Philanthropy Today
Philanthropy Today
Konza United Way on the GMCF Community Hour Episode - 321
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We sit down with Tyler Dupey, the new Executive Director of Kanza United Way, to hear how he plans to lead with strategy, strong volunteers, and smarter use of data. We also dig into how local giving becomes local grants, plus the volunteer tools and literacy programs that help families across Manhattan and Riley County.
• Tyler’s path from western Kansas to Manhattan and into nonprofit leadership
• Board governance, strategy, and stretching limited nonprofit resources
• How workplace campaigns, payroll deduction, and employer matching build impact
• Annual campaign timeline and the September 15 kickoff at the Shamrock Zone at Bramlage
• How partner agency grants are reviewed and selected by volunteers
• Volunteer hub basics, tracking hours, and what Stuff the Bus accomplishes for USD 383
• Dolly Parton Imagination Library details, including 140,000 books delivered and eligibility for ages 0 to 5
They can go on our website, conziunitedway.org
Welcome And Guest Introduction
SPEAKER_01Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode, we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMTF Community Hour, as heard on news radio KMAN. And we would like to introduce the community to the new Executive Director of the Kanza United Way, Tyler Dupey. Hello, sir.
SPEAKER_00Hello, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so so you just got in this gig here.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um, I'm starting my fourth week. So week number four. So yeah, off and running, but uh, you know, still a lot to learn and a lot to go through, and and it's exciting. It's an exciting time. A little stressful. Uh, we've had a lot going on even in the past couple of weeks.
Tyler’s Kansas Roots And Career
SPEAKER_01So so uh so how did you get here?
SPEAKER_00Well, um so originally I'm from western Kansas. I've been in Manhattan now for about 25 years.
SPEAKER_01So most of us are Kansas, and we say western Kansas, that's a whole lot from depends on what you define west, if it's Junction City, Salina, or Hayes.
SPEAKER_00Oh no, way out, way out. Way out west, way out west. Thomas Kennedy. Yeah, so uh there's not a whole lot out there.
SPEAKER_01Is there a town there that you associate?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so Colby, um, I grew up on a farm in a small unincorporated town.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00And uh so just like me and Vern. So it was uh I came here to go to K-State and and fell in love with it and had the right opportunity to stay and been blessed that way.
SPEAKER_01So okay. And what have you done since your days at K-State?
SPEAKER_00Well, um most recently I was working for Ready Systems um at just as office manager on human resources. But prior to that, I spent 10 years at the Kansas Cattlemen's Association. Really? Yeah, I was executive director and CEO there. Um Kansas Cattlemen's a little bit different than Kanza. It's an advocacy group uh for independent cattle producers. So we were primarily involved in in legislation and regulatory advocacy, um, basically to benefit cattle producers in rural America. So there's some crossover, but the the work that we do at Kansas United Way is is a little bit different from a grassroots perspective. So that's what I enjoy. So I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_01When you get into that capacity, it's about leadership.
Leadership Focus And Using Data
SPEAKER_00Right, right. Liter leadership and strategy. And ultimately, every nonprofit, we have, you know, only so many resources. So we, you know, it's it's my responsibility to make sure that I advise the board on the the best ways to stretch those resources and and and then hopefully as we go we can expand those resources and raise more funds to have more impact in the community.
SPEAKER_01Were you involved with Khan Z United Way before you became the director?
SPEAKER_00So my first involvement with Khanza United Way was actually about 20 years ago as a workplace campaign through my employer out of college. So originally when I first graduated, I I worked for Still and Pipe Supply. And I was lucky to benefit from them having a workplace campaign where they provided me the opportunity to donate through payroll deduction, but then they also, as an employer, matched the donation. So that made a big difference. And that was my first exposure to it over the years. I had a little bit of exposure or a little bit of participation in in the Geary County Consaway. But other than that, I I've had a disconnect with my responsibilities at the Cattlemen's Association. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So you've been in the seat for four weeks now. Yep. Or starting with week number four. So, you know, there's obviously a lot to look at. You know, you're you're reviewing things and you've got a board that's got ideas and people that come to you and say, hey, I want to do this. What do you see as uh some uh upcoming steps that you're gonna be uh taking with Khanza United Way?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. So one of the things that I feel really blessed in is that coming into the Kons of United Way, it was previously run very well by uh an executive director that was here for quite some time. And and then the previous director was Relation, and he was here for quite some time too. So so building it from what most likely they started with, they've they've got it to a really good place. We're strong. We have a really great board, very high engaging board, and a lot of really good volunteers. Um, they've taken steps to implement technology to provide us a lot of insight into the data that we see or that we can dig into and see. That's kind of where we're at. So, from a strategic perspective, I'm hoping that we can, you know, I can I can take my analyst abilities and dig into that data and try to um, you know, make improvements that way so that we know that we're maximizing our impact and focused on our our core principles and making sure that you know what we're working on is is aligned with those things. And our board is highly focused on that as well. That's one of their goals. I think that maybe one of the reasons they brought me on is my experience in in doing that and process controls and things like that.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
Annual Campaign Plan And Kickoff
SPEAKER_01Well, a couple months from now, you're gonna be uh doing your annual campaign, right? Kicking it off on September 15th. So tell us what the plan for your campaign is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so um just a little bit of background. Our our previous campaign ended uh June 30th. I started June 29th, so I got one day in on that. And then uh our new campaign officially begins July 1, but in this fall in the fall, we'll go ahead and and do the primary kickoff for our campaign year. And within that year, we raise funds that then uh deter the however many funds we were able to raise is what we utilize to to uh issue grants to partnering agencies, and that's where the impact has had. So right now we're actually working through the previous campaigns donations to grant those um or to to issue those grants. So the applicants are in, we're reviewing those, uh, the volunteers have reviewed it. And so between now and September, we'll determine who next year's partner agencies are that'll be funded. And then at our at our kickoff, which is September 15th, at um the Shamrock zone at Bramledge, uh, we'll all come together, our volunteers and the community to meet those partners. You know, um, we'll hear about and celebrate our success in the previous campaign year. And uh do a little, we'll have a volunteer project, that uh service project, so that we can give back a little bit more to the community, and then officially we'll kick off the campaign year and the in the workforce campaigns for this following campaign year.
