One of our big challenges as United Way fundraisers is to connect our work in the community with our donors so that they are compelled - not only to give but to become actively involved - to create positive change in our communities.  How can we take our current and prospective donors "to the top of the mountain" so that they can see what is possible if they invest and engage with United Way and our partners in the community to address critical issues like education, financial stability and health?

One great tool is the Common Good Forecaster.  This is an electronic site that provides current data on the state of education and other key measurements in your county.  It also relates how changes in the status of education ripple out to impact other quality-of-life factors like lifespan, income, etc.  You can play with this tool to see the impact of various changes.  This is very compelling and exciting to see how changes in education can really impact so many areas.

 Here are ways you can use the Common Good Forecaster:

• Educate yourself about the facts in your community so you are knowledgeable when you talk to your donors and companies.
• Share with other staff members so they too will be more educated about the issues to improve education.
• Share with your Employee Campaign Managers to energize them about their role in addressing community issues, particularly education, by running a compelling United Way campaign linked to our work in the community.
• Meet with CEOs or other individual donors and share the Common Good Forecaster with them to energize them about the impact of their gifts and as a tool to make them more engaged in our work.
• Share at some Tocqueville gatherings, Women's Leadership Council gatherings and special events to engage donors more fully in our work and get them to see what is possible in education.  This might activate them to become more involved as volunteers or to bring others into the United Way movement.
• Write an article for your e-newsletter or website (or, even better) for your companies to include in their internal e-newsletters to allow employees to use the Common Good Forecaster themselves to see the effects of improvements in education can have.

Want to know more?  View a recent webinar about the Common Good Forecaster.

The rates are changing! The rates are changing!  Ok, that's probably not the chant you hear in the workplace as July 1^st approaches, but the charitable gift annuity rates are in fact due to go up and down on this date, depending on age.  The American Council on Gift Annuities' (ACGA) Board approved new gift annuity rates for gifts established on or after July 1, 2011... lower rates for single-life annuitants age 69 and younger, and higher rates for single-life annuitants age 75 and older.  

 How should local United Ways approach donors with this information, you ask?  Simply put, the same way you approached them before...stress the benefits to them - the charitable deduction, the guaranteed payments for life, and a chance to leave a legacy gift to their favorite United Way.  If you choose to mention to the age 75+ donors that the rates are a little higher than before, then that's ok too.  That might just quicken their decision. 

In the end, it's the reason your donors want a gift annuity that matters (charitable deduction, lifetime payments, legacy gift) and not the rates.    

The United Way Loyal Contributor program is designed to identify, thank and recognize donors who have given to (any) United Way for 10 years or longer, regardless of giving amount.  It also provides a great way to obtain personal contact information, particularly email addresses, so we can communicate directly with our donors - to thank and recognize them, inform them about the impact of their gifts and activate them to become more involved with the United Way movement.    

Do you have a Loyal Contributor program?  You do if you are asking people to self-identify as Loyal Contributors or if you have identified people in your database who have given 10 years or longer to thank and recognize them.  If you have a Loyal Contributor program, please email Louise Kenny, Director of Individual Giving at UWW and let me know how many Loyal Contributors you have.  If possible, also include the average gift size of your Loyal Contributors and the average gift size of your total donor database.

If you do not have a Loyal Contributor program, think about starting one.  You can build it into your existing programs, events and communications.   Here's how...

• Talk to your Employee Campaign Managers about how they can identify and recognize their Loyal Contributors.
• At the Campaign Kick-off meetings (or other gatherings of donors - board meetings, Tocqueville gatherings) ask people to stand and be recognized (applauded).  Purchase inexpensive Loyal Contributor stickers through the United Way store that you can give to your Loyal Contributors.
• Send a special thank you letter to your Loyal Contributors.
• Send a handwritten note to your Loyal Contributors (possibly you can engage volunteers to help you with this).
• Feature stories of Loyal Contributors in your e-newsletter or the internal e-newsletters of your companies.
• Send a letter to your Loyal Contributors making them aware of planned giving as a great way to support their community in the future by including United Way in their wills or estate plans.  Loyal Contributors are THE BEST planned giving prospects.

 View the Loyal Contributors toolkit.

Join the Loyal Contributor listserv.

 My ultimate goal was certification, but attending continuing education classes to earn that certification has already helped me in my job. With knowledge I gained from AFP, I started a planned giving program last year - a first for our organization.  And earlier this year I secured a $400,000 planned gift.

Q: What advice would you give someone who is thinking about getting their CFRE certification? 

The workplace campaign is a very specialized type of fundraising. If your UW wants to expand beyond that then the knowledge you gain earning your CFRE will be very helpful.  Also, if you ever want to work outside of the UW system, being a CFRE makes you exponentially more attractive to a potential employer.  Some organizations include "CFRE preferred" on their job descriptions.    

CONGRATULATIONS, DIANNE!