Three Ways to Modernize Your United Way

Is it time for your United Way to leave the past behind? Here are three ways you can modernize your United Way to be more effective and efficient in 2026.

WORKPLACE CAMPAIGNS YEAR-ROUND

It is time to leave behind the traditional campaign season, which is typically from September to December for most United Ways, and move to conducting workplace campaigns year-round. There are many reasons why you should do this including; campaign season is not the best time for every company, half of all donors decide if they will give and how much they will give before campaign season even starts, only 15% of donors care about the campaign goal, campaign kickoffs and celebrations serve to reinforce United Ways as fundraisers – not impact organizations, and every other nonprofit organization raises money year-round.

One of the biggest benefits of holding workplace campaigns year-round is the ability to have evergreen campaign materials. When you hold workplace campaigns year-round, your campaign brochure and materials do not have a date and focus on how your United Way is changing lives in the community instead of specific funded programs. You can use the same campaign brochure and materials for two or three years which saves time and money, and as a bonus, donors start to figure out what United Way really does because they are seeing a consistent message repeated from year-to-year. 

AFFINITY GROUPS FOR IMPACT

Plenty of United Ways that have “affinity groups” really have donor recognition groups. A donor recognition group recognizes a donor for a contribution of a certain level – donors who give at that level or higher are automatically part of the donor recognition group.

You should modernize your affinity groups by focusing on creating impact. Modern affinity groups are composed of people who are passionate about a certain issue, like children reading at grade level, and they work together to do something about the issue. For example, the Women United affinity group at United Way of Pickens County (Easley, SC) is focused on early literacy, operates their own program called Preschool Pages, and holds an annual fundraiser for Preschool Pages called Luncheon for Literacy. Best of all, the only requirement to join is to donate books for Preschool Pages or come to the Luncheon for Literacy.

Your United Way can attract new volunteers and donors to your efforts by offering affinity groups focused on an issue and letting the members decide how to address that issue and how to raise money for that issue.

FUTURE FOCUS

Finally, it is time for United Ways to stop living in the past. Many United Ways spend a lot of time talking about what programs were funded last year, how many volunteer hours were donated last year, how many workplace campaigns were held last year, and how much money was raised last year. Donors don’t necessarily feel motivated to give to fund what you did last year.

What donors want to know is what their contribution will accomplish this year. Modernize your United Way by talking about how lives will be changed this year, how people will be helped this year, and how these things will only happen if donors contribute this year. Another powerful way to show donors your United Way is moving forward is to set a goal such as “3,000 households will leave generational poverty by 2030” which is the bold goal from United Way of Greater Greensboro (Greensboro, NC). When donors and funders see a bold goal like that, they understand that United Way is creating impact and changing lives.  

NEXT STEP

One more way you can modernize your United Way is through our New Directions Board and Staff Retreat.

During this half-day retreat, we facilitate an honest conversation with your board and staff about the future of your United Way. If your United Way has not discussed what your community needs from your United Way, and how your United Way will be relevant in the future, then this retreat will modernize your United Way.