Be a Community Hero
“Calling all heroes to give, advocate, and volunteer!” Who doesn’t want to be a hero and help save people?
United Way of Greater Los Angeles (Los Angeles, CA) is calling all heroes to give, advocate, and volunteer to help end poverty. Their approach to gathering donors, advocates, and volunteers (a.k.a. heroes) is simple and fun! They provide a short video and a list of ways to get involved. They explain the impact heroes will make in the community – by giving $10 a week, a low-income working individual will be taught how to stretch their dollars by creating a budget, lowering debt, raising credit scores, and saving for a rainy day; by giving $15 a week, a struggling student will get back on track by delivering academic tutoring, peer mentoring, and case management services; by giving $21 a week, a homeless individual will be provided short-term relief in the form of safe housing, regular meals, and a network of supportive services. They make it easy to get connected through social media and their e-newsletter, to serve as an advocate in the community. Plus, they provide heroes with opportunities to volunteer and get involved in the community.
But, what’s most important about how they communicate all of this is how they connect giving, advocating, and volunteering to an issue. Their mission statement is: “To improve the quality of life for everyone in Greater Los Angeles by creating Pathways Out of Poverty.” They focus on poverty in all that they do and make sure their community knows that poverty is their issue of focus.
People want to support an issue in their community – they want to save people. Give them a reason to get involved. Share with them how your United Way is making a difference and how they can make an impact in your community.
Are you calling all heroes in your community? Do your community members know what issue your United Way is focused on addressing? Select an issue to focus on addressing and go out and gather heroes to give, advocate, and volunteer in your community.
