our history

Like United Way of America, United Way of Massachusetts Bay (UWMB) evolved from a Community Chest organization established by a group of concerned community philanthropists. Following its inception in 1935 as the Greater Boston Community Fund, UWMB changed in concert with the times and local needs, reflecting the national trend of consolidating philanthropic efforts to maximize impact at the community level.

UWMB through the years

1935-1940 The Greater Boston Community Fund
The Greater Boston Community Fund (GBCF), which would eventually become UWMB, was formed in response to the overwhelming need caused by the Great Depression. In 1935, volunteers founded GBCF in order to run a federated campaign for 115 charitable organizations throughout the area. Under the guidance of our first President Charles F. Adams and Campaign Chairman Ripley L. Dana, the first campaign raised nearly $4 million – the highest amount ever raised by any charitable organization in Greater Boston.

1941-1945 The War Years
In spite of high national anxiety and a rising cost of living, Bostonians responded overwhelmingly to GBCF’s slogan “Defend Your Community Now,” believing that contributing to GBCF’s local fund was to support the American way of life. So dedicated were local residents that within 66 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, GBCF coordinated a United War Fund that raised more than $7.7 million. The speed and efficiency of the effort impressed the nation, as did the sustained level of giving; in five years, the United War Fund raised $38.6 million for social and health services to help soldiers overseas as well as neighbors here at home.

1946-1948 A Return to Peacetime
As the United War Fund closed, GBCF struggled to meet increased demand back home. With businessman Michael T. Kelleher as Chairman, the campaign raised $7.3 million in 1946, the largest amount ever in peacetime. However, GBCF was now supporting more than twice as many agencies and operating costs had more than doubled from pre-war years.

The organization labored under these conditions for several years. Employing the slogan “Everybody Benefits, Everybody Gives,” the 1948 campaign raised $6.6 million from over 40 cities and towns, 33 of which still had their own local community chests. Despite stiff fundraising competition from numerous charitable groups, the GBCF’s social prominence grew; in November 1948, the organization’s Red Feather Rally featured movie star Lana Turner, and over 1,000 area women competed to be crowned “Miss Red Feather” (a distinction bestowed to a Jacqueline Crouse).

1949-1956 A New Name, A Broader Focus
In 1949, a citizens group conducted a local needs survey, and recommended the creation of a new organization to discharge the functions of region-wide planning, fundraising and budgeting to address the social needs of Greater Boston. Upon that recommendation, the GBCF and the Greater Boston Community Council merged, creating the United Community Services of Metropolitan Boston (UCS). The newly formed organization charged itself with the task of improving the quality of life for young and old.

With a $400,000 grant from the Ellen F. and Ida Mason Trust Fund, UCS purchased the Boston City Club Building on Beacon Hill in August and opened a community center, the first of its kind in Boston. In honor of the Mason sisters’ generosity, the center was named the Mason Memorial building. It would house the organization until 1979.

UCS would have lasting national impact. Under the leadership of Executive Director Harry M. Carey, UCS wrote the Code for the Community Chest and Council Movement that was adopted nation-wide in 1952. Just three years later, Gillette chairman Joseph P. Spang, Jr. was elected the 1955 National Chairman of Community Chest and United Fund Campaigns.

1957-1964 Building Partnerships
In 1957, UCS and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce collaborated to form the United Fund of Greater Boston. A separate fund-raising organization, the United Fund combined the fund-raising activities of UCS, the Red Cross, Salvation Army and five other local agencies. The move freed up UCS resources to focus on maintaining relations with and support for area agencies. The United Fund’s first campaign netted $9.3 million. By 1963, it would break the $10 million mark for the first time.

The cornerstones of our United Fund are both philosophical and functional. Man’s humanity to man, which compels him to help and to share, finds its finest expression in the United Fund… Government simply has no substitute for, or alternative to, this human spirit.

– John S. Howe, 1968 President

1965-1972 Local Expansion
By the mid-sixties, a national movement toward consolidation at the local level had begun. Community Chests were merging to form United Way organizations, which boasted greater capacity to raise funds and provide services to local agencies.

A similar process was occurring in Greater Boston. In 1965, the United Fund merged with similar organizations in Quincy, Lynn and the North Shore to form the Massachusetts Bay United Fund (MBUF). This larger organization now served 66 communities, reaching more than 2.3 million people. Led by General Chairman William H. Clafin, III, the Fund’s first campaign in 1965 resulted in over 1.6 million new dollars. Carrying on the great tradition started by his father (former GBCF president Charles Francis Adams), Charles Francis Adams Jr. became President of the Massachusetts Bay United Fund from 1971-1972, and would serve as the first President of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay upon its formation in 1973. He would go on to serve on the United Way of America Board of Governors from 1972 to 1980.

1973-1981 Enter United Way
On January 24, 1973, the Massachusetts Bay United Fund and its parent organization (UCS) agreed to merge underneath the now ubiquitous United Way banner. The newly established United Way of Massachusetts Bay (UWMB) brought the responsibilities for fund-raising, allocations, and agency relations under one roof.

