’ll have an impact on your community: you’ll be making change happen.
Colinda Dubeau, Innovapost: “The experiences I gained in business development were exhilarating and rewarding. The LR program allowed me to see firsthand the difference that United Way makes for the people in Ottawa.”
To get more information on how you and your employer can get involved as a Loaned Representative, contact: shutton@unitedwayottawa.ca.
Be a Volunteer
We are made up of organizations and people from all walks of life, united in the belief that we can make change happen, that social problems can be addressed with a view to their root causes and that effective solutions can be found and implemented with measurable results. Join our community: Be United.
We have many meaningful and fulfilling volunteer opportunities that require a range of skills and backgrounds. Our network is strong and extensive. To volunteer is to have new experiences and explore opportunities to grow professionally and personally.
Join our community and make change happen.
For more information on volunteering, volunteering@unitedwayottawa.ca or 613-228-5780.
Nominate a Community Builder
Do you know an outstanding community builder? Someone whose drive and dedication is leading to measurable change in the community? Someone who inspires others? You can help us recognize their good work by nominating them for a Community Builder Award.
The awards were created more than a decade ago to honour people, organizations, agencies and neighbourhood groups who are making change happen. They embody what it means to Be United.
These award winners — some 50 every year — are honoured in the local media and at an annual awards ceremony. Their names are also inscribed on the “Wall of Inspiration” at City Hall.
To tell us about someone who you believe to be a Community Builder, use our nomination form.
Stage a Workplace Campaign
The generosity of government and private-sector employees is what helps make change happen in our community. You can support our efforts by staging a fundraising campaign where you work. Generally, these campaigns involve a payroll deduction program that makes it easy for employees to give. Every pay, employees who participate can have their predetermined donation amount deducted from their cheques. At tax time, their charitable donations appear on their T4 slips.
If you want to implement a payroll deduction program at your work or if you wish to organize some other type of fundraising event, we can help. We have found that many employers and their staff view involvement with us as a morale builder and it boosts their corporate image in the community. In an age when members of the public expect companies to be good corporate citizens, involvement with United Way makes smart business sense. Business leaders often tell us that the strong social communities we seek to build create strong business communities for them to work in. So involvement in United Way makes strong strategic sense for them as well.
Make Change Happen in your company and introduce your colleagues to United Way. For more information on workplace campaigns, contact: ccharbonneau@unitedwayottawa.ca.
Ways to Give
The generosity and action taken by donors — people just like you — enable us to create and fund community-based programs that help to improve the lives and prospects of thousands across the city.
You can give in many ways — money, time, knowledge or your voice. We offer you many ways to get involved. Check out the different ways you can make a monetary donation, look through our volunteer opportunities or take a look through our "Take Action Toolkit" for a wide range of ways that you can make change happen.
Become a Sponsor
If your company wants to raise its profile in the community, then turn to us for sponsorship opportunities where your corporate name is tied to a specific event or activity. Given public expectations, a company must not merely be involved in its community; it must be seen as being involved as well. Co-branding with one of our high-profile, widely promoted events will build your brand while making change happen. Be United is now the calling card of pride for many of our sponsors.
For details on our sponsorship opportunities, see Marketing and Visibility Opportunities and Menu of Sponsorship. If you would like to speak to someone about these opportunities, contact: jturner@unitedwayottawa.ca.
Become a Partner
Because of our long history and our broad public support and profile, we are “networked” and connected to all levels of government, civic institutions, social agencies, volunteer agencies, labour groups, research organizations, public policy forums and the business community. We act as a catalyst to bring diverse yet like-minded organizations together.
If your company is looking to raise its profile in the community and build a strong image in terms of corporate social responsibility, then we can help make it happen. Here are just a few of the ways in which you can associate your brand with the reach, strength and appeal of ours:
- Run a workplace campaign
- Participate in our Loaned Representative program
- Give a gift in kind
- Volunteer opportunities
- Become a sponsor
Honour Roll
The United Way Ottawa Honour Roll is our tribute to the people and businesses in our community whose important work, whose attitude of Make Change Happen, has enriched and improved all of our lives. List of Recipients.
