Campaign Best Practices
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Willis Leading the Way for Easier, More Efficient Way of Giving
Willis of New Hampshire, risk management and insurance intermediaries based out of Portsmouth, are leading the region into a brand new way of giving to United Way of the Greater Seacoast. Willis has agreed to run a pilot online campaign using the United eWay program.
United eWay allows a company to run their entire campaign online, from the first announcement leading up to the kick-off through thank you messages upon receipt of a pledge. The company's success can be tracked on each donor's personalized webpage, giving is fast and easy – and pledges are processed by United Way more efficiently and without any paper.
David Hampson, CEO of Willis of NH, said, "Giving to United Way is an easy choice because we know that we're doing our part in making this community a better place to live and work for all of us. We're especially proud to pilot the new online campaign program to help make giving to United Way even easier for our friends and neighbors in the future."
Campaign managers can prepare messages, program dates and times for the messages to be delivered, and then return to work confident that eWay will deliver. Gift tracking occurs in the system, and payroll and other administrative work is reduced. And, employees have a secure, private, simple way to give.
For anyone who has worked with computers, however, it's a given that running a new program will have it's glitches.
Thanks to Willis's agreement to run a test campaign, United Way will have the opportunity to fine tune the system in order to offer it to more companies interested in running online campaigns in the future.
"Online giving will allow United Way to make a major leap forward in how we run campaigns. The impact this will have on the process enables us to spend less time entering campaign returns, and more time making progress towards long-term solutions for our community's greatest needs," remarked Sue Suter, Executive Director of United Way of the Greater Seacoast. "We'd like to thank Willis for doing their part. Piloting online giving is just one more way they've proven themselves a leader in our community."
Relay Race Highlights Good Health and Importance of Working Together
Last year, after infusing their United Way campaign with a new burst of energy, Lonza Biologics increased the employee gift amount and participation each by over 100%. That's a tough act to follow, but this year, facilities manager Bill Piombino is going the extra mile – the extra 4 miles to be exact.
In order to raise awareness among Lonza employees about the United Way campaign this year, and spark a little friendly competition, Lonza will host their first ever United Way road race. The relay race, with ½ mile legs for each team member, highlights two of United Way's core beliefs – good health and the importance of working together.
Lonza, a neighbor to United Way of the Greater Seacoast at Pease International Tradeport, is no stranger to fun activities to benefit United Way. This summer, employees had the opportunity to knock Piombino into a dunk tank in exchange for a donation to United Way, and this year's campaign will conclude with a karaoke contest.
The company is also not a stranger to doing good works in the community. Last month Lonza donated a warehouse full of gently used office furniture and supplies to non-profits around the region. The give-away was coordinated through United Way's GoodsMatch program.
Piombino has been the driving force behind Lonza's passionate engagement in working with United Way to build a better community. "I am committed to the United Way because I have been very fortunate in my life and in my career and I feel that I need to share my good fortune with those in the community who are less fortunate or who need help," Piombino said.
"I think the United Way does a good job of making a significant and lasting impact in the community with their strategic impact initiatives and coalition building. It makes me feel good to know that my contributions of both money and time may be enough to change someone else's life for the better, and by doing so, make the Seacoast region a better place to live and work."
New Focus Brings New United Way Partners and Community Involvement Tailored to Fit
It's never to late to begin making an investment in our community. In fact, because of United Way's new focus on long-term problem solving, new businesses regularly begin first time United Way workplace campaigns.
While United Way of the Greater Seacoast continues to give grants to local non-profits a model familiar to long-time donors, they are also investing in a new strategy supporting coalitions working to determine root causes and find long-term solutions for the community's most pressing needs. This long-range vision appeals to many new donors who would like to make a greater impact on the community by funding solutions and not just quick fixes.
Other organizations begin their relationships with United Way by volunteering with co-workers at the Spring of Fall United Way Day of Caring - like Rumbletree in Portsmouth and McIntosh College in Dover, who both signed on as new campaigns for 2007. While some companies have never given because they don't think they fit the profile of a United Way partner, first-time campaigns McIntosh and Rumbletree reflect the diversity of United Way's business partners, and prove there really is no set profile to fit.
Rumbletree is a small brand development company with 17 employees, serving local, regional and global business and non-profits. McIntosh College with 100 employees provides practical, career-focused education for students in the Seacoast region.
And, of course, many traditional partners have hundreds – even thousands of employees and serve every sector of the community. Both McIntosh and Rumbletree found a way to make their first time United Way campaigns fit with their company and employees' giving needs.
Comcast Makes Giving Personal
Comcast employees in the Greater Seacoast region will be experiencing their United Way Campaign in a new way this year. Comcast is making it personal. The company's plan is to make the campaign a part of its culture by running it as it runs its business – locally, one person at a time.
In order to bring the campaign to individual employees, Comcast will triple the number of Employee Campaign Managers and select those managers from within each local organization. Those managers will then design their own campaigns based on the employees they are charged with leading so that each campaign can be tailored to employees' specific giving aspirations.
"Comcast employees are accustomed to volunteering and to supporting local organizations – community service is an important part of our culture," said Mary McLaughlin, Vice President of Comcast's New Hampshire system. "I'm especially proud of our employees' participation in the United Way campaign. We are excited to work with United Way once again this year to positively impact local communities in the Greater Seacoast region."
Much like Comcast, United Way is locally managed and led by people who live in our community. More important still, United Way support also stays local. In fact, every dollar contributed to United Way generates $2 for the local community, through grants, investments, goods and services.
Both Comcast and United Way understand that how and how much an individual contributes to United Way is a personal choice. Countless people in our community have been touched personally by at least one of these issues, making each individual connection to United Way that much more powerful – and campaign innovations from United Way partners like Comcast that much more important to us all.
Building Community Spirit and Having Fun Are Important
Part of United Way Campaigns at Local Businesses
Holding a United Way workplace campaign shouldn't just be about raising money – it also should be about building a sense of community spirit within a company or organization – and having fun. And, because United Way's priority issues – housing, healthcare, transportation, and substance abuse – are community issues, developing a sense of community at the workplace through fun collective giving shows how powerful United Way's message of getting people to work together can be. 
At Bottomline Technologies in Portsmouth, employees kick off the start of campaign season with an ice cream social. Employees have the chance to relax during their workday, and enjoy their own workplace community while celebrating their strong participation in supporting the Greater Seacoast community.
Staff members at the Sheraton in Portsmouth enjoy their own Willy Wonka moment during employee United Way meetings. They receive candy bars if they choose to fill out their pledge form at the end of the meeting. One of those candy bars includes a "golden ticket" for free passes to the movies – so for one lucky employee giving has a true immediate return!
At Federal Saving Bank the campaign theme is "Friends helping Friends", based on the Friends the TV show. Employees are setting up a cafe complete with window cutouts and a couch to replicate the Friends coffee shop hangout Central Perk. Activities include Friends trivia, and a cookie sale with "Phoebe's Grandma's secret cookie recipe" referencing the episode where a character discovers her grandma's secret cookie recipe actually came from the bag of Nestle chocolate chips.
Paula Woolley runs the employee campaign at Hannaford Supermarket in Dover. To keep her fellow employees engaged in their workplace campaign, and up to date on their progress, she posts a path to success on the stairs leading up to the employee break room. Each step is decorated with a marker of their fundraising progress so employees literally feel the upward momentum of the campaign.
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