United Way of Greater Knoxville

Name

United Way of Greater Knoxville

Legal name

United Way of Greater Knoxville Inc.

Website

https://uwgk.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1922

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Nonprofit Services

NAICS

Other Individual and Family Services (624190), Social Assistance (624), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Civic and Social Organizations (8134)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Family Resource Centers & Wraparound Support Services (EDACALAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

K–12 Support & School Improvement Nonprofits (BPAGADAB), Early Childhood Education & Childcare Nonprofits (BPAGADAA), Community Health, Prevention & Health Education (BPAGACAC), Mental Health & Crisis Support Services (BPAGACAD), Community Centers & Neighborhood Support Services (BPAGAEAL)

Keywords

• Community impact programs
• Workplace giving campaigns
• Corporate social responsibility
• Nonprofit capacity building
• Early childhood education

Headquarters

HQ city

Knoxville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Individual donors contribute through the organization's website donation portal, with recurring giving options and one-time gifts. Donations support community programs in education, economic mobility, health, and food security.
2. Workplace Giving Campaigns: Corporate workplace giving campaigns allow employees to make payroll deductions supporting UWGK. Companies run annual campaigns with campaign toolkits provided by UWGK, creating predictable recurring revenue streams.
3. Corporate Sponsorships: Companies sponsor events like Week of Caring and workplace campaigns at various tiers (Gold $5,000, Silver $2,500, Bronze $1,000). Sponsors receive branding, recognition, and volunteer access.
4. Government and Foundation Grants: UWGK receives funding from entities including the Tennessee Department of Human Services (for the ETC program), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (for Data Ambassador research), and the City of Knoxville (emergency food funding). These grants support specific programs and initiatives.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

United Way of Greater Knoxville mobilizes donations, volunteers, and community partnerships to deliver programs across Early Care and Education, Economic Mobility (East Tennessee Collaborative), Healthy Communities, and Community Schools. The organization funds more than 100 nonprofit partners, operates 16 Community Schools, and provides direct services to families, children, and ALICE households across East Tennessee. It also serves as a corporate CSR partner through workplace campaigns, volunteer programs, and event sponsorships.

Product overview

United Way of Greater Knoxville operates as a single integrated nonprofit organization rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The organization offers a portfolio of interconnected community programs centered around four impact areas: Early Care and Education (birth through age 8), Economic Mobility (through the East Tennessee Collaborative), Healthy Communities (food security), and Community Schools. Supporting infrastructure includes a Volunteer Center, Company Cares corporate CSR program, Workplace Campaigns for corporate giving, Week of Caring volunteer events, Giving Societies for donor engagement, 2-1-1 resource helpline, and Nonprofit Support services for capacity building. The organization also runs advocacy initiatives around ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) households to illuminate financial hardships facing working families.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• East Tennessee Collaborative (ETC): An initiative led by United Way of Greater Knoxville and local partners to help families achieve long-term financial security through mentoring, career planning, and basic needs assistance.
• ALICE
• Community Schools
• ALICE@Work
• OnBoard
• Company Cares

Products and services

• Community Schools A strategy that places Community School Coordinators in 16 Knox County schools to serve as hubs connecting students and families with academic support, enrichment activities, health services, and community resources. Designed for students and families in under-resourced school communities.
• Early Care and Education Programs supporting child development from birth through age eight, including academic support, childcare, kindergarten readiness, and the Knox Area Afterschool Network (KAAN). Targeted at young children and families needing early childhood education resources.
• East Tennessee Collaborative (ETC) An economic mobility initiative providing mentoring, career planning, basic needs assistance, and skill enhancement to help ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) families achieve financial independence across 10 East Tennessee counties, with 22 mobility mentors serving 741 families.
• Healthy Communities Programs ensuring access to healthy food and care for community members, including food security initiatives, produce distribution through Community Schools, food recovery partnerships, and collaborations with food banks serving East Tennessee.
• Nonprofit Support Capacity-building services for 100+ nonprofit partner organizations including training, relationship building, consulting services, grant funding through Community Investments, and a Job Board. Designed for local nonprofits working in food security, economic mobility, health, and youth development.
• Company Cares Corporate social responsibility (CSR) program offering service projects, Company Cares To Go on-site kit packing, the OnBoard Governance Certificate program, and Community Insights and Learning for corporate teams seeking structured volunteer engagement.
• Workplace Campaigns Corporate workplace giving campaigns that help businesses showcase social responsibility, improve employee morale, and make meaningful community impact through organized employee payroll deductions and fundraising.
• Week of Caring Annual signature volunteer event connecting corporate and civic volunteers with Community Schools through supply drives, kit-packing, and hands-on service projects, with sponsorship opportunities at Gold ($5,000), Silver ($2,500), and Bronze ($1,000) tiers.
• 2-1-1 Community Resource Helpline

Quantifiable outcome

• 741 families served across 10 counties through ETC program with 881 adults and 1,618 children impacted
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

13 partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.

