Leaders

Leaders in Giving
Our Mission
Our United Way leads in uniting the community to bring together resources to identify
and effectively address our community’s most vital human needs.
United Way of Forsyth County
The organization we know today as United Way of Forsyth County was organized in 1923 under the banner of the Community
Chest. The Community Chest of Forsyth County federated the finances of twenty local health and welfare organizations,
raising the money in one annual campaign and distributing it according to need among its member organizations. The
Community Chest’s campaigns were called “Red Feather” drives. The first Community Chest goal was $28,000 with
$38,215 actually raised.
Over the decades that followed, the name of the organization changed as has our mission. In 1951, the Community Chest
became the United Fund of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. In 1974, the United Fund adopted the name still in use
today: United Way of Forsyth County.
Our Mission and History
Our mission has evolved from being a community fundraiser in support of a family of partner agencies to one of addressing
the root causes of our community’s most critical human issues while still supporting a safety net of services for those in
immediate need.
The 2009 Campaign, led by Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice’s Keith Vaughan, raised $17,201,487 in a very challenging
economic environment. Over 400 organizations and more than 40,000 individuals participated in the 2008 Campaign.
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