Six Steps for Employee Campaign Coordinators

Step 1: Develop Your Strategies

How will you reach your goal? How will you increase employee participation? How will you increase the average employee gift?

Here are some tips:

• Train all canvassers.
• Offer more opportunities for employees to learn about United Way (i.e. arrange for a United Way speaker to address your staff group).
• Offer draws that encourage staff to give to United Way.
• Promote what it means to be a Leadership Giver.
• Promote giving through payroll deduction.

Step 2: Promote Your Campaign

Publicity and promotion injects campaign spirit and kicks off the fun in your campaign! Promoting your campaign will generate awareness and an understanding of the needs for a gift to United Way. Your promotions should complement and assist the canvassers with special fund raising events. However, special events should be conducted after the canvass because they can reduce employee pledges. United Way can provide you with a variety of promotional items such as posters, print materials, and progress thermometers, which can help deliver your message to employees. You may wish to use the United Way Campaign theme, or develop a theme which appeals to your committee and employees.

Employee Campaign Committees have successfully promoted their campaigns by:

• Using the company or staff newsletter to present campaign highlights or tell a story about someone who has turned their life around because of help from United Way.
• Using electronic mail to provide the latest on campaign progress.
• Posting United Way posters and thermometers in highly visible areas.
• Showing United Way videos in the lunchroom.
• Introducing incentive/reward programs with draw prizes for those who make their donation early.
• Coordinating department challenges for the best increase.
• Offering incentives to donors who contribute to the United Way, including draws for donors who contribute within a certain period of time or for donors who contribute by payroll deduction.

Step 3: Plan Your Approach

During your analysis, you may have discovered that the canvass is one area of the campaign that needs attention. Employees need information about United Way before they can make an informed giving decision. For information on Leadership or Retired campaigns, contact our United Way at 858-8600.

Group Canvass: One approach is a Group Canvass. This is a sure way of delivering the same message to all staff. A group presentation, which includes a United Way speaker, a video, and an endorsement message from your CEO, is effective and takes as little as 30 minutes. Pledge cards should be personalized and ready for canvassers to distribute at the meeting. Canvassers should also collect the pledge cards to ensure donor confidentiality.

One-on-One Canvass: A One-on-One Canvass can be very effective, especially when employees are asked to contribute by a peer. In other words, executives canvassing executives, union employees canvassing union employees, and so on. Canvassers making a One-on-One approach must be committed to United Way and be able to answer donor questions. Contact United Way for information about Canvasser Training.

Combination Approach: The Combination Approach includes a Group Canvass followed up by a One-on-One approach by canvassers.

Step 4: Monitor Your Progress and Report Your Results

Update your campaign thermometer and report campaign results to all employees regularly. This ensures employees will have the latest information, generating more campaign excitement and enthusiasm.

Ensure that every pledge card is returned, even when the employee has chosen not to give.

Follow up with individual canvassers when performance appears low.

Report your results to your United Way contact and to your CEO.

Conduct a “mid-campaign” analysis and maximize your results.

Step 5: Recognize and Thank Volunteers and Donors

Acknowledge the people who have contributed to your campaign: donors, canvassers, committee members, and other volunteers. Many of them have worked hard and deserve thanks! Send them a letter and post thank you notices to donors and volunteers on your staff bulletin board. CEO acknowledgment to volunteers provides special recognition. Some campaign committees organize a recognition event where awards and prizes are distributed. It is a nice way to finish off your successful campaign. United Way provides certificates to recognize all of these contributors.

Step 6: Evaluate Your Campaign

It is important for the campaign team to analyze and evaluate all aspects of the campaign. The analysis is an important planning tool for future campaigns. Your United Way contact can help you in the evaluation and analysis

Review campaign results and compare them to your objectives. Recommendations will be valuable in planning next year’s campaign.

A written report identifying activities and results will be appreciated by next year’s Employee Campaign Coordinator. File the report in your company's United Way campaign file and send a copy to our United Way and your CEO.

Note: All employee and special event gifts (by cash, cheque, and credit card) must be at the United Way office by December 31 to be receipted in the current year. If not, receipts will be issued for the new year.