Three Things You Must Do at Every Campaign Presentation!

Are you off to do a workplace or employee campaign presentation today? I’ll bet you know exactly what you want to say. But, do you know exactly what your donors want to hear? With the limited time most companies provide for your campaign presentation, it is essential that you get right to the point and include these three things in your campaign presentation:

1) Share Results. Simply and directly tell everyone what their contribution will accomplish. For example, explain how more children will graduate because of their contribution, or how fewer people will be homeless because of their contribution. How much money was raised or which programs received funding are not results! Results are the changes in the community that come about from the donor’s contribution. Donors need to know that donating to United Way helps reduce poverty, halt hunger, or end homelessness – whatever issue your United Way addresses.

2) Tell a Story. Tell a story about someone who has been helped by a contribution to United Way. Employees may not know of someone who was lifted out of poverty, or someone who realized their educational potential, and a story is the ideal way to make the results of a donor’s contribution come alive. This is not a story about a partner agency, but a story about someone who was helped by a donor’s contribution. Keep the focus on the donor by telling a story about someone helped by a donor’s contribution and not someone who was helped by United Way. Your story should clearly illustrate the connection between the donor’s contribution and the person helped.

3) Ask Them to Give and Volunteer. Provide all of your donors with the opportunity to both give and volunteer. Not everyone may be able or willing to support United Way with a financial contribution, but they may be willing to volunteer to change their community. This is especially true of young people who are often more willing to invest their time before their dollars. If you can, invite employees to volunteer to help reduce poverty, halt hunger, or end homelessness, as volunteering for an issue addressed by your United Way creates a connection between your United Way and the volunteer. Remember that a volunteer to your United Way today is more likely to become a donor to your United Way in the future. Finally, don’t be afraid to ask everyone to volunteer, as our research has found that a significant percentage of donors who make a financial contribution to United Way are also interested in volunteering.

If you want the secret to a great campaign presentation in just a couple words, it is this: Make it about the donor. Too many United Ways talk about their mission, their committees, their campaign goal, their administrative expenses, or their partner agencies with lots of words like “our” and “we.” Instead, share the results of the donor’s contribution, tell a story of how the donor’s contribution helped someone, and ask donors to give and volunteer to change their community. Every word of your campaign presentation should be about the donor - nothing else matters.