This week we kickoff our United Way campaign. I encourage you to support our community by participating in the campaign and giving to the United Way.

The United Way has made exciting changes this year in how they will invest our donations in the community. The new strategy focuses on health, education and financial stability needs of our community.

Under the new strategy:

• 60% of undesignated funds will be allocated to upstream funding.
• 30% to safety net funding.
• 10% to innovation funding.

The option to designate your pledge to a specific nonprofit organization will still be available.

We all know that there are many organizations doing meaningful things to improve our community. However, it can be hard to know which organizations will maximize our funds to positively impact our community.

This is exactly why I give to the United Way. The United Way allocates funds to organizations through a competitive process that ensures our funds are achieving their highest possible use in the Springfield area.

Because of the changes United Way is implementing in their investment strategy, and because of the enormous leadership the United Way has shown as COVID-19 rocked our community over the past two years, I am increasing my financial commitment this year.  I hope you will join me by completing the packet you receive in campus mail or pledging online.

Make your pledge

You can find more information about the United Way and the campaign online.

Enroll in benefits plan now

Our open enrollment period for employee benefits began yesterday.

Open enrollment is the annual period during which you can elect, decline or make changes to your medical, dental, vision, and cafeteria/flexible spending plans for the coming calendar year.

Open enrollment for 2022 runs from Nov. 1 through Dec. 1.

You can find more information about open enrollment, including instructions for how to complete open enrollment online or over the phone, on the open enrollment webpage.

I encourage everyone to complete the open enrollment process, regardless of whether you plan to make changes to your coverage.

Thanks for all you do for Missouri State!