What is a Community Investment?
You’re not just giving to a cause.
You’re building a strategy for your community’s future.

Our community is filled with dedicated nonprofits driving powerful, on-the-ground impact every day. At United Way of the Piedmont, our role is to bring donors, volunteers, and partners together to ensure this work is resourced strategically and sustainably. Because when we invest wisely, we strengthen the entire ecosystem of care.
We call it community investment, and it’s at the heart of everything we do.
So, what is a community investment?
It’s more than a donation. It’s a process we’ve built to make giving smarter, more effective, and more equitable. Here’s how it works:
- We identify the most pressing needs in Cherokee, Spartanburg, and Union counties through data, local partnerships, and direct community input.
- We invite trusted local nonprofits to apply for multi-year funding to address those needs. This year, 138 programs across 85 agencies applied.
- We bring in trained community volunteers to review every application and recommend what to fund based on alignment, effectiveness, and impact.
- We pool individual gifts, from $5 to $50,000, so we can fund programs fairly and consistently over time.
- We track results and adjust as we go. Our goal is progress, not perfection.
This year, we received $4.854 million in funding requests for programs addressing everything from food insecurity to maternal health to youth mental wellness. These are the big challenges of our time, and we don’t fund them alone.
We fund them together.
Why it matters more now than ever
In a world that feels more fractured by the day, community investment is a way to say:
We’re still in this together. It’s a way to push back on the idea that your $20 doesn’t matter. Each gift matters when it’s part of something bigger.
When you give, here’s what happens:
- You become part of a multi-million dollar investment in your own backyard.
- Your gift goes toward programs that are vetted, evaluated, and aligned with the values of this community.
- You help decide what gets funded through your belief in a shared future.
Ready to fund the future?
We’re reviewing funding decisions now. The next three years of community investment will be shaped by what we can raise this year.
United is the Way. Join the community investment →







