The Perot Foundation Makes a Historic Investment in the Future of North Texas

United Way of Metropolitan Dallas has received a historic $15 million donation from The Perot Foundation, the largest single investment in the 98-year history of our organization. The donation will enable United Way to accelerate our work with community impact partners to drive measurable progress toward the Aspire United 2030 community goals focused on improving access to education, income and health—the building blocks of opportunity.

“This extraordinary investment will be catalytic for our community, not only for the size of the commitment but equally important for how United Way is structured to leverage it,” said Jennifer Sampson, McDermott-Templeton president and CEO of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. “With carefully researched goals for our region and strategic partners who are deeply invested in achieving them, we are uniquely positioned to create transformative change across our North Texas communities.”

The Perot gift will accelerate impact with 144 community impact partners, which range from long-standing proven impact providers to grassroots organizations bringing bold new strategies to our community’s most pervasive challenges in education, income and health. We selected these community impact partners because of their track record of creating measurable impact toward our Aspire United 2030 community goals.

Achieving these community goals for North Texas will mean more students graduating high school on a path to success in college or career, more families achieving financial stability and more North Texans having the access and resources to live longer, healthier lives.

“United, we can do more,” Sampson said. “With this investment we are harnessing the power of many to directly address systemic barriers and advance racial equity that will change lives for generations to come.”

The United Way model of working together around a shared set of community goals is what fuels the progress toward a North Texas where everyone has the access and opportunity to thrive. Driving systemic, generational change requires a collective approach—because these challenges related to education, income and health are too big for any single organization to solve. But united, we can create lasting, systems-level change that will positively impact individuals and families across North Texas. This investment by The Perot Foundation will add even more energy to our community-wide Live United movement, accelerating progress toward our goals for years to come.

As Carolyn Perot Rathjen, vice president and executive director of The Perot Foundation, explained, the Perot family has supported the mission of United Way for more than 50 years. “This investment is a testament to the meaningful impact United Way and its trusted network of community impact partners create,” she said. “We hope this gift inspires others to join us in advancing United Way’s Aspire United 2030 goals on Giving Tuesday and every day.”