• City of KnoxvillemajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 November 2025City of Knoxville and UWGK partnered to distribute $200,000 in emergency funding for food assistance services. The City Council approved $100,000 from the Unassigned Fund Balance, which UWGK matched, resulting in grants to nine nonprofit agencies for food distribution.
• CONTACT Care LinecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCONTACT Care Line is a UWGK funded partner that has served as a trusted, confidential lifeline for individuals in emotional distress for more than 50 years. Through 24/7 phone, text, and online chat services, their trained volunteers and staff provide crisis intervention, suicide prevention, and compassionate listening in English and Spanish. In 2023 alone, they supported more than 56,000 people.
• Metro Drug Coalition (The Gateway Center)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMetro Drug Coalition receives flexible, unrestricted funding from UWGK to operate The Gateway, a recovery community center. The center offers a coffee shop where participants in recovery (called Soberistas) gain job training while rebuilding their lives. UWGK funding supports recovery coaching, support groups, career training, and operational costs.
• Girls on the Run Greater KnoxvillecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGirls on the Run Greater Knoxville is a UWGK funded partner that inspires more than 4,000 girls to recognize their inner strength, increase physical activity, and build confidence. UWGK funding has helped expand access to schools in under-resourced areas and rebuild programs lost after COVID.
• Beardsley Community Farm (CAC's Beardsley Community Farm)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBeardsley Community Farm is a key partner in UWGK's food security initiatives, distributing over 25,000 pounds of produce annually through Community Schools. UWGK Gap Grant support provided $50,000 in flexible funding and an additional $15,000 through a CAC-administered grant to expand produce access and grow the refugee gardening program.
• Erie Insurance (Gold Sponsor)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerErie Insurance served as a Gold Sponsor ($5,000) for the Week of Caring 2025 event, receiving premier branding, VIP participation, and media spotlights.
• Wallace Real Estate (Silver Sponsor)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerWallace Real Estate served as a Silver Sponsor for Week of Caring 2025.
• UTMC (University of Tennessee Medical Center) (Silver Sponsor)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerUTMC served as a Silver Sponsor for Week of Caring 2025 and partnered with UWGK to host the EastKnoxWell health fair.
• Denark Construction (Gold Sponsor)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerDenark Construction served as a Gold Sponsor for the 2025 United in Purpose workplace campaign.
• University of Tennessee (Food Recovery Partnership)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUWGK partnered with the University of Tennessee to implement a food recovery process that provided 34,951 pounds of food to the community from Vols home games, reducing waste while addressing food insecurity.
• YWCA of Knoxville (ETC Mobility Mentor Partner)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerYWCA of Knoxville provides mobility mentors for the ETC program, with licensed master social workers like Becca Pace mentoring participants across three East Tennessee counties.
• Second Harvest Food BankcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSecond Harvest Food Bank is part of the food distribution network that supplies produce to Community Schools through Beardsley Farm's food bag packing operations.
• 9 Nonprofit Food Assistance RecipientsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNine nonprofit agencies received emergency food assistance funding: Battlefield Farm/Knox County Community Gardens & Growers' Alliance, Bridge Refugee Services, East Tennessee Equality Council, Knox Haven, Knoxville Academy of Medicine Foundation, Knoxville-Knox County CAC, New Direction Health Care Solutions, Wesley House Community Center, and YMCA.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• United Way Worldwide: The global umbrella organization of which UWGK is a local affiliate; provides brand, standards, and network resources, and serves as the broad incumbent that anchors the entire UWGK operating model.
• United Way of Greater Atlanta: A larger metropolitan United Way affiliate operating a similar portfolio (education, economic mobility, health) at substantially greater scale — useful as a scaled peer and aspirational benchmark for UWGK's modern United Way ambitions.

Emerging players

• Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee: Regional food bank that is both a UWGK partner and a peer in food security programming across the same 10-county East Tennessee service area — overlapping in food distribution and donor mobilization.

Direct peers

• United Way of Greater Chattanooga: Another Tennessee-region United Way affiliate running community impact, education, financial stability, and health programs in a comparable mid-size metro — directly comparable in scope, funding model, and program mix to UWGK.
• Knoxville Community Foundation (via United Way): Local community foundation adjacent to UWGK that pools charitable assets and makes grants across the Knoxville region — comparable in donor-advised giving and local grantmaking activities.
• Knox County Community Action Committee (CAC): Local anti-poverty agency running Beardsley Community Farm, food distribution, and family support programs in the same Knox County geography — directly comparable in service mix and target population.
• East Tennessee Foundation: A regional community foundation serving 25 East Tennessee counties with grantmaking, donor services, and nonprofit capacity building — overlapping with UWGK's geographic footprint and convening/grantmaking role.
• Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley: Regional youth development nonprofit operating after-school and teen programs across East Tennessee — directly comparable in youth services, donor base, and corporate partnership model.
• United Way of Middle Tennessee: Regional United Way affiliate serving the Nashville metro with workplace giving, community impact, and nonprofit funding across multiple counties — a closely comparable operating model to UWGK in a different but nearby Tennessee market.

Others

• Volunteer East Tennessee: A regional volunteer-matching platform operated by/with UWGK that connects individuals to nonprofit opportunities — adjacent ecosystem infrastructure rather than a competing organization.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/unitedwayknox
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@unitedwayknox
• Facebookfacebook.com/unitedwayknox
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/united-way-of-greater-knoxville
• Instagraminstagram.com/unitedwayknox

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about United Way of Greater Knoxville