Blog

Kerbey Lane Cafe Celebrates 35 Years In Austin By Donating Proceeds to UWATX

This May marks 35 years that our friends at Kerbey Lane Café have made Austin greater with their delicious pancakes and queso! To commemorate their anniversary, Kerbey Lane Café will donate 100% of net proceeds from ALL Austin-area locations to UWATX on May 4th from 6 a.m. to May 5th at 6 a.m.! Additionally, there will be a festive birthday celebration at all locations from 6-8 p.m. on May 4th, complete with miniature horses, face painting and balloon animals. Kerbey Lane Café is also running a “35 Days Until 35” social media campaign with many exciting giveaways including pancake mix, gift cards and t-shirts. Learn more here. Kerbey Lane Café is currently running their second annual employee campaign with United Way for Greater Austin and their staff embodies the spirit of philanthropy by investing a portion of their paycheck and their time back into our community. Restaurant managers go by the title “Community Ambassador” and make corporate social responsibility a priority. By coordinating volunteer opportunities for their employees with our Hands on Central Texas volunteer center, they’ve been able to log hundreds of volunteer hours in service of Greater Austin! Kerbey Lane Café has been instrumental in supporting our work in early childhood education and dropout prevention by consistently volunteering to participate in beautification projects at our high-quality childcare centers and our target middle school campuses. It’s hard to imagine Austin with out Kerbey Lane Café, and we are so proud to call them community partners and advocates. You may have […]

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Interview with Sarah Durham, President of Big Duck

Photo Credit: Tracy Young UWATX recently hosted a “Brandraising” workshop for other local nonprofits to learn more about how to best utilize digital marketing to raise brand awareness and increase donations. We brought in Sarah Durham, author of Brandraising: Raise Visibility & Money Using Smart Communications and president of Big Duck, a nonprofit marketing company based in Brooklyn, New York. She was named one of Fast Company’s most influential women in technology in 2010, among other fundraising industry awards.  We sat down with Sarah to learn more about her company and how nonprofits of any size can utilize the many communication tools available. Can you tell us a bit about your background? “My parents were right out of Mad Men: both in advertising in New York in the 1960s and 1970s. I grew up in ad agencies and marketing environments. These days, I live in Brooklyn, New York with my husband and my daughters, Abi and Kate, who are identical twins.” Why did you decide for your company to focus on the nonprofit sector? “I started Big Duck in 1994. At first, we worked with a range of businesses and nonprofits in many sectors. The work with nonprofits was the most inspiring and challenging, so in 2000 I made the decision to specialize in work with nonprofits.” What causes do you care most about in your personal life? “I lost both of my parents to brain tumors. Today, I serve on the board of the National Brain Tumor Society, the leading organization funding research and changing the system […]

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Another Spring Day of Caring Complete!

Although it was a bit gloomy out this past Friday, hundreds of volunteers from local Austin companies forged ahead in community volunteer projects. More than 600 volunteers assisted with 32 volunteer-based projects around the town, benefiting Communities in Schools, Capital Area Food Bank of Texas, the Boys & Girls Club of East Austin and many others.  Spring Day of Caring is a community-wide event to address critical social issues affecting Greater Austin through meaningful volunteer action. The event supports UWATX’s mission to inspire, lead and unite a community of philanthropists while fueling further action and inspiring individuals to stay involved in our community. We are so grateful to all amazing individuals that participated in this community-wide event – thank YOU! Didn’t sign up in time? You can view current volunteer opportunities all over our great city here.    Photos from the 2015 Spring Day of Caring:  [slickr-flickr search=”sets” set=”72157651664183600″ items=”30″ type=”gallery” thumbnail_size=”small” thumbnail_scale=”90″ use_key=”y”]

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April Face 2 Face Recap with Michael Hsu

