This year, the Northfield Area United Way will donate nearly $300,000 in grants to nonprofits across the Northfield Area.

The $299,000 package will fund 31 different programs across five broad categories: helping people in crisis, promoting health and well being, serving children and youth, serving people with disabilities, and strengthening our community.

Betsy Spethmann, executive director of Northfield Area United Way, says the organization’s strength lies in the comprehensiveness of their grant package.

“The fact that it’s in aggregate is its strength … It’s the whole portfolio,” said Spethmann. “The programs that we support touch 92 percent of the homes in our service area.”

Zach Pruitt, director of the Northfield Healthy Community Initiative, agreed.

“It’s the backbone of funding for a lot of nonprofits,” he said. “The United Way's support is vital to our agency and other agencies across our community.”

That service area includes Northfield, Dundas, Lonsdale, Montgomery, Dennison, Kilkenny, and Webster—all of the Northfield Area United Way’s money comes from these communities.

“Its all local. UW is an international organization, but every UW is its own independent nonprofit. All of the money that's raised in our area stays in our area,” said Spethmann.

Pruitt, whose organization works to identify gaps in public services and helps start programs to address them, said that the United Way’s local support “indicates a level of community commitment to a project” that “is kind of a stamp of approval from the community.”

This approval helps programs to get additional funding from state and national sources.

“It’s been able to help us leverage support from outside the community,” he said.

The Northfield Area United Way’s annual cycle begins with a fall fundraising campaign that runs from September to December. Some fundraising comes from individual households, but United Way also gets considerable funding from workplace giving campaigns.

“The people who are the coordinators in their workplace do any incredible amount of work to raise money among their colleagues,” said Spethmann.

The second part of the United Way’s task, which comes after raising money, is deciding how to dispense it. Given that there are thousands of people adding to the nonprofit’s coffers, it only makes sense that a panel of community volunteers and United Way board members review grant requests and decide which organizations ought to get funding. These recommendations are sent to the United Way board, which makes the final decisions.

“We look at where the strongest need is and where the money can be most effective in the community,” said Spethmann.

Here's How the Money Was Dispensed:

• Helping People in Crisis: $134,970
• Promoting Health and Well-Being: $45,500
• Serving Children and Youth: $86,585
• Serving People with Disabilities: $20,945
• Strengthening Our Community: $11,000