Identify With Your Identity

Several years ago, a restaurant chain completely redesigned the outside of their restaurants. The restaurants weren’t out-of-date nor falling down, but restaurant managers explained that they made significant changes to the menu and food offerings and therefore decided to redesign the outside of their restaurants to provide a visual cue that their restaurants had changed. They changed the physical appearance of their restaurants so that people could identify with their new identity.

Over the past decade, many United Ways have undergone a similar change. As United Ways have adopted community impact by setting impact goals and measuring outcomes, their identity has changed dramatically. If United Ways were restaurants, this would be a menu change of major proportions, which would require some new visual cues. There are several visual cues your United Ways can offer to help your donors and community identify with your identity.

First, demonstrate what you are measuring. Instead of talking about your campaign goal and how much money you raised, talk about your community impact goals and how many lives you have changed. Explain the issue you are addressing, the actions you are taking to address your issue, and how many lives have been changed. If you have specific goals such as the percentage of students graduating high school, talk about the current graduation rate and the progress you are making toward your goal.

Second, share stories of the impact you are making. Instead of telling the stories of your partner agencies, share stories of the people you have helped. If your goal is to reduce poverty in your community, tell a story of a family that is now financially stable. Allow your donors and community members to develop an emotional connection with your United Way through stories. It doesn’t take a lot of stories to demonstrate impact – one or two great stories is all you need.

Third, strip away all of the clutter that distracts people from your identity. Donors do not need to know the percentage of your admin costs, your number of workplace campaigns, how many volunteers are on your allocation committee, or your number of Facebook followers – if you tell them what you are measuring and stories of the impact you are making. Stop talking about the same old-same old. Make it easy for your donors and community members to recognize things are different.

If your United Way has changed over the past decade, be sure you are giving your donors and community the visual cues they need to be able to identify with your identity.

P.S. If you are looking for guidance on how best to demonstrate what you are measuring and share stories of the impact you are making, check out our free webinars “The Simplest Way to Explain What Your United Way Does” and “How to Restore Relevance to Your United Way.”