Birmingham is an incredibly generous community. United Way of Central Alabama’s (UWCA’s) Tocqueville Society is the largest in the nation and is the fastest growing segment of our annual campaign, with more than 900 members.
Leading this group is a monumental task, and this year’s Tocqueville Chair, Jay Brandrup, is ready and willing to serve. Founder and President of Kinetic, Jay became involved with UWCA through some friends and family almost two decades ago; and his communication skills and commitment to helping people and businesses be the best they can be in his daily life make him the perfect candidate to tell UWCA’s story.
This year, we have a special story to tell: It’s our 100th anniversary! In true United Way style, we’ve decided to celebrate through service. In addition to holding a community-wide, free Centennial Celebration in June and launching our Forever United campaign that set a goal of raising our endowment fund to $100 million in honor of 100 years, we are building community parks in each of the six counties we serve.
When asked what it was like to serve as the Tocqueville Chair during such a unique time, Jay said, “It’s an honor. We’ve been able to reflect, particularly this year, on our work in the community since 1923. Everybody involved in the campaign this year feels a responsibility to make sure we’re doing our work well to set the stage to extend that first century to another.”
From the Great Depression to Covid-19 and beyond, UWCA is there for our community’s unexpected needs thanks to generous donors such as our Tocqueville Society members.
“The fact that we’re the number-one Tocqueville Society in the country compared to cities five or 10 times our size speaks to the conscientiousness, the care and the heart that Central Alabamians have to make a difference in the wide range of needs our community has,” said Jay. “It’s inspiring.”
Tocqueville Society members are generous not only with their funds but also with their time, and UWCA is incredibly grateful to have so many service-minded changemakers willing to step up and support Central Alabama.
The 2023 Tocqueville Cabinet:
Beeland Nielsen, New Member Co-Chair
Camper O’Neal, New Member Co-Chair
Kelly Morrison, Retention Chair
Allen Dunn, Dunne Circle Increase Chair