Seven Steps To A Successful Campaign

Transcription

1 Seven Steps To A Successful Campaign 1. Get Company and CEO Support (Secure visible, top level management support.) The best way to ensure that your Campaign is successful is to enlist your CEOs or senior decision-maker s visible and personal support. Schedule a meeting with him or her to discuss their role in ensuring the success of the employee At the meeting: Explain that the visible support from the CEO is crucial to the success of the Talk to your CEO about writing a letter of endorsement for the (Sample CEO letters and s can be found on page 19. Or visit Ask your CEO about a Corporate Gift program that provides a match to employee dollars. Describe the Leadership Giving Ask your CEO to recruit a member of senior management as a Leadership Giving Chair. Talk to your CEO about allowing time for campaign planning, training and presentations. Ask your CEO to be available to speak at appropriate Campaign events. Encourage involvement in a year-round relationship with United Way and the community. Implement a Corporate Giving Program 1. Employees tend to be more open to giving if they know their dollars will be matched by the company. Whether this match is dollar for dollar, or another appropriate percentage match, companies not only encourage employees to invest in their community but reinforce the importance by multiplying their investment to be able to provide a greater impact towards addressing the needs of people. 2. Once a Corporate Gift Program and strategy has been determined, communicate this to your employees. 3. Contact your United Way Loaned Executive or Staff Member to find out about various recognition opportunities for corporate giving. (Corporate recognitions is on page 28.) 4. Find that you are unable to provide a match or corporate gift? Does your company have a foundation? If so, explore the opportunity for a foundation gift or grant. 5. Does your company have marketing dollars that they would like to allocate to United Way sponsorship programs in addition to their corporate gift? 6. Does your company have a product or service that you may be able to donate? This is another way in which your company can contribute. Contact your United Way Loaned Executive or Staff Member to discuss our Gift-in-Kind program.

2 2. Run a Leadership Campaign Young Leader s Society and 500 Club gifts of $500 - $999, Landmark Society gifts of $1,000 - $9,999 and Alexis de Tocqueville gifts of $10,000 and up annually are an effective way for contributors to have a greater impact in our community and can be the key to a successful Recruit a Leadership Campaign Chair to help identify and solicit leadership givers. Have Leadership Campaign Chair develop a list of potential leadership givers. Host a Leadership Giving Campaign with upper management and those that are already giving at or near these levels. Have your CEO or Leadership Chair write a letter or promoting leadership giving to employees. For best results, run the Leadership Giving Campaign prior to overall company kick off. Announce what was raised through Leadership Giving Campaign at the company kick off. Report names and final result to United Way. Say thank you. Sample Leadership Ask Letters and s can be found on page 19 or by going online to 3. Recruit a Strong, Diverse Campaign Team (Build an employee Campaign team.) Just as it takes more than one person to solve the problems of our community, it also takes more than one person to run a successful campaign. Recruit others from your company to help with your efforts to extend your reach. It s more fun when you work together. Build your team: Assemble your group from various departments, levels, and locations throughout your company. Recruit enthusiastic and wellrespected campaigners. We suggest one team member for every 15 employees. Consider the following guidelines as you begin to build your team: Last Year s ECM the previous ECM should serve as an advisor to you and your key campaigners. Providing documentation, advice and information from last year s Vice-Chair This team member will ideally succeed you in your role as the leader of the Campaign in the upcoming year and should be involved in all steps of planning, analyzing, conducting and wrapping up your Key Campaigners Key Campaigners are workplace employees who collaborate with the ECM as a part of the team effort to follow-up with and ask fellow employees to participate in the A Key Campaigner works with a small group to ensure that everyone is educated about

