Dale Douthat

New President and CEO, United Way of the Lowcountry Here To Serve

story by NATHAN LIVESAY

New United Way of the Lowcountry President and CEO Dale Douthat and his wife, Dawn, had always wanted to relocate to a coastal community. They had been searching the east coast for the right one for almost a decade, but before last December they had never even heard of Beaufort, South Carolina. A google search of pet-friendly accommodations led them to the Beaufort Inn for a quick getaway in December. They loved the town so much another visit in February followed and the Douthat’s knew that this was the place they wanted to be. Shortly thereafter, Douthat stumbled across the United Way job description in Beaufort and less than six months from that google search Douthat was moving into an apartment to begin his new job.

Douthat comes to Beaufort from Louisville, Kentucky where he served as Director of ReStore at Habitat for Humanity. Initially, he volunteered his time as a break from his job, but he was soon recruited away from a successful career in advertising to the idea of the Restore. Douthat agreed to take on the role for two years, however, 14 years later he was still in the role and had been able to turn the idea into a successful business with 3 retail locations, a distribution center, a paint recycling center, and 30 employees.

United Way of the Lowcounty serves the community through funding partner organizations and direct initiatives aimed at providing basic needs, education, health, and income/family stability for residents throughout Beaufort and Jasper Counties. When Douthat ran across the job description for the position he knew it would be a perfect match for him and the board agreed to highlight his skills, experience, and attitude when they announced his hire.

During his time serving in non-profits, Douthat has become passionate about serving others. “I discovered if we focus on serving others instead of being served, we can make a real impact in our community. For me, that service includes coaching and leadership, not only staff, but volunteers as well as our neighbors who are in need. People come into and out of your life, but if you focus on the developmental aspect, people become better than they were when they came to you.”

Douthat has been on the job for less than two months and is focusing much of his time on getting to know his staff and on learning about his organization and the community. During this time he has already observed that the United Way has some great programs in place but that there is still a tremendous amount of need in the community.

“We have so many good things going on, but people don’t realize the great amount of need that is in our community. There are pockets of need and poverty that still need our help. We are working to generate more funds so that we can make a bigger impact in those areas.”

Douthat also feels strongly about helping to connect people to organizations they are passionate about so that they can share their time, talent and treasure to make their community and the world a better place.

“I firmly believe that most human beings want to help… the challenge is that we don’t know where to start. The concept of being impactful is so overwhelming… the value of the United Way is that we research the organizations we fund, we require them to meet certain criteria and we hold them accountable for the way they use the funding we provide so that donors can be confident that gifts are being used well.”

As a new school year approaches, United Way of the Lowcountry is currently looking for volunteers to participate in two activities that benefit school children – Read Indeed! and Operation Backpack.

Read Indeed! serves to match volunteers with students to read together throughout the year. They currently serve around 800 students at 13 sites and are need of volunteers who will commit to 1-2 hours per week throughout the school year. A background check is required and training is provided for volunteers. For more information on how to become a part of this program go to https://uwlowcountry.org/read-indeed/

Operation Backpack is an effort to make sure students are prepared for the beginning of the school year. School supplies and monetary donations are collected and over 1,000 students received full packed backpacks last year. For more information on how to assist with Operation Backpack go to https://uwlowcountry.org/operation-backpack/