Michael Hsu Office of Architecture, formerly Michael Hsu Design Office, was formed in 2005 with the goal of producing locally engaged, design-driven architecture and interiors in Austin. Hsu’s work has yielded head-turning structures for beloved brands such as Amy’s Ice Creams, Uchi and Uchiko, P. Terry’s Burger Stand and the ZACH Theater, leading to a 2013 ABJ cover story that deemed Hsu as the designer of Austin 2.0. We had the opportunity to hear from Hsu during this month’s Face 2 Face series at Whole Foods. United Way for Greater Austin is proud to serve as the nonprofit partner for this ongoing lecture series. One of our own Young Leaders Society Executive Members, Frances Jordan (pictured above) was onsite to explain our local presence and ways that the business community can become more involved on an individual or company level. According to Hsu, “We have such a fresh mindset in this [Austin] community and that gives a huge opportunity for designers to come up with new and changing ideas.” Hsu Office of Architecture practices contemporary or modern architecture and believes in modernism that is really accessible, designing inviting and warm spaces with an interesting experience that is fresh and warm. “We love to incorporate natural, raw materials in all of our designs because we feel that’s authentic. We pay attention to trends and we try to do them as well if not better than they are being done. If we can’t, then we stay away all together.” Hsu can be accredited with much of […]

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National Volunteer Week 2015

April 12th through April 18th is National Volunteer Week. We wanted to take this week to thank all of our volunteers (that’s YOU!) for all you do to make Austin greater. Our volunteer arm, Hands On Central Texas, had a very busy 2014. Check out what we were able to accomplish last year, thanks to volunteers like you: 14,207 Volunteers gave their time with us 241,140 Hours of volunteer work completed 417 Number of nonprofits served through Hands On Central Texas 1,608 Hours of completed training courses for volunteers   That’s a lot of people giving their time back to their community! Was there a specific volunteer project you participated in last year that you loved? Let us know by tweeting us @uwatx or sharing it on our Facebook page! We’ve already started off 2015 on a great note with our MLK Day of Service in January, and multiple volunteer projects from campaigns running this spring, such as CLS Partners’ work in St. John’s. This Friday, April 17 more than 600 volunteers have signed up to assist on 32 volunteer projects around the city for our annual Spring Day of Caring (SDOC). There are very limited spots remaining for SDOC, so sign up now if you want to join us! Help us make 2015 our biggest year of giving back yet!

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School Readiness Action Plan Three-Year Update

SRAP (2012-2015)  United Way for Greater Austin is the leader of a large community coalition dedicated to ensuring that all children in Travis County enter kindergarten prepared for success. Currently, only half of our community’s children enter kindergarten prepared for school success – and children of low-income families are especially at-risk for poor school achievement. We know that children who start behind tend to stay behind – and supporting healthy brain development in the early years is far more effective than treating problems at a later age. Over the past three years, United Way has led a strong coalition of early childhood advocates, experts, parents, service providers and business leaders to put together an ambitious plan to fundamentally change the landscape of care for our youngest community members. It is our hope that this plan will inspire and guide community leaders, advocates, parents, service providers and educators to participate in a movement that will allow Travis County to be the best place to prosper and raise a family for decades to come. Three-Year Highlights The first phase of the SRAP (2012- 2015) wrapped up this year, and we are proud to share the results. Read the full SRAP Year Three Update here! Thanks to the School Readiness Action Plan, more than 5,000 families now receive information through free videos, text messages and printed guides about how to help their children become school-ready. The Austin Public Library more than doubled the number of bilingual storytimes in low-income communities as a response to community advocacy. […]

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AISD Grant Will Provide Pre-K For Nearly 500 Low-Income Kids

There a strong correlation between high-quality early childhood education and overall academic success. This trend is even more important for children from low-income families, many of whom cannot afford quality pre-K or childcare, and therefore have a higher chance of entering kindergarten behind their peers. We held a press conference on April 2 at Lucy Read Pre-Kindergarten School to announce that we are providing a $215,000 grant to Austin Independent School District to open more Pre-K classrooms for low-income three-year-olds next year. [youtube id=SVCFoRHv9PE] Currently, AISD serves 64 income-eligible children in a Pre-K 3 pilot program in two high-need elementary campuses in East Austin. AISD’s Pre-K 3 program currently provides half-day instruction to children who have not participated in formal early education. The $215,000 grant will allow for the opening of 15 additional AISD Pre-K 3 classrooms—four classrooms will provide full-day instruction—serving an additional 480 students. “We have piloted the Pre-K 3 program this year with great success and are grateful to United Way for Greater Austin for this generous donation to expand this important program to more students and schools in our district next school year,” Dr. Paul Cruz, AISD superintendent, said. “We work to give our students the best possible foundation, and it begins with early childhood education.” The grant is made possible by donations from three generous Austin families: Eric and Keri Stumberg, Sandy and Lisa Gottesman, and John Cullen. Donations from the Gottesmans and John Cullen were made in honor of John’s wife, Sue Cullen, who passed away in 2010. The funds will be used for the […]

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It’s Tax Return Season!

