Every United Way needs a call to action. A call to action is a short, simple statement that invites people to become a part of your work. Whether you want them to donate, volunteer, or advocate; you’ll ask people to join your efforts with a call to action. Today is your lucky day, because we’ll show you how to create a call to action using a simple formula.

Call to Action Formula

Engagement + Community Change

<OR>

Community Change + Engagement

Engagement is what you want someone to do, for example: give, advocate, volunteer, serve on the board, attend the golf outing, donate diapers, etc.

Community change is what happens because of their engagement, for example: end homelessness, help children read at grade level, halt hunger, reduce poverty, increase financial stability, etc.

Here are some examples of calls to action with the engagement and community change underlined:

• Donate to United Way (engagement) to help end homelessness (community change)

• Increase kindergarten readiness (community change) by supporting the Early Readers Program (engagement)

• Volunteer with United Way (engagement) to increase the graduation rate (community change)

• Support childhood literacy (community change) by attending United Way’s Annual Golf Outing (engagement)

• Give to United Way (engagement) to halt childhood hunger (community change)

• Help families become financially stable (community change) by serving on the board of United Way (engagement)

Note that the formula and these examples work both ways. Some of the calls to action started with the engagement, while others started with the community change. Both work and are equally effective.

I’ll Bet You Are Asking This Question

The most common question we get when we work with United Ways to create a call to action is “Can you have more than one call to action?” Yes. You’ll need different calls to action depending on whether you want someone to donate or volunteer, and for the different issues you address like homelessness or hunger. On the other hand, you should never use more than one or two calls to action at a time. The short, simplicity of a call to action is lost completely when there are too many calls to action competing for someone’s attention.

Do NOT Do This!

• Do NOT use jargon! United Ways have a language all their own and it should stay that way. A call to action is no place for language that requires a secret decoder ring to understand like community action fund or unrestricted gifts.

• Do NOT make it too long. Keep your call to action short. Calls to action are noticeably less effective when you get over 15 words in length. Put on your Twitter hat when you are creating calls to action and focus your message using the minimum words necessary.

• Do NOT use more than one engagement or more than one community change. If you ask for too much, people will be overwhelmed. It is also highly likely that more than one engagement or community change will make your call to action longer than 15 words.

Make It Awesome!

If you want to take your call to action to the next level, here are some things you should do:

• Include “You” or “Your” in your call to action. When you include “you” and “your” in your call to action it will make it easier for someone to see how they can make a difference. Instead of “Donate to United Way to help end homelessness” you can use “Your donation to United Way helps end homelessness” or “When you donate to United Way you help end homelessness.” These are two little words that don’t make your call to action much longer, but they make it more powerful.

• Write your call to action in the future tense. People don’t want to give to something that happened last year, they want to make a difference in their community for the future. Including the word “will” is the easiest way to future tense your call to action. Instead of “Increase kindergarten readiness by supporting the Early Readers Program” you can use “You will increase kindergarten readiness by supporting the Early Readers Program” (see how we included both “you” and “will” to make the call to action more powerful).

Want to Learn More?

We talk about calls to actions and several other key concepts you should be using in your messaging during our “How to Craft Messages That Engage Your Donors During a Crisis” webinar. Although this webinar was recorded during the heart of the COVID pandemic, the concepts we share during this webinar still apply today.

Please Share!

Did this blog post help you create a call to action for your United Way? If so, please share your call to action in the comments below.