Does your community really understand the work you do?

If you try to be everything to everybody, you're nothing to anybody.

– Pamela Beckford, Executive Director, United Way of Wells County

Is your United Way offering opportunities for people to give outside of campaign? Are you giving your donors and community members the opportunity to make an impact on a specific issue?

This afternoon, Kasey and I spoke to a public relations class at Western Michigan University, our alma mater. The professor asked us to talk about public relations in nonprofit organizations, and specifically, public relations at United Ways.

Are you providing opportunities for people to support your United Way outside of campaign? Have you tried raising money for your United Way online?

Recently, during a conversation with the CEO of a United Way who had adopted an issue focus, I asked him what advice he would give a United Way that was considering becoming issue-focused.