Governance

United Way Worldwide's Board of Directors provides leadership to the organization.  The board meets quarterly and carries out all fiduciary and oversight responsibilities in a manner that is in the best interests of the organization.
Worldwide Board of Directors Members
U.S. National Board of Trustees Members

Directors generally serve on at least one board-level committee.

• Executive
• International Donor Advised Giving
• Audit
• Finance
• Executive Compensation
• Membership Accountability
• U.S. National Board
  • Executive
  • Nominating
  • Membership Accountability

Members of the standing committees often include experts who are not members of the Board of Directors but who voluntarily offer valuable expertise.  Each committee regularly reports to the Board of Directors.  Committee charges are outlined in the organization's governing bylaws.

The United Way Worldwide network consists of interdependent capabilities distributed at the global, regional, national and local levels.

Global Leadership provides strategic leadership, global relationship building, planning and services and capacity-building tools to help United Ways achieve their goals.

Regional Presence of staff and volunteers increase service delivery and in-country relationship building, serving as a distributed resource of the global organization.

National Partners (National united Way organizations) with nationwide networks of local United Ways, partner with United Way Worldwide to ensure the highest levels of system-citizenship and the leveraging of the knowledge, resources, relationships and strategic planning.

Local United Way organizations (Location-specific) are members of the global organization or an existing national network where it exists, and meet basic membership requirements in exchange for the benefits and services of the United Way network.  Each local United Way organization is independently governed by local staff/volunteers from within its own community.

Ethics and Compliance
Counter Terrorism Laws
United Way Worldwide is in compliance with the spirit and intent of the U.S. Patriot Act and other counter terrorism laws.  Affirmative action is taken to prevent technical, in-kind or other resources from inadvertently being used for illegal acts and terrorist activities.

Code of Ethics
United Way volunteers, employees and representatives have a responsibility to uphold the highest of ethical standards.  We believe these standards go beyond compliance with laws and regulations - calling us to fulfill higher obligations as stewards of the public trust.  United Way Worldwide's Code of Ethics sets forth standards and responsibilities toward this end.  The code is approved annually by the Board of Directors and all United Way Worldwide staff and board members are required to personally certify their compliance to it.

For a complete list of current committees and their charges, contact the UWW Director of Governance.

Senate Testimony Transcript
United Way Worldwide's President and CEO, Brian Gallagher, testified before the Senate on governance and accountability in the United Way System and the national nonprofit sector.

Organizational Leadership and Governance Standards of Excellence
More than 125 local United Way leaders worked intensively to identify, research, develop and draft standards of excellence for the United Way System. In addition, 70 reviewers provided insights and input, including 30 experts from leading nonprofit organizations, corporate partners and academia. The result is a set of benchmarks by which United Ways can assess their performance and progress, as a whole and in key areas such as organizational leadership and governance.