Want to Improve Engagement? Partner with the United Way!
It was with great joy that my wife Linda and I were able to serve as the 2022-2023 campaign co-chairs for Great Rivers United Way here in La Crosse, Wisconsin. We are grateful to have partnered with GRUW staff to take significant steps toward the vision that “all individuals and families achieve their full potential through education, income stability, and leading healthy lives.”
While the United Way vision is noble and the need is great, we must recognize the headwinds that the United Way faces as it relates to one of their primary fundraising tools—corporate campaigns driven by automatic payroll deductions. Over the last decade, workplace norms have shifted from in-person, place-based operating models toward those that are more geographically distributed and remote. The pandemic dramatically accelerated this trend. As the pandemic fades into the rear view mirror, some businesses will return to traditional place-based human capital operating practices, but many will adjust to the “next normal,” which will continue to feature hybrid and remote work options. To complicate matters further, many individuals are evaluating their relationship to their work, have transitioned to new employment, and/or have left the workforce as part of the “Great Reset.”
All of these factors have conspired to strain historically relevant corporate fundraising efforts because legacy team-building and engagement strategies have been disrupted. Over the next decade, businesses will seek new tools to drive employee engagement and a sense belonging within hybrid work environments. Similarly, GRUW and United Way organizations around the globe will need to experiment with new fundraising models to adapt to these new workplace realities.
While the traditional corporate fundraising model for United Way—automatic payroll deduction—is ripe for innovation and transformation to meet with the employment realities of today and tomorrow, there is tremendous potential to expand contributions using this model in its current form in two ways:
Double down on United Way Corporate Campaigns as an engagement and team building strategy. As the former CEO of Kaplan Professional, I can directly attest to the engagement and team building benefits of partnering with the United Way. The staff at United Way helps make running a campaign a huge success with templates and internal event ideas. Yes, you’ll have to apply energy to have a successful campaign, and I’ve heard many HR leaders lament that they don’t have time to do this work. The cool part is that yes, HR and Payroll need to be involved in an oversight and facilitation role, but the real magic happens when you empower and engage managers and individual contributors from multiple departments to do the heavy lifting. What a great way to get colleagues who would normally not interact with one another working together toward a common goal. Once team members see what they can accomplish together for the United Way, just imagine what they can do together to build your business! Oh, and running a campaign also has the knock on effect of introducing your colleagues to the personal benefits of philanthropy and giving back to the community! Win-win.
Expand the network of corporations that are running campaigns. Within any community, there are organizations that are not currently United Way partners. Certainly, United Way leadership is charged with going out into the community and establishing relationships with decision-makers and executives from companies that are not current partners, but we can do so much more if, as business leaders, we get directly involved in recruiting more companies to join forces with United Way. How? First, learn about the great work United Way does in your community by visiting their website, volunteering, and/or speaking with local United Way leadership. Second, engage with your peers in other organizations you work with in your community to educate them on the benefits of running a United Way campaign (see previous point). If each community leader makes just one connection, we can significantly expand the network of partner firms.
To close out today’s muse, I’d like to give a shout out to the staff of our local United Way. The values of collaboration, integrity, advocacy, and equity are on full display both internally and externally as GRUW staff work to support its mission to “unite people and resources to improve lives and strengthen our communities.” Although challenging seas lay ahead, Linda and I leave our roles as campaign co-chairs confident that GRUW has the stewards in place to lead the organization, and our communities, to a bright, vibrant future.
Thank you for listening and thank you for supporting the United Way in your community.