In 1975, a longstanding United Way tradition began when James H. Lowell, 2nd initiated the now standard Citizen Review allocations process. Further engaged in the United Way’s mission and processes, donors in the community showed strong support for the ‘new’ organization; in 1979, under the leadership of Campaign Chairman William J. Pruyn of Eastern Gas and Fuel, UWMB raised $20 million for the first time. In just two years, UWMB fundraising surpassed the $25 million mark.

1982-1984 Success in Difficult Times
Despite economic uncertainty and rampant unemployment, fundraising efforts thrived in the early eighties, topping $35 million in 1984. The community’s generosity came at a critical time; recession had forced government cutbacks in human services despite rising numbers of hungry and homeless citizens across the country. Demand for United Way services was growing.

To meet the increased need, UWMB began undertaking strategic partnerships and initiatives that would have long-term implications for United Way leadership in the community. In 1983, UWMB established the Economic Conditions Response Fund, assisting the unemployed and working poor who needed food, fuel, and shelter. The New Initiatives and Emergencies Fund allowed the organization to initiate funding of special needs programs for non-affiliates as well as United Way agencies throughout the year. In collaboration with United Ways across the state, as well as state officials, UWMB opened a Government Relations office to increase dialogue between state government and charitable organizations. These efforts marked the first step towards United Way’s transformation into a community convener and lobbyist, as opposed to a pass-through fundraising organization.

In addition to traditional roles of funding and allocating, our modern-day United Way is becoming much more of a community problem-solver in the best sense of the term. We are involved in public-private partnerships. We are… convening groups to look at important problems, so we may collectively try to solve these problems.

– John P. LaWare, 1985 President

1985 – 1992 Adapting to Community Needs
During a year in which it celebrated 50 years of service to Greater Boston, UWMB ramped up its efforts to provide direct-service in response to the economic hardship that continued to plague the nation. The Information & Referral program, complete with a mobile van unit, sought to link those in need with services that would help them get back on their feet. UWMB’s new Voluntary Action Center (VAC) not only recruited volunteers for that effort, but provided a record number of volunteers and technical assistance to affiliated agencies. Eventually becoming the community’s most knowledgeable resource base on volunteerism, VAC represented the start of another longstanding United Way tradition – directly engaging citizens with the philanthropic work of their community.

In the mid-eighties, UWMB set aside $700,000 as a two-year fund for innovative teen programs to be developed by United Way agencies. The move represented the first step towards a focus on prevention-based solutions that would become the mainstay of UWMB programming in the 1990s.

The organization also moved to increase options for donors. In order to accommodate specific donor preference, the Board of Directors implemented a donor option program which allowed designations to qualified nonprofit agencies outside the United Way network.

1992 – 2004 Overcoming Scandal & Corporate Change
As the New England economy shifted from manufacturing to the financial, educational, high tech and biotechnology fields, some of the area’s largest companies relocated or merged, taking their charitable giving with them. Combined with a national recession, these changes led to a difficult fundraising environment, and UWMB started looking beyond traditional workplace campaigns for new and innovative sources of revenue.

Making a difficult situation worse, United Way of America President William Aramony stepped down in 1992 amid an investigation that he and other executives had embezzled millions from the organization. The United Way system reeled from the blow, as donors nationwide reacted by withdrawing donations. In Boston alone, contributions dropped by nearly $8 million dollars over the course of four years.

The announcement of Aramony’s resignation came just days before UWMB’s new President and CEO Marian L. Heard was scheduled to take the reins. Heard moved quickly to address the two-fold challenge of restoring the public’s trust in United Way’s integrity, and reviving staff morale. Signaling her own disapproval and that of area donors, Heard immediately stopped all UWMB payments to United Way of America. To the public and to the corporate community, she was frank about UWMB’s policies and practices, reassuring the region that UWMB operated under the strictest of financial guidelines. To underscore her dedication to regaining the public’s confidence, she declined the Board’s initial salary offering, taking a significant pay cut. During her eleven years at the helm, Heard displayed an openness that donors would reward with their generosity and their involvement, leading UWMB out of debt and catapulting the organization from 87th to first on the list of United Way major gift programs.

UWMB also embarked on a prevention-based strategy in 1994. While continuing to respond to community needs by helping those in crisis, the organization sought to prevent problems from becoming crises by building community capacity, supporting model intervention programs, and investing where needs and potential impact were greatest. This prevention-based model further renewed community-wide commitment to the organization, and signaled greater changes to come.

2004 – A New Leader & an Evolving Organization
When Marian Heard stepped down in 2004, the UWMB Board unanimously approved Milton Little, Jr. as the next president and chief executive officer of UWMB. The former executive vice president and chief operating officer of the National Urban League joined the organization at a time of evolution at the local and national level. In collaboration with the national organization, United Ways across the country embarked on a national brand management strategy designed to reposition United Way as the leading community impact organization, rather than simply a fundraiser. UWMB joined this effort by publicly sharpening its focus on children, youth, housing and employment as the keys to promoting self-sufficiency for individuals and families in Greater Boston.

This nationwide movement to realign public perception reflects the progress made by United Ways in the last twenty years. In that time, the organization has expanded its focus, taking the lead in convening community, business and government leaders to address the root causes of poverty and social injustice, and to leverage collective resources to maximize impact. Its strength lies in its ability to meet changing community needs and achieve lasting impact in communities across the country, and its success reflects the time-honored tradition by which members of a community join together to ensure that everyone has an equal chance to succeed.