How United Ways are Successful
The one word that succinctly and clearly describes how your United Way can be successful is progression.
PROGRESSION
If you Google the word progression it is a noun defined as “the process of developing or moving gradually towards a more advanced state.”
If your United Way wants to be successful, then your United Way must always be in the process of developing or moving gradually toward a more advanced state.
Let’s take a closer look at three elements from the definition of progression and explore how they apply to United Ways.
MORE ADVANCED STATE
Over the years, what your donors and community need your United Way to do has changed. Once upon a time, donors needed an organization to help identify and vet worthy local charities, local charities needed an organization to help provide essential funding, and local businesses needed an organization to coordinate an annual fundraising drive to support local charities.
Now, donors can vet charities and donate funds to worthy local charities using the internet, local charities raise nearly all of their own funding, and local businesses use online platforms, third-party administrators, and their own foundations to support local charities.
So where does that leave United Ways? A more advanced state is not doing what United Way have always done but doing it “better.” Advanced is not modernizing workplace campaigns or putting your grant process online.
An advanced state means United Ways must progress their work to offer a measurable result that addresses the community’s needs and donors are willing to support. The measurable result from years ago is not the measurable result your community and donors are seeking now. The more advanced state for your United Way will require you to look at not only what your United Way does but why it exists.
The Issue Focus Model is a business model for United Ways where you decide what issue to impact, how to impact the issue, ask for the money to do it, and measure progress toward the bold goal. The measurable result is lives changed, such as the number or people who are no longer homeless, the number of children entering kindergarten ready to learn, or the number of families who are now financially stable.
United Ways that are successful have progressed to a more advanced state, by doing things like adopting an issue focus.
MOVING GRADUALLY TOWARD
Progression is a process which does not happen overnight nor once a year. You might think of progression like a dimmer switch versus an on-off light switch. The on-off switch is an all or nothing proposition, while the dimmer switch can be moved gradually over time.
There are many aspects of a United Way that will take time to move to a more advanced state. United Ways that have always did an annual RFP process for their allocations, will find it may take several years to make gradual changes to their allocation process. In my experience, one of the most common ways to upset partner agencies is to make an “on-off” type of change to allocations – I know of at least two United Way executives who lost their jobs after making such a change.
Moving gradually does not mean that you only move once in a while. When you see things are changing all around you, the time for moving gradually is now. When your workplace campaigns decline and your number of donors shrink every year, then you need to be moving at the same time. It can be hard to be proactive, but it is even harder to be reactive.
United Ways that are successful are always moving gradually – they are not standing still.
THE PROCESS
Finally, progression is a process. If your United Way is going to be successful, you must have a process for moving gradually toward an advanced state. Having a process means your United Way is intentionally looking at what a more advanced state could be, and intentionally moving gradually toward that state.
We have helped United Ways with strategic planning for over 30 years. The lesson we have learned is that strategic planning every three to five years is moving too gradually. United Ways must have a process in place to always be looking at more advanced states and how to move forward. This starts with the board.
At every board meeting (yes, every meeting), your board should be involved in discussion and learning about more advanced states for your United Way and how your United Way can move gradually toward your more advanced state. This starts with a board retreat like our New Directions Board and Staff Retreat. During this four-hour retreat, your board and staff will talk about the challenges facing your United Way, what your United Way will need to do to be relevant to donors in the future, what type of United Way would be best for your community, and the future direction your United Way will need to take.
Following this retreat, your board will continue the conversation that was started during the retreat at each and every meeting as they recognize that part of their responsibility is to help determine the more advanced state for your United Way.
United Ways that are successful have a process that allows them to constantly consider their more advanced state and the best methods for moving gradually toward that state.
START YOUR PROGRESSION TODAY
If your United Way wants to be successful, then your United Way must always be in the process of developing or moving gradually toward a more advanced state. Check out information about the Issue Focus Model and our New Directions Board and Staff Retreat. We can help your United Way with your progression.