3 United Way, is asked to give, and has the opportunity to make a personal decision about giving. Leadership Giving Chair The person who leads the Leadership Giving Campaign should give a gift at the leadership level. The Leadership Giving Chair is responsible for soliciting Leadership Gifts ($1,000+) by identifying prospects and hosting a leadership giving event or Leadership Giving Leadership giving is based on peer-to-peer contact, which fosters respect for and participation in the efforts. General Committee Members The members of your team should be comprised of representatives from key departments (areas) within your company including: Management Payroll Marketing/Communications Labor All Locations & Shifts Retirees Train your team: There are many ways to help your team spread the word about United Way host a training session, participate in a United Way ECM workshop or visit a Partner Agency. Visit for ECM workshop training dates. Deploy your team: Assign duties for each team member e.g. communications, special events, fundraisers, and agency faires. 4. Develop a Campaign Plan (Analyze past Campaign results & set a goal) Developing realistic goals and a workable timeline up front is critical. Keep in mind that 90% of your time is spent planning and organizing your Campaign and only 10% is spent running it. Meet with your United Way United Way Loaned Executive, Account Manager or Staff Member to analyze and plan your See page 12 for things to look at when analyzing your Attend an Employee Campaign Manager training workshop. Visit for ECM Workshop flyer. Establish a Campaign timeframe: The best Campaigns are short and intense, and then follow up throughout the year to let everyone know the value of their contribution to United Way. Personalize pledge forms. Make one-to-one contact with every employee, and ask for support. Set up automatic payroll deduction. This is the most effective way to give. Set and establish a challenging dollar and participation goal. See pages 12 through 14 for analyzing your

4 Post the company goal and track your progress. Get a Campaign thermometer or several to show the progress. Post these around your company. Make a personal gift to United Way of the Inland Valleys and encourage your team to do so also. It s easier to ask if you have already given. Include an incentive for employees who give to the For example, those participating will be entered into a drawing for a day off with pay or will win a desirable parking spot for a month. See the FUNdraising 101 ideas online at Choose a theme and make it fun. Plan a kick off event. Choose a United Way program or an agency speaker for your kick off event. Publicize Campaign events well in advance. Incorporate online marketing tools if desired. Analyze your Campaign as you go. Keep United Way involved: Loaned Executives, Account Managers and United Way Staff are here to help you through this Be sure to get the help you need! 5. Conduct an educational and fun campaign. Get the word out so that everyone is aware of United Way. Plan kick off rallies (include Campaign Video, Agency Speaker, CEO endorsement). o Kick off your United Way o A presentation, whether it is to a group or one-on-one, is essential to the success of your campaign. Increased awareness of United Way s impact in our community increases support. Keep your employees updated on how their United Way investment is working in the community. Select method for 100% educated and asked. Send fun, friendly s to staff reminding them to make a pledge. See page 19 for communications. Reserve rooms and speakers for employee presentations. Offer agency tours (the United Way will set up a guided tour of a funded agency for employees). Choose fun activities to promote interest. Offer incentives for participation and increased giving. Have fun and be creative in planning promotional events: BBQ, ice cream social, talent show, elevator golf tournament, casual day, mini-olympics, etc. Let employees know where the company stands in reaching its United Way goal. Thank those who have contributed, and encourage those who have not. Remind them that there is still time to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate by filling out a pledge form today. Conduct year-round communications. o Educate, educate, educate.

5 Participate in a Day of Caring Tip from the Pros: Provide refreshments for employee presentations! For early morning meetings provide coffee, doughnuts and fruit. Pizza or subs are big hits at lunch meetings and cookies or brownies hit the spot for late afternoon or evening meetings. 6. Track Campaign Goals Develop a creative way to publicly track Campaign progress. Reporting results accurately and promptly is vitally important. When you are ready to report the results, your United Way Loaned Executive, Account Manager or Staff Member will pick up your Report Envelopes from you. This year we have two: The BLUE one is for cash, checks, credit cards and special event money. The WHITE one is for pledge forms (payroll deduction). Please do not mail them. 7. Successfully Ending the Campaign Collect pledge forms and donations from your employees. Fill our Report Envelopes. See pages 15 through 17 for Wrapping Up Your Schedule a wrap-up meeting with your United Way Loaned Executive, Account Manager or Staff Member to check pledge forms and complete the Campaign Report Envelopes. Report results, including total dollars raised by your employees to your company and to United Way. Pins are provided by United Way of the Inland Valleys as a thank you to every employee who participates in the o 500 Club Members, YLS Members, Landmark Society Members and Alexis de Tocqueville Society Members are given special pins in addition to the general Campaign pin. Say thank you and help United Way say thanks, too. Send a thank you to employees from the boss. We firmly believe that people need to be thanked to really feel appreciated. Please provide United Way with donor information including full name, home address and . By providing us this information, we will be able to thank donors properly and communicate with them on a year-round basis, keeping them up-to-date on our collective community progress. There are two ways to provide United Way with donor data: o Copies of pledge forms. o Electronic Microsoft Excel file (see your United Way representative to obtain the formatted document). Congratulate yourself and your committee for a job well done and for the wonderful contribution you made to your community!