Year end is always a time for reflection and this year is no exception. We have had an amazing journey this year and I’d like to sincerely thank the volunteers and staff who have worked so hard to build our Queensland contribution to the United Way movement. THANK YOU!

 We have coordinated 13 Corporate Connects this year. This represents something in the order of 1650 volunteer hours spent supporting community organisations to realize outcomes that would never have been realized without this volunteer effort.

Our Bikes for Kids program – sponsored by Brisbane City Council, Queensland Health and Goldcross cycles – not only built better business teams in 6 separate corporate events but has also seen 42 kids across 10 schools in Brisbane benefit from now having a bike to ride.

A core part of our business is granting funds to community groups. This year we had 19 applications for direct impact funding and 7 applications for our community impact funding. The difference between the two groups is that direct impact funding goes to support the client group for a specific project. The community impact funding is longer term support and has a wider impact addressing a significant community issue.  Needless to say the community impact grants are more complicated as they involve a number of stakeholders but the longer term benefits to the community should be significant.

Our allocation funding is contingent on donations made to the United Way Queensland Public Fund. Most funds come through our work place giving, a vehicle that allows individuals to make salary sacrifice tax deductable donations to United Way through their payroll.

I think our growth over 2009 leaves us poised for an exciting year in 2010. We have a number of new initiatives and projects in the planning phase. A really significant initiative is the Community Impact Strategy which should be up on our website shortly but over the course of next year I hope to be able to brief many of you on ways in which we can, together, make a significant difference to the issues that affect our community – for the common good.

On behalf of the United Way Queensland team I wish you all a safe and happy festive season.

Sandra Nugent CEO