For some people, it”s the most wonderful time of the year–tax return season! What could be better than the government paying YOU?! The actual process of preparing your taxes–not so wonderful. Whether you”re just out of college and filing for the first time on your own, or have multiple jobs and are having trouble keeping track of it all, we have some great resources to make it easier for you. The deadline to file taxes with the IRS is April 15th. United Way for Greater Austin partners with Foundation Communities to provide tax preparation services through Community Tax Centers. If you earn $50,000 or less annually (slightly higher for households of more than five people), you qualify for free tax preparation! Last year, these Community Tax Centers (CTC) filed 20,000 returns for local individuals and families and generated $36 million in refunds. You can either make casino online an appointment with a CTC volunteer or walk-in, or even drop off your documents to be prepared and pick them up a few days later. Call 2-1-1 today to find the nearest tax preparation location to you or visit the Foundation Communities for more details. Prepare for your appointment by using this checklist to make sure you have all of the documents you will need in order to file. Already received your return? Use our Bank Locator tool to locate a bank close to you to make the most of your return. Feeling generous with all of your newfound cash? Consider making a donation so we can continue to support services like the Community Tax Centers!

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VPL Students and YLS Build Skate Ramp at Mendez Middle School

Young Leaders Society members and VPL students from Mendez Middle School, one of three campuses we support through our Target Graduation program, joined forces last weekend on a very different kind of volunteer project.  Along with members of Mendez’s Skateboard Club, an after school group dedicated to kick-flipping and perfecting the art of an Ollie, the volunteers built a skate ramp at the school entirely from scratch. Students utilized skills they had recently learned in their math classes as they measured boards, calculated angles and used formulas to get the perfect angles on the ramp. Young Leaders Society members assisted with the heavy-duty aspects by drilling the boards into place and making sure the ramp was stable. Members of the Skateboard Club had an audience to show off on the new ramp after completion, and some YLS members even assisted with teaching new skateboard skills. The Dove Springs community in which Mendez Middle School sits is two years into a health and wellness revitalization project. “GO Austin! VAMOS Austin!” is a place-based health initiative, funded by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, aimed at reducing obesity in zip code 78744. Initiative organizers and community leaders have advocated for better sidewalks, improved lighting at parks, safe routes to school and coordinated exercise programs, like Zumba and soccer for local kids and families.  We are happy to support not only this health initiative in Dove Springs, but to support high-quality afterschool programming in this neighborhood, such as the Skateboard Club at Mendez. View all of the photos from this project on our […]

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Spotlight: Dan Graham

Austin’s Best CEO, Austinite of the Year and owner of BuildASign.com are just a few of the ways you may know Dan Graham–but we know him best as a dedicated volunteer UWATX board member! We talked to Dan about his love for Austin, why he supports UWATX’s work and the importance of his company having a philanthropic presence. “Growing up, my parents always did a great job of instilling the value of community service in me,” Dan said. “Volunteering on the weekends was just a part of my youth, so I’m excited to carry that over both personally and professionally.” “I choose to support nonprofits that have an overarching goal of bettering the community at-large. I knew I wanted to utilize my resources to help further the mission of UWATX.” — Dan Graham Dan personally supports numerous nonprofits in Austin and initiated the BuildASign.com Giving Program, which awards in-kind gifts in the form of discounts and donated products to nonprofits across the country. “I’m super excited to say that since its inception, the Giving Program has given more than $1 million in in-kind donations to more than 1,700 nonprofits of all sizes and causes. The program is currently staffed by five full-time team members dedicated to assisting nonprofit organizations.” His philanthropic and professional efforts have not gone unnoticed. BuildASign.com earned distinction as one of the Austin Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work” (6 times!), Forbes “America’s Most Promising Companies”, a spot on the Inc. 5000 list for four years and the Austin Gives “GeneroCity Award” […]

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