Did your United Way clearly communicate to your donors and community how they would make a difference by attending your campaign kickoff? Did you encourage your donors and community to attend your kickoff by explaining how purchasing a ticket would make an impact?

Many United Ways carefully plan how they will communicate impact once their donors and community are in the room at their campaign kickoff, but they may not think about communicating to their donors and community the impact they will make by attending the campaign kickoff.

United Way of Central Georgia (Macon, GA) communicated the impact their donors and community would make by attending their campaign kickoff last month. For each ticket purchased, United Way of Central Georgia said they would donate a book in the person’s name to their Kickstart Reading program, which is their "summer slide" initiative focused on maintaining or boosting student literacy levels. They explained the importance of providing these books on their campaign kickoff Web page, saying "Research shows that children living in poverty have on average 1 book per 300 children."

If I was a community member (or even a donor!) who was not really sure what my local United Way does in my community and I heard about their campaign kickoff, I would be more motivated to purchase a ticket to the kickoff if I knew it would make an impact in my community. For example, for only $20 I could purchase a ticket to United Way of Central Georgia’s campaign kickoff and I would know that I was helping to provide a book to a child in need in my community, while also being able to attend the kickoff.

It is essential to communicate impact at your campaign kickoff, but I would also encourage you to communicate the impact someone will have by attending your kickoff – whether that is by explaining how a purchased ticket will help to make an impact like United Way of Central Georgia did, or encouraging people to bring canned goods or basic needs items with them to donate to join the fight against poverty like United Way of Grand Forks, East Grand Forks & Area (Grand Forks, ND) did, or explaining that attendees at the kickoff will participate in a volunteer activity to make an impact while they are there, such as sorting and packing food to fight hunger. Your donors and community will be more likely to attend your campaign kickoff when they know they will make an impact by attending.

Continue to communicate impact in all that you do and remember it is most powerful to communicate your United Way’s impact on a specific issue rather than communicating about multiple issues being addressed by partner agencies.

If you are interested in learning more about how to transform to an issue focus to maximize your impact, resources, and communication, visit: http://www.perspectives4uw.com/develop-your-issue-focus/