SPEAKER_01And that campaign is always just a fun event to be a part of because you know there's a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of buildup into getting into that mode.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. And that's that's our hope this year. The committee has been working hard on planning that meeting to make sure that it's engaging and and and volunteer driven so that we're we're focused not on you know lectures in classroom, but actual involvement and engagement with the people that attend, um, a lot of ability to network, socialize, meet the partnering agencies, what they're about, uh, talk to Khan Z United Way board members and and just hopefully build overall excitement and get people ready to get out there and live united.
Volunteer Hub And Stuff The Bus
SPEAKER_01One of the things that makes United Way unique in its own respect is the level of volunteerism that is involved. And you've got people from all walks of life that are there for one particular reason or another, something that's probably very they're very vested in. But you have a volunteer hub on your website. I'd like to talk to you a little bit about that because we have a lot of volunteer center and a lot of volunteer opportunities in the community. But let's talk about the volunteering for Khanza United Way and what that looks like.
SPEAKER_00Sure. So um on our volunteer hub, you'll find the volunteer opportunities specific to the Khan Z United Way. Uh, for example, last this past weekend on Saturday, we had stuff the bus and we coordinated with uh with uh K-State Credit Union on that and and some other groups to you know bring people together to help uh solicit donations as people went into local Walmart.
SPEAKER_01I've been a part of those. Those are fun. It was a lot of fun, especially when it's like stinking hot.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. It was the sun was cooking.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, but uh people, you know, showed up and uh they successfully stuffed the bus and and lots of school supplies for USD 383. I think the students will be geared up and ready to go. Uh a whole bunch of backpacks and all the supplies that need that that they need crayons, rulers, pencils, pens, highlighters, you name it. It was collected. And um, so that was pretty exciting. But on our volunteer hub, people could go there, see the opportunities for the different windows of time that they could donate, and then sign up. And what happens when a volunteer registers on the volunteer hub? They can pick and choose what events they would they're available to volunteer for, but then they can go back and reference their time that they've donated or that they've volunteered over time so that you know if they have, let's say they're a high school uh student and they have a volunteer uh requirement as part of a part of their curriculum, then they have that record that they can they can download and and provide to the school or their employer. Some employers may reimburse for volunteer time or make donations for volunteer time. And and so it can be a really useful tool. The other part of it is that other um agencies can come on and register on the site for their own events, and they have complete control of being able to modify their listing and and their time slots and the dates and everything, and they can manage that from the site.
SPEAKER_01And and we're here to help if they need some assistance, but they're able to self-administer that through the nice that you have that umbrella for their kind of work on work around.
SPEAKER_00Right, right.
SPEAKER_01Good.
Dolly Parton Imagination Library Locally
SPEAKER_01One of the things that got a little attention here um in the last few weeks, there's this uh couple of people you may have heard of, um, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelsey. Um they gave a bunch of money to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program, which is a fascinating program. Yeah. And that's something that uh you know has been a key part of the mission of Khanzi United Way. And so there's been a lot of attention there. So let's talk a little bit about how the program works here locally in uh the Manhattan-Riley County area.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so the Dolly Parton Imagination Library has been administered uh by Khanzi United Way since 2021. And in that time, um, they have distributed 140,000 books to uh local children. And the way the program works is that it's free to participate no matter what walk of life you're in. If you have a child zero to five years old, so um from when they're born to when they're five, they're qual they qualify for the program, and Dolly Parton Imagination Library will mail them a book every single month, uh, a total of 60 books for them to build their own library as a child. And uh it's free to register, it's free to participate. Khan Z United Way, along with Dolly Barton and and other donors, um, subsidize the program to to bring that benefit to children to help motivate a learning and a a long learn uh a long-term love for books and love for reading. And it has a great participation in Riley County. We have 1700 kids uh enrolled right now. So it's an exciting program. I believe it's growing and uh and kids really enjoy it. I hear a lot of great feedback.
SPEAKER_01Give money just directly to that program.
SPEAKER_00They can, yeah. So we have we have quite a few donors that just donate specific to that program. Um and and then we we do the administration side of it. So people can call our office to register, or they can go on our website, conziunitedway.org. There's a link right there. It's a simple process. They can register their children and start receiving books.
How To Register And Closing
SPEAKER_01All right. Well, Tyler Dupey, you've uh jumped in with both feet.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. That's the way I do it.
SPEAKER_01That is, that is. I'm excited. Well, congratulations on becoming the new executive director at Conse United Way. We look forward to uh further opportunities to visit with you and and assist in whatever way we can here at the GMCF.
SPEAKER_00Thank you very much. I look forward to it.
SPEAKER_01His name is Tyler Dupey. Kanza UnitedWay.org is the website for the Khanzi United Way. When we come back, uh we are going to be visiting with some folks from the Sunflower Children's Collective. We got some new things that are in the works. So we'll uh uh take a break and be back with uh looks like Rachel and Carson and among others going to be joining us here on the GMCF Community Hour on News Radio, K M A N.