Heart of Illinois United Way
Community Impact
Success By Six | Community in Schools |
Help for Hard Times
Community Assessment | Funding Opportunities
Counties We Represent
Money raised by the Heart of Illinois United Way stays in the community by funding programs and services in Marshall, Peoria, Putnam, Stark, Tazewell and Woodford Counties.
Community Impact Fund
The Heart of Illinois United Way’s Community Impact Fund is the shortest distance between your charitable contribution and a stronger, safer and healthier community. When you choose to give to the United Way, your gift impacts lives throughout central Illinois.
The primary tool the Heart of Illinois United Way uses to drive community change is our competitive grant process. More than 90 local volunteers from diverse segments of the community evaluate programs requesting funding.
- In 2011-2012, the Heart of Illinois United Way is funding 90 programs focusing on these key issues:
- Youth Programs providing mentoring, tutoring, education, childcare and afterschool programs that help youth achieve critical academic success and make healthy decisions about nutrition and substance abuse.
- Family Programs providing counseling, disaster services, legal services and parenting skills that help families focus on creating and sustaining a stable home.
- Self-Reliance Programs providing employment services, life skills, housing, education and food that help at-risk individuals become self-sufficient and maintain independence.
- Health and Rehabilitation Programs providing community clinics, exercise, therapy and home health care that establishes a healthy community through prevention, intervention and education.
Multi-Year Funding and Community Wide Outcomes
The Heart of Illinois United Way uses a multi-year grant approval process that provides stability and continuity to our partner agencies - while providing allocation volunteers time to evaluate and measure program outcomes over a three-year process.
- The primary focus of our current strategic plan, Vision:2012, is for the Heart of Illinois United Way to continually assess community needs and establish community outcomes. This process involves focusing on many factors, such as:
- economic conditions
- historical trends
- neighborhood conditions
- private/public sector practices
- education and healthcare systems
Heart of Illinois United Way Allocation Panels
2011 Allocation Panels
Peoria Area
Community Assessment
The 2011 Peoria Area Community Assessment highlights critical community needs focusing on education, income and health. Conducted by the Center for Business and Economic Research at Bradley University, several key areas of social concern were identified which allows our United Way to strengthen our ability to provide leadership to the region.
Download the published
2011 Peoria Area Community Assessment PDF 725kb
Download the
Bradley University Community Assessment PDF 3mb
Dr. Larry Weinzimmer
Professor of Business Management
for the Foster College of Business at Bradley University
Dr. Larry Weinzimmer, the Caterpillar Professor of Business Management for the Foster College of Business at Bradley University, is an author, consultant and award-winning researcher. His work on our 2011 Peoria Area Community Assessment is vital to our organization’s growth, stability and strategic planning.
Weinzimmer works with numerous Fortune 500 companies including General Motors, Goodyear, 3M, Caterpillar Inc., and others, on issues relating to strategy, assessment and growth. In addition to serving as associate editor for the Journal of Small Business Strategy, Dr. Weinzimmer has published three books and more than 60 articles.
His book, Fast Growth: How to Attain It, How to Sustain It, has received international acclaim and Dr. Weinzimmer has been featured in several leading business magazines and numerous news shows including FNN, CNN, the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, and the Business Morning Show. His fourth book is scheduled to be released in September 2012.
Success By Six®
The Heart of Illinois United Way's early childhood initiative, Success By 6®, is a community-based committee of business leaders, educators and early childhood advocates brought together to develop solutions for children of central Illinois. Read more and access Success By Six resources...
Help for Hard Times Guide
The Help for Hard Times Guide has been designed to provide guidance if you’re facing unemployment or adjusting to life on a reduced income. By taking control of your situation and learning what is available, you will be able to survive the struggling economy. Help for Hard Times Guide
Community in Schools
Community in Schools is a collaboration between Peoria Public Schools and Heart of Illinois United Way partner agencies that provides a full-service substance abuse, violence prevention and mental health program for students in kindergarten through high school. Read more...
Heart of Illinois United Way Funding Opportunities
The Heart of Illinois United Way’s Community Impact Fund is a multi-year grant approval process that provides stability and continuity to partner agencies while providing volunteers time to evaluate and measure program outcomes over a three-year process.
In 2011-2012, 90 programs at 45 partner agencies received funding through the Heart of Illinois United Way’s Community Impact Fund. This competitive grant process focuses on four impact areas: youth, families, self-reliance and health.
Agencies Seeking Heart of Illinois United Way Membership
For central Illinois 501(C)3 nonprofits seeking partnership into the Heart of Illinois United Way family of agencies, please download the New Member Agency Application below.
Nonprofit agencies have to be an approved Heart of Illinois United Way agency before they are allowed to compete for grants. By reviewing the guidelines, you can learn how your nonprofit will be reviewed.
For additional information please send an email to Don Johnson, Vice President of Community Investment, at don.johnson@unitedway.org.
New Member Agency Guidelines (PDF)
New Member Agency Application (PDF)
New Member Agency Application (MS Word)
2012 Grant Application
For member agencies, already approved by the Heart of Illinois United Way’s Board of Directors, the 2011-2012 funding year grant application can be downloaded below as either a PDF or Microsoft Word document. Grant applications are due by February 10, 2012 at Noon.
2012 HOIUW Grant Application (PDF)
2012 HOIUW Grant Application (MS Word)
Application Directions
Agencies must follow and utilize Heart of Illinois United Way’s grant directions while preparing this year’s grant application. Directions must be reviewed before preparing this year’s grant application.
2012 HOIUW Grant Application Directions (PDF)
Bidder’s Workshop
The Heart of Illinois United Way leadership team hosted two grant workshops on November 15 and 16, 2011. You may review the full presentation in PDF format from the link below.
Bidder’s Conference Presentation (PDF)