What Our Partners Say

Ron Butler

Executive Director
United Way of Genesee County

I began [working with The Harwood Institute] as vice-chair of the United Way of Genesee County. Seven years ago, we reached a crossroads. As a result of a variety of societal changes, including mounting unemployment due to layoffs at General Motors, the needs of local residents were entirely different from what we focused upon. We realized that, in order to be relevant again in the community, we needed to change how we did business; we needed to know what the community wanted us to be, and we needed a strategy to achieve it.

During this time, the Mott Foundation recruited Rich Harwood and The Harwood Institute to work on the grassroots level to help the community become more engaged. In what was certainly one of the best moves in our organization’s life, our president, Mike Brown, approached the Mott Foundation about setting up a relationship between the United Way and Harwood. From there, everything changed.

The Harwood Institute was instrumental in shifting our organizational structure and how we operated in the community. With their focus on engagement and conversation, we learned about residents’ aspirations for the community, what role they wanted us to play, and how they felt we could be a part of making their dreams into reality.

We responded. Specifically, we went from a traditional United Way, with fixed agency numbers, to an open system where we could form partnerships with any 501(c)3 organizations. As a result, we began to form extremely catalytic relationships with groups such as Health Access, one of the most respected and successful organizations in the county. There was certainly some anxiety from those who feared change, but, in the end, we were able to provide more funding and better services they we ever had before.

In the end, the decision to participate in work with Harwood made us the organization we had hoped to become. We are relevant in Genesee County; the community now sees us as an authentic leader and agent of change. In fact, we are now on the leading edge of United Way organizations throughout the country, as we continue to implement Harwood frameworks and tools to further our engagement within the community.

We have come a long way in the past seven years, and the future seems even brighter. I am proud to say that we are a Harwood United Way.



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	Home > About the Institute > What Our Partners Say Printable Version Tell a friend What Our Partners Say Ron Butler Executive Director United Way of Genesee County I began [working with The Harwood Institute] as vice-chair of the United Way of Genesee County. Seven years ago, we reached a crossroads. As a result of a variety of societal changes, including mounting unemployment due to layoffs at General Motors, the needs of local residents were entirely different from what we focused upon. We realized that, in order to be relevant again in the community, we needed to change how we did business; we needed to know what the community wanted us to be, and we needed a strategy to achieve it. During this time, the Mott Foundation recruited Rich Harwood and The Harwood Institute to work on the grassroots level to help the community become more engaged. In what was certainly one of the best moves in our organization’s life, our president, Mike Brown, approached the Mott Foundation about setting up a relationship between the United Way and Harwood. From there, everything changed. The Harwood Institute was instrumental in shifting our organizational structure and how we operated in the community. With their focus on engagement and conversation, we learned about residents’ aspirations for the community, what role they wanted us to play, and how they felt we could be a part of making their dreams into reality. We responded. Specifically, we went from a traditional United Way, with fixed agency numbers, to an open system where we could form partnerships with any 501(c)3 organizations. As a result, we began to form extremely catalytic relationships with groups such as Health Access, one of the most respected and successful organizations in the county. There was certainly some anxiety from those who feared change, but, in the end, we were able to provide more funding and better services they we ever had before. In the end, the decision to participate in work with Harwood made us the organization we had hoped to become. We are relevant in Genesee County; the community now sees us as an authentic leader and agent of change. In fact, we are now on the leading edge of United Way organizations throughout the country, as we continue to implement Harwood frameworks and tools to further our engagement within the community. We have come a long way in the past seven years, and the future seems even brighter. I am proud to say that we are a Harwood United Way.
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What Our Partners Say

Ron Butler

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