Where is Your Impact?
Recently, we ran across a United Way that did not share any impact. You probably think we just overlooked it or missed looking in the right place. We looked everywhere! We could not find any trace of their impact – not on their website, not in their campaign materials, not on their social media, not in their annual report, not in the local news . . . no where. We have worked with over 140 United Ways since 1989 so we know how to look, we know where to look, and we know that this United Way did not share any impact.
After thinking about this for a while I came to two conclusions. First, this is unacceptable – every United Way must share their impact. Second, perhaps this United Way just needs a little help to understand what impact is and how they can communicate impact.
NOT IMPACT: $ invested in programs
Many United Ways list all of their funded programs and the amount of money each program received in their community impact reports. This is NOT your impact. Donors do not consider the amount of money programs receive as impact. The amount of money invested in a program does not tell a donor who was helped or how they were helped. Other things that are not impact are the amount of money raised, your allocation process, and your administrative costs.
BASIC IMPACT: program outputs
At a basic level, your impact could be the outputs of funded programs. Outputs are the quantities of services provided or the amount of program participation. An example of a program output is “In September, 300 people received food from the South Street Food Pantry.” The biggest drawback with program outputs is that donors will wonder why they shouldn’t just give directly to the funded program. This is especially true for the younger generation who does not need or value the work of United Ways.
BETTER IMPACT: program outcomes
Program outcomes are more descriptive and helpful to your donors because they not only know the number of people who were helped, but they also know how people were helped. An example of a funded program output is “The Homes for the Future program provided 17 families with permanent housing and they are no longer homeless.” Similar to program outputs, program outcomes focus the donor’s attention on the work of a partner agency rather than United Way. If your United Way operates your own programs, then sharing the impact of your programs should be the highest priority.
BEST IMPACT: lives changed
The best impact you can communicate is how a contribution to United Way changes lives. An example of lives changed comes from United Way of Pierce County (Tacoma, Washington). Their bold goal is “United, we will lift 15,000 families out of poverty by 2028” and they communicate impact by saying “Through your investments and our community partners, 6,300 families are moving toward self-sufficiency and on their way to building wealth.” Note that they do not name specific partner agencies or specific programs, rather they are making the case that giving to United Way moves people toward self-sufficiency.
Issue Focused United Ways choose an issue, like poverty, homelessness, graduation rate, or kindergarten readiness, and they lead and convene the community to make a measurable change on that issue. Instead of a campaign goal, their success is measured by the number of families no longer living in poverty, people who now have a home, students who graduated from high school, or children that are ready for kindergarten.
Issue focused United Ways communicate their impact in terms of lives changed. They ask donors and funders to give to reduce poverty, end homelessness, increase the graduation rate, or have every child enter kindergarten ready to learn and not for a campaign goal. People know the impact of their contribution because an issue focused United Way only addresses one issue with an inspiring goal for success.
Take a couple of minutes and learn more about how an issue focus will transform your United Way by watching our free United Way Survival Guide video.
Communicate Your Impact
Every United Way must communicate their impact. When donors do not understand the impact of their contribution, they are more likely to designate or stop giving completely. Our research has found that communicating impact is the single most effective action United Ways can take to keep donors and reduce designations.
Whether you communicate your impact with program outputs, program outcomes, or lives changed; be sure to make it easy for your community and donors to find your impact.