United Way will award $30m based on results

The round of funding will launch the second phase of a strategy initiated three years ago, when the United Way changed how it decides which agencies to fund in order to better target its dollars and increase accountability among the after-school and early education, homeless prevention, and job training programs it supports.

“Now it’s a matter of putting that into high gear. How many lives did you impact [in the last three years] and how many more lives can you impact?’’ said Jeff Hayward, United Way’s chief of external affairs.

The organization’s focus on “measurable results’’ is an effort to ensure that the nonprofits that get money from the United Way, an umbrella philanthropy that funds a broad range of nonprofits, are making a difference, according to chief executive Michael Durkin. Those groups, he added, will receive regular scrutiny.

“Now, every three years, we evaluate how we can create the most impact with donor dollars,’’ Durkin said in a statement.

In the last three years, agencies funded by the United Way screened thousands of at-risk kids for developmental concerns, found homes for more than 5,000 families, and got jobs for nearly 8,000 people. Officials for the organization said they expected the $30 million to fund some 160 agencies that will build on that work.

Deciding which groups to fund is not easy. Hayward likened it to vetting a company before choosing whether to invest in the stock.

“Are their books good, is their board engaged, do they have the right staff in place?’’ he asked.

If so, the next question is whether a group’s work aligns with the United Way’s goals. And that list is constantly changing, Hayward said, with some groups getting more money and some getting less, while other groups are added or dropped altogether.

Bridge Over Troubled Waters, a Boston nonprofit that aids homeless youth and runaways, is getting $17,000 more in this round of funding, for example, while the school readiness group College Bound Dorchester is taking a cut.

Mark Culliton, executive director of College Bound Dorchester, views the expected loss of support pragmatically, saying that his organization has gotten varying amounts of funding from the United Way since about 1965.

“We had assumed that it was going to be less, just because it still continues to be a pretty tough funding cycle out there,’’ Culliton explained. “We shouldn’t be getting paid just because historically, we got money. People should invest in us to create outcomes for students, nothing more or less.’’

Robb Zarges, executive director of Bridge Over Troubled Waters, said the United Way’s rigorous funding process has only been beneficial.

“Really, it helps us identify what’s working for us in helping kids become self-sufficient,’’ he said.

Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com.