United Medical LLC is pressing individuals, businesses, and community partners to help YWCA Delaware close the remaining $650,000 of its $1.5 million Resilience Fund goal by March 2027. The campaign has raised $850,000 to date, and United Medical CEO and founder Kemal Erkan, who chairs the fund's Advisory Committee, said the outstanding balance is critical to protecting services for women and families across Delaware.
The appeal follows YWCA Delaware's October 7 Celebration Breakfast at DuPont Country Club, held under the theme "Generation to Generation, Empowering Every Story." At the event, Erkan received the Dorothy Height Leadership Award, named for the civil rights icon and longtime YWCA leader. The honor recognizes his commitment to equity, human dignity, and opportunity, values the organization tied to his leadership of the Resilience Fund Advisory Committee.
"Reaching $850,000 reflects a meaningful commitment from this community, but the remaining $650,000 is critical," Erkan said. "We have an opportunity to prepare before a funding gap becomes a crisis for the people who depend on these services. Every new donor and every additional commitment brings us closer to that goal."
The Resilience Fund is a one-time special campaign designed to help YWCA Delaware sustain critical services amid uncertainty in nonprofit funding. Those services include safe housing, 24/7 support for survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and human trafficking, financial counseling, and youth development programming. Much of the organization's housing and crisis intervention work relies on federal support, making a financial safeguard essential to reducing the risk of service disruptions.
"For someone seeking safety or a family working to regain stability, reliable support can make all the difference," said Melissa Gonville, CEO of YWCA Delaware. "The Resilience Fund is about protecting that continuity. We are deeply grateful for the generosity that has brought us this far, and we are asking our community to help ensure that progress is not interrupted by uncertainty in funding."
Managed by the Delaware Community Foundation, the fund will release resources only with YWCA Board approval when significant funding gaps arise. That structure is intended to help YWCA Delaware sustain services for current clients while preparing to respond to growing community needs. The work the campaign seeks to protect reaches thousands of Delawareans; in 2025, 9,594 individuals participated in YWCA Delaware's programs statewide.
The Celebration Breakfast also introduced The Story Exchange, an interactive experience connecting guests with stories of resilience and the people and partnerships behind the organization's work. Honorary co-chairs Gemma Lowery of ChristianaCare and Katherine S. Ward, executive director of the Delaware Press Association, helped represent this year's focus on leadership, service, and intergenerational impact. Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield was a primary sponsor of The Story Exchange, with Tim Vessel, market segment president of Highmark Delaware and a Resilience Fund Committee member, working with YWCA Delaware leadership on funding and advocacy. Other sponsors included Delaware First Health, J.P. Morgan Chase, Pennoni, Barbacane Thornton & Company, Corporation Service Company, the Delaware Community Foundation, Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospitals, New Castle County, and TD Bank.
Supporters can contribute to the campaign through the www.ywcade.org/resilience-fund page. United Medical, based in Wilmington, is a healthcare organization whose accountable care arm brings together providers across specialties to deliver coordinated, patient-centered care; more information is available at www.umusa.net. YWCA Delaware works to eliminate racism, empower women, and promote peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.
For HR vendors, the campaign underscores a broader trend: as federal funding for nonprofit service providers becomes less predictable, organizations are building private philanthropic reserves to stabilize workforce-dependent programs. HR technology and services vendors that serve nonprofits may see demand for tools that help track grant-dependent headcount, forecast funding gaps, and support continuity planning. The Resilience Fund's structure—releasing resources only with board approval when gaps arise—also signals a governance model that vendors serving nonprofit HR departments should understand, as it affects how and when clients can commit to new technology or service contracts.
