United Way of King County celebrates the 70^th birthday of former CEO Jon Fine and honors his 18 years of leadership at our organization, which remains impactful to this day.

Jon led United Way from 2000-2019 and served as a catalyst for improving community conditions. He raised $1.8 billion in community investments and transformed a broad-based organization that funded a wide range of social and human service issues into a metrics-driven nonprofit focused on creating a community where people have homes, students graduate, and families are financially stable.

Under Jon’s tenure, United Way of King County launched programs like Parent-Child Home (now ParentChild+), which prepares kids for classroom learning. The organization grew programs such as Home Base, which works to reduce the number of people who lose their homes due to eviction—one of the leading causes of homelessness.  The prevention program helps keep people in their homes by providing rental assistance, legal representation, and flexible funding. 

Jon’s transformation of United Way of King County goes beyond that of improving community conditions through effective programs. With traditional charity giving models such as workplace giving campaigns changing, the Seattle United Way has focused its energy and efforts on engaging individual donor groups that care about tackling tough issues. 

United Way launched Emerging Leaders, a group of young professionals who invest their time and money to make a difference while learning about social issues in the community through events and volunteering. United Way Champions are donors who give at least $10,000 annually and care about making a lasting impact. They are engaged in helping United Way decide on how and where to invest, and they bring like-minded people to the effort.

Jon Fine provided United Way of King County with a solid footing for the future, a strong staff, and a road map for the national United Way system to adapt to the changing fundraising landscape.

On behalf of our 100+ year organization and its 125+-member staff, we wish Jon a happy birthday!