Are you doing a campaign presentation today? I’ll bet you know exactly what you want to say, but do you know exactly what your donors want to hear? With the limited time most companies provide for your campaign presentation in person or virtually, it is essential that you get right to the point and include these four essentials in your campaign presentation:

SHARE RESULTS

Simply and directly tell everyone what their contribution will accomplish. For example, explain how more children will graduate because of their contribution, or how fewer people will be homeless because of their contribution. Results are the changes in the community that come about from the donor’s contribution. Donors need to know that donating to United Way helps reduce poverty, halt hunger, or end homelessness – share how donating to United Way changes lives.

Results are not: your campaign goal, how much money was raised last year, your administrative costs, or which programs received funding so don’t waste time talking about these things during your campaign presentation. If donors really want to know these things, refer them to your website.

TELL A STORY

Tell a story about someone who has been helped by a contribution to United Way. The employees you are talking to may not know someone who was lifted out of poverty, or someone who realized their educational potential, and a story is the ideal way to make the results of a donor’s contribution come alive. Keep the focus on the donor by telling a story about someone helped by a donor’s contribution and not someone who was helped by United Way. Your story should clearly illustrate the connection between the donor’s contribution and the person helped.

Do not tell stories about partner agencies or funded programs – only tell stories about someone who was helped by a donor’s contribution.

ASK THEM TO GIVE AND VOLUNTEER

Provide all of your donors with the opportunity to both give and volunteer. Not everyone may be able or willing to support United Way with a financial contribution, but they may be willing to volunteer to change their community. This is especially true of young people who are often more willing to invest their time before their dollars. If you can, invite employees to volunteer to help reduce poverty, halt hunger, or end homelessness, as volunteering for an issue addressed by your United Way creates a connection between your United Way and the volunteer. Remember that a volunteer to your United Way today is more likely to become a donor to your United Way in the future. Finally, don’t be afraid to ask everyone to volunteer, as our research has found that a significant percentage of donors who make a financial contribution to United Way are also interested in volunteering.

Ideally, you should be asking someone to volunteer for your United Way and not for a partner agency or funded program. When you ask someone to volunteer for one of your partner agencies or funded programs, your potential donor is building a relationship with your partner agency or funded program and not your United Way.

MAKE IT ABOUT THE DONOR

If you want the secret to a great campaign presentation in just five words, it is this: Make it about the donor. Too many United Ways talk about their mission, their committees, their campaign goal, their administrative expenses, or their partner agencies with lots of words like “our” and “we.” Your campaign presentation should be filled with words like “you” and “your” referring to your donors. Share the results of “your” contribution, tell a story of how “your” contribution will help someone, and explain how “you” can give and volunteer to change “your” community. Every word of your campaign presentation should be about your donor - nothing else matters.

LEARN MORE

To learn more about how to talk about your United Way, check out our free video The Simplest Way to Explain What Your United Way Does and more than two dozen helpful and informative videos in our Resource Center.