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 Year-Round Imperative

That might have worked in the 1980’s or 1990’s, but in today’s charitable giving environment United Ways can no longer succeed by fundraising for a couple of months a year. The monumental changes in charitable giving and workplace campaigns such as online giving, increased competition, third-party processors, open campaigns, GoFundMe, and Charity Navigator to name just a few, have made it impossible to be successful raising money for a fraction of the year. In order to be sustainable now, United Way must fundraise every day of the year.

You can transition your United Way to fundraising year-round by doing these five things:

Allow Workplace Campaigns Anytime of the Year

Allow organizations to hold their workplace campaigns any time of the year they want. Organizations do not necessarily want to hold a workplace campaign during your campaign season. Every United Way we have worked with has said they have organizations that hold their campaign outside of campaign season. Commonly, this occurs with larger big-box retailers who are very busy during the traditional fall workplace campaign season and want to hold their campaigns in the spring. To maximize the effectiveness of your workplace campaigns, you must ask EVERY organization when it would be the best time to hold a workplace campaign at their organization. While you are at it, also ask them how long they want their campaign to be, how they want to structure their campaign, and what they will need from your United Way to have a successful campaign.

Stop Holding a Campaign Kick-off and Celebration

If you hold workplace campaigns year-round, then there is not a “start” or “end” to the workplace campaign season, meaning you no longer need a kickoff and celebration. Think about it – does the campaign kick-off and celebration raise any money? Nearly everyone who attends the campaign kick-off and celebration are directly connected with United Way – staff, campaign volunteers, campaign coordinators. Over the years, I have seen some over-the-top extravagant campaign kick-offs and celebrations that glorify the process of raising money. Take all the effort and time you put into campaign kick-offs and celebrations and instead celebrate impact. Share what donor’s contributions have accomplished or will be accomplishing. You can and should thank all your campaign volunteers for their efforts but celebrate how the community will be better because of their efforts – not how much money was raised. Issue focused United Ways do this everyday.

Stop Announcing a Campaign Goal

For those of you who are rolling your eyes reading this, here is the research. Our donor surveys have asked thousands of local United Way donors, in communities large and small, about the campaign goal. Three things we know for certain. First, approximately 15% of donors care about the campaign goal, want updates on the campaign goal, or care if United Way achieves the campaign goal. Second, the amount of the campaign goal has no impact on the amount donors give to United Way. If they know what the campaign goal is, they say it did not influence the amount of their contribution in any way. Third, over half of all donors decide how much they will be giving United Way before the campaign starts, meaning the campaign goal is too late for many donors. Instead of talking about a campaign goal, talk about how many people will be helped by contributions to United Way. Talk about the lives changed, not the amount raised.

Create Timeless Campaign Materials

The marketing people out there are going to love this! If you no longer have a campaign season, then you no longer need to put a date on your campaign materials. In other words, you can design campaign materials that will last for more than a year. Hallelujah!!! That’s right, you no longer need to come up with another pithy campaign slogan, or a new theme for the campaign every year. Donors do not remember your campaign slogan or theme from one year to the next, so it is entirely acceptable to use the same campaign slogan or theme for more than one year. Even better – using the same campaign materials for more than one year means donors will have a better chance of understanding what your United Way does because they will see the messaging more than once. Instead of listing dated items like how much money you gave each partner agency or program, focus your campaign materials on stories about how lives were changed and what your goals are for the future. This is what being issue focused is all about.

Ask People to Give More Than Once a Year

Think about all the other charitable organizations you support. How many of them only ask you to give once a year? You need to be asking people to give to your United Way several times a year. That doesn’t mean you hold a workplace campaign several times a year at their employer, rather you will ask them to give via email or inviting them to attend a special event. Our research has found that just over half of the donors that give to the workplace campaign are also willing to support United Way at other times of the year – but you need to ask them. Consider asking them to give for a special purpose like raising money for a particular program you operate like Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library or VITA, so they will understand exactly how their contribution will change lives.

Start Now!

It is never too late to start year-round fundraising. One more thing to think about – United Ways that raise money year-round, raise more money. What better reason do you need to start now?