7 Ways to Make 2024 Better Than 2023 at Your United Way
It has never been easy to be a United Way and United Ways faced a lot of challenges in 2023. I recently blogged about some of the many challenges such as; declining workplace campaigns, declining dollars raised, and declining numbers of donors in my previous blog post “Addressing Symptoms Will Never Solve Your Problem.”
If your United Way does everything you did in 2023 once again in 2024, it is unreasonable to expect anything different to happen. The challenges your United Way faced in 2023 are not going anywhere in 2024.
Do you want things to be different in 2024?
If so, what changes will your United Way make in 2024? Here are 7 changes you should consider making at your United Way in 2024:
Be Your own United Way
If you do what every other United Way does, you’ll get the same results that every other United Way gets. Do what your community needs you to do.
Say “No” More Often Than you say “Yes”
Say “no” to anything that will distract you, takes more time than it is worth, could be done by another organization, or does not align with your goal. What your United Way chooses not to do is as important, if not more so, than what your United Way chooses to do.
Make Your Donor’s Goal, Your Goal
Donors don’t give to United Way for you to achieve your campaign goal. They give to United Way to change lives. Set a goal for the number of lives changed. Get serious about changing your community with a goal like “Help 8,000 working households achieve financial stability by 2033.” (United Way of York County, PA)
Live in the Future
Most United Ways live in the past, they talk about how much money they raised last year or what organizations received funding last year. Donors don’t want to contribute to pay for what happened last year. Give donors a reason to give this year such as “Your contribution will help provide 3,000 children with books this year.”
Invest in Yourself
You need to save yourself first. Too many United Ways have cut staff, trimmed budgets, or used reserves to maintain partner agency funding, but in the process of doing so have only made their situation worse. Investing in the capacity and capability of your United Way is essential if you want to raise more money, create more impact, and be sustainable for the long-term.
Broaden Your Horizons
Focusing on what you are trying to achieve, rather than how your United Way got in this situation, opens up a world of possibilities. Choose what issue your United Way is going to address, set a clear goal, figure out what you need to do to achieve the goal, and then ask your donors, partner agencies, workplace campaigns, volunteers, and community to join you on the journey. This is what issue focused United Ways do to grow and diversify their resources, increase their impact, clarify their message, and provide measurable results to make their United Way relevant and sustainable.
Have the Talk
United Ways continue to struggle because they do the same things over and over and never talk about what is the next thing they should be doing. Get your board and staff together and have a talk about the purpose of your United Way. What is the change you want to make? What does your community need you to do? What work will donors support? This is precisely what we do during our New Directions Board and Staff Retreat. Every United Way that has participated in our New Directions Board and Staff Retreat says the same thing “I wish we had this conversation years ago.”
It doesn’t require a lot of effort to keep doing what you have always done. But there is no question that United Ways need to change. The longer you avoid making changes to address your challenges, the harder it will become.
Adopt these 7 changes to make 2024 better than 2023 at your United Way.