1.

CEO support & involvement

• Have CEO present or speak at a rally.
• Request a personal letter from your CEO encouraging employee participation in the campaign.
• Emphasize the corporate match or corporate gift if your company has one.
• Meet with your CEO to set a budget and campaign goal. Obtain his/her support.

• Choose an energetic and enthusiastic coordinator. Make sure this year's coordinator meets with the past coordinator.
• Recruit a partner or a committee. If you have a committee, consider recruiting one person from each branch, store, department, etc.
• Have the campaign team attend a training session. (Contact United Way to arrange training opportunities.)

• Include in your plan: dates of campaign, dates for employee meetings, dates pledge forms are due, internal public relations, incentives, reminders, campaign updates.
   
• Take advantage of United Way speakers, videos, and materials.
   
• The campaign at one company, which raised 30% more than the previous year, featured a "Hat Day" for employees. On the day that the CEO spoke to employees (in two large group sessions) informal attire was permitted and strange hats were encouraged. Judging was held immediately after the meetings, with prizes going to the most creative, the most outlandish, etc.
   
• Use mandatory staff meetings for United Way presentations and rallies.
   
• Offer food and/or snacks at the rally.
   
• Have agency presentations featuring services your employees can relate to. Possibly have multiple agencies at different times so employees can choose the rally they wish to attend.
   
• Feature testimonials in rallies from your employees who have benefited from United Way programs.
   
• Employee donors may be honored at a "Have Breakfast on Us" event. Senior management and supervisors don cook's clothing to fry eggs, flip flapjacks and tend to the other serving chores for breakfast "on the house".
   
• A company of 1,100 employees used the slogan "We Can Do It Better". T shirts with a rainbow design were printed with the slogan, and everyone giving a certain minimum donation received one. Top management employees posed for pictures wearing their T-shirts that promoted the theme of working together, (i.e. making a human pyramid, rowing in a rowboat together). These pictures were then blown up into posters. On particular days anyone wearing his or her United Way T shirt to work received a free lunch. A rented popcorn machine also provided free popcorn to those with T shirts and cost all other employees 25 cents. All proceeds went to United Way.
   
• Several companies run slogan contests. Employees are invited to submit ideas for campaign slogans. During the campaign a new slogan is announced each day. Random phone calls are made to employees on a daily basis and anyone responding with the correct slogan wins a prize.
   
• With a contribution to United Way, employees win the right to wear jeans on Fridays.
   
• Try store-to-store competitions or building-to