About Us

At Greater Ottawa County United Way, our mission is . . .

To improve the quality of life for all Ottawa County residents by identifying pressing community challenges and focusing the community's collective power and resources to address those needs.

Our vision is:

To create lasting change in the health & human services realm through the LIVE UNITED and  "Community Impact" models.

United Way has been making a difference in Ottawa County for nearly a century. Known in the 1920s as United Fund or Community Chest, annual fund drives to address community needs were a fixture of life in many communities in Ottawa County.

In the 1960s Grand Haven and Holland joined Grand Rapids and Detroit as the first communities in Michigan to form a United Way. In 2000, four United Ways—Tri Cities Area (Grand Haven, Spring Lake and Ferrysburg), Northeast Ottawa, Holland, and Zeeland—united to form Greater Ottawa County United Way.