Happy Holidays! We hope you all have a fantastic holiday season and we wish you great success at your United Way in the New Year.

As we bring 2022 to a close, we wanted to recap the five most popular blog posts from this past year. With topics ranging from marketing what you do to looking at why you should change your business model, there’s a little something for everyone. We hope you find these blog posts helpful to your work as we enter 2023.

Reach out anytime – we’re here for you! Wishing you all the best in 2023!

Gary and Bryn

Three Reasons You Must Change Your Business Model

Pivot, adjust, adapt, recover, rebuild – the pandemic has prompted an unprecedented level of change in our lives, our work, our society and perhaps even your United Way. But in reality, United Ways have needed to change their business model for years. In addition to the pandemic, here are three reasons you must change your business model.

You Will Not Believe What My United Way Said – TMI!

One of the most common laments I hear from United Ways is that no one understands what they do. In order to explain what they do, United Ways tend to communicate a lot of information. Every webpage, campaign brochure, annual report, and newsletter is stuffed to overflowing with information, overwhelming the reader who is short on time and attention.

Three Things Your United Way Should Stop Doing Now

Too much to do? Not enough time? These are common refrains that I hear nearly every day from United Ways large and small. The easiest way to put an end to being overworked and overwhelmed is to stop doing some of the many things you are doing. Here are three things your United Way should stop doing now.

The Year-Round Imperative

United Ways have traditionally had what I refer to as a “campaign season.” Campaign season typically starts with a campaign kickoff and a proclamation of the campaign goal. For the next three or four months most, if not all, United Way staff are focused on workplace campaigns – training, providing materials, presentations, reporting, meetings, follow-up, etc. This hyper-activity reaches a crescendo pitch just before the end of the campaign as efforts are made to track down every last dollar that can be wrung out of the campaign. Finally, in a state of exhaustion, a campaign celebration is held to broadcast and celebrate the amount raised and achieving the campaign goal. 

The ONE Thing You Must Do to Get More Donors

Nearly every United Way has fewer donors today than they did yesterday. Donors are disappearing for many reasons: declining workplace campaigns, retirement, and increasing competition among others. If your United Way wants to get more donors, here is the one thing you must do.

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