How are you thanking your donors this year? Are you using a creative way to tell your donors thanks?

In searching for unique ways that United Ways have thanked their donors, I came across a few United Ways that have used “positive picketing.”

For many United Ways, it is tough to get personal contact information for every donor and sometimes United Ways may not even know the names of their donors. It has become more and more difficult over the years for United Ways to obtain contact information for every donor who gives through the workplace campaign, which makes it difficult to thank donors. This is why I found positive picketing to be such a great idea!

United Ways that have used positive picketing to thank their donors have gone to the workplaces that have held workplace campaigns and either stood outside or walked through the workplaces to thank their donors. It is called positive picketing because they hold up signs that say thanks, to let their donors know they appreciate their contributions to United Way.

One example I liked in particular was from United Way of North Central Florida (Gainesville, Florida) because they not only stood outside of the workplaces to do positive picketing, but also went inside afterward to thank their donors face-to-face. To view a short video clip and a news article about United Way of North Central Florida’s positive picketing, click here.

Another great example I found was from United Way of Martin County (Stuart, Florida). To thank the employees at their local Publix Super Markets for their contributions, United Way of Martin County led a county-wide round of positive picketing with the help of donors, volunteers, agencies representatives and clients. They made stops at each of the 11 Publix locations in Martin County, where they paraded through the stores to thank employees. To view a news article about United Way of Martin County’s positive picketing, click here.

This is a wonderful way to thank your donors! I encourage all of you to keep up the great work at thanking your donors and to consider positive picketing or another unique way of showing appreciation to your donors this year.