Why Your United Way Needs a Goal
Years ago, every United Way had a goal and now most United Ways do not. It is once again time for every United Way to have a goal.
A HISTORY LESSON
Several decades ago, every United Way would set an annual campaign goal. United Ways were not shy about sharing their campaign goal, in fact, you could not escape seeing the campaign goal on large outdoor thermometer signs which would be posted in front of various community buildings. If that was not enough, nearly every United Way had a kick-off event when they would publicly announce their campaign goal and ended campaign with a community campaign celebration to commemorate achieving their campaign goal.
Back in those days, it was obvious what United Ways did. By setting and promoting a campaign goal, United Ways made it clear to everyone that they raised money. Most everyone in the community was aware of their United Way’s campaign and understood that their United Way raised money to support local nonprofit organizations.
Success for United Ways was achieving or surpassing their campaign goal. It was a source of pride for United Way board and staff members to be able to say their United Way beat their campaign goal. The campaign goal was a visible, public goal that was easily measured and understood in the community.
DISAPPEARING CAMPAIGN GOAL
Starting in the early 2000’s, United Ways began changing from fundraising organizations to community impact organizations. As part of the community impact process, United Ways started measuring the outputs and outcomes of their allocations and investments in the community. Most often, these outputs and outcomes were provided by the funded partner agencies. United Ways would ask their funded partner agencies to share how many people their programs served and how their programs helped people.
As United Ways shifted to community impact, many of them stopped setting and publicizing their campaign goal. The simplicity of the campaign goal was replaced with a profusion of information about the outputs and outcomes from the funded programs. Since United Ways funded dozens of programs, there were dozens of outputs and outcomes for programs that addressed a vast array of social needs and challenges such as hunger, homelessness, poverty, kindergarten readiness, childcare, and more.
The days of the simple, easy to understand campaign goal were over.
WHAT IS YOUR GOAL?
Today, United Way directors and staff commonly complain that no one understands what their United Way does. That is not surprising because most United Ways no longer have a clearly defined goal. Reporting outputs and outcomes from programs that were funded explains what happened a year or two ago, but it does not provide any clear direction about what United Way is trying to do and what your support of United Way will accomplish.
If you are a community impact United Way, and you want people to understand what your United Way does, you need to set a goal. If your United Way exists to change lives, then you need to set and communicate a bold goal for measurably changing lives.
Here are several examples of bold goals from issue focused United Ways:
United, we will lift 15,000 families out of poverty by 2028. (United Way of Pierce County, Tacoma, Washington)
All Delta County children enter school ready to learn by 2033. (United Way of Delta County, Escanaba, Michigan)
70% of 3rd graders will be reading on grade level by 2028. (United Way of Pickens County, Easley, South Carolina)
Even if you have never heard of these United Ways, these bold goals clearly communicate why their United Way exists. And just like the campaign goal, the bold goal is a visible, public goal that is easily measured and understood in the community.
SET YOUR BOLD GOAL
Having helped dozens of United Ways set a goal for changing lives through the process of becoming issue focused, I know first-hand that it can be a challenging process. A good first step is holding our New Directions Board and Staff Retreat to start the conversation about your United Way’s opportunities and setting a direction and bold goal that is right for your community. Most United Ways we have worked with to become issue focused have held our New Directions Board and Staff Retreat and completed our Issue Focused Transformation resulting in a bold goal in about one year.
When you set and promote your bold goal, you will make it clear to your donors and community that your United Way changes lives and once again everyone will understand what your United Way does.