“I wake up in the morning and know I’ll help change someone’s life today.”
That’s how Sarah Henderson, director of marketing and communications for United Way of Northeast Florida, views her job.
She and 65 other members of the nonprofit’s staff work Downtown in the Jessie Ball duPont Center.
It’s the former Haydon Burns Public Library that was renovated by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund at a cost of more than $20 million to create below-market-rate Class A office space for nonprofit and philanthropic organizations.
Henderson said it’s quite a change from the United Way’s previous offices at Riverplace Tower.
“This is such a great space,” she said. “We used to have to cross the river to go to meetings. Now we just go downstairs.”
When the organization moved into about 19,000 square feet on three floors in the duPont Center, it represented an 8,000-square-foot downsizing.
That, plus the attractive lease rate and reduced cost for utilities because the building is so energy efficient, will save United Way about $1 million over the next 10 years that can be used to help support partner nonprofits and programs, Henderson said.
Before joining United Way 13 months ago, Henderson was for nearly four years communications coordinator at Downtown Vision Inc., where she managed the Downtown improvement district’s website and social media.
Now, she directs communications and marketing for the largest tenant in the duPont Center.
The local United Way effort supports 56 nonprofit partners that provide nearly 70 programs focused on education, financial stability and health.
The organization has an annual budget of more than $21 million that comes from workplace donation campaigns, corporate and individual gifts and local, state and federal grants.
Henderson has been working lately on United Way’s 2016 campaign “Make Your Moment.”
It’s an effort to help people find what they’d like to do to help the community, based on age group: millennials, Generation X, baby boomers and “maturists.”
Questions determine how you spend your time, how you feel about work, how you care for others and how you find joy.
The quiz helps the user discover what type of person they are when it comes to contributing to a community service effort — an advocate, for example.
The site then makes suggestions about how to get involved to “make your moment” — gathering friends or coworkers to spend time volunteering with a local agency, for example.
“United Way is all about people,” said Henderson.
To learn more about the campaign and take the quiz, visit makeyourmoment.org/unitedwaynefl or visit unitedwaynefl.org for more information about the organization.
(904) 356-2466