At United Way Mumbai we believe that there is a need to conduct a comprehensive ‘Community Needs Assessment Study' and build an understanding of the critical human issues facing our communities. United Way does not recommend selecting NGOs to work with prior to doing a Community Needs Assessment Study. Our intention is to identify the key issues and needs in each community and prioritize these urgent action areas. Once we have a better understanding of the urgent needs in the community and a detailed definition of the same, we would then be able to identify NGOs that are best suited to fulfill those community needs.

We urge our corporate partners to evolve community issue based corporate social responsibility campaigns. United Way will create strategy roadmaps for specific areas of social responsibility and build clear plans with tangible results, key milestones and time schedules, with the dual objective of not only achieving tangible results within community development but also building sustainable non-profit institutions. Our specific mandate is to bring corporates together to build synergies and work together to address the causes rather than symptoms in the community development issues

At Stage 2 we invite non-profits to fill out Form I – “Organization & Project Overview Template” which essentially provides United Way with an overview of the organization and project sought funding for. The form consists of 2 parts:

Click here to read more about the main sections and to download

Once Form I “Organization & Project Overview Template” is completed and sent to United Way and meets with the basic minimum requirements of the preliminary level of due diligence United Way will move the due diligence process to Stage 2.

In Stage III the non-profit will be requested to complete Form 2 – “The United Way Fact Sheet” . The United Way Mumbai Fact Sheet is divided into 7 main sections.

Click here to read more about the main sections and to download the Fact Sheet

The United Way Grant Making Committee meets every quarter to review the community investment proposals submitted by the United Way team. The United Way Grant Making Committee is comprised of 5 Governing Board members who are appointed to the committee for a period of one year. The appointment is via a nomination process by the entire Governing Board.

The community investment proposals for various non-profit programs are presented by the United Way team to the Grant Making Committee. The United Way team needs to present clearly the project proposal for investment with a detailed roadmap with key milestones, time schedules and measurable outcomes. In addition the United Way team maps the progress in terms of organizational capacity building and sustainable tangible results that will be achieved in the community.

Once the Grant Making Committee agrees to support a specific non-profit agency, a Memorandum of Understanding which is a legal document is created. United Way Mumbai enters into a legal contract with the non-profit partner by signing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The Memorandum of Understanding clearly states the purpose of the grant, activities under the program and the money allocated for each activity. The MOU also states the key milestones and measurable outcomes expected on the completion of the program. The MOU also makes mandatory for non-profit to submit quarterly reports and financial statements as per pre-designed reporting template.