The past 5-6 years have been a whirlwind for both my personal and professional life. I got married in 2009 and had my first son a few weeks before our first wedding anniversary and then 21 months later we had our now 3-year-old twin boys. Through that time period, I also made the commitment to go back to school to earn my MBA and progressed in my career into a role that involved travel and added responsibilities.
For the past couple of years, I’ve told myself that this is the year I need to do my research and support a cause I am passionate about. When I first started thinking about it, to be honest, I didn’t know where to start. There are so many amazing organizations out there, how am I supposed to choose just a few?
Through being an Ambassador for my company’s community support campaign in 2014, I learned about the Women United. I thought, why didn’t I start with United Way in the first place? I have become an expert on Health Savings Accounts (the product I manage at work) and I think the best way to think about Women United and Greater Twin Cities United Way is that they are the experts on giving.
The focus on early childhood learning and financial stability for women in Minnesota really resonated with me and I felt confident that my contributions would be put to good use through the Giving Community. It was an easy decision for me to choose to direct my funds to Women United through my company’s community support campaign and let them do all the work! Not ashamed to say that I like the easy route (imagine that with three small children under the age of five!).
That’s not the only perk of being a member of Women United either. I really liked the fact that I could get access to networking opportunities with other like-minded women and training options to further my involvement in the nonprofit space. In my mind, this is a win-win! Help the causes I am passionate about and as an added bonus, being able to utilize the resources provided by Women United to ensure I can give back with my time as well as my dollars.