Our Mission
Our mission is to lift Wilson County families away from the path of poverty and improve the lives of all in our community.
Our BOLD GOAL
Our Bold Goal is to lift 1,000 families away from the path of poverty by 2035.
Our Vision
Our vision is to create a collaborative community of resources where all Wilson County citizens can find the help they need to go from surviving to thriving.
History
In 1959, the United Fund of Wilson County was organized at a meeting held at the Cherry Hotel. The community came together with a shared commitment to improving the lives of people in Wilson County, setting an initial fundraising goal of $79,568.30.
For more than six decades, the organization has evolved alongside our community. What began as the United Fund became the United Way of Wilson County, raising and distributing more than $35 million to support Wilson County nonprofit organizations providing essential programs and services in three key areas: Income, Education and Health.
For many years, our role was primarily that of a funder, investing in nonprofit organizations that were addressing the needs of our community. But as Wilson County changed, so did the needs of the people we serve.
After more than 60 years of funding and working alongside nonprofit organizations, the United Way of Wilson County began asking an important question:
How can we do more than respond to the needs of our community? How can we help create lasting change?
We invited community members, nonprofit partners, faith-based organizations, educators, business leaders and other community stakeholders to join us in that conversation. Over the course of three years, we listened, learned and explored how United Way could serve Wilson County in a more intentional and meaningful way.
Those conversations led our Board of Directors to make a bold decision: to focus our mission on helping families move away from the path of poverty.
From that commitment came our Bold Goal: Lift 1,000 families out of poverty by 2035.
This goal reflects what we heard from our community. Families need more than a temporary solution to an immediate crisis. They need access to resources, meaningful opportunities, trusted guidance and people who will walk alongside them toward greater stability.
At Our September 2026 Poverty Summit, we announced the next step in this journey: the creation of a Resource Navigation Center for Wilson County, developed in partnership with our community.
The Resource Navigation Center will bring multiple community resources together in one accessible location. Rather than asking families to visit multiple agencies, make countless phone calls or navigate a complicated system on their own, we envision a place where people can have meaningful conversations with trusted providers and receive help addressing both immediate needs and the challenges that stand between them and long-term stability.
Our work has evolved. We are moving from being primarily a funder to being a change maker.
We are listening to our community. We are creating programs of our own. We are bringing partners together. And we are working to ensure that when a family reaches out for help, that help can become more than a temporary fix.
Our vision is simple: help families move away from the path of poverty and toward opportunity, stability and a stronger future.
For more than six decades, our community has trusted the United Way of Wilson County to help make Wilson County a better place. Today, we are building on that legacy with an ambitious goal for our future:
Lift 1,000 families out of poverty by 2035.
We believe we can achieve this, not by working alone, but by working together with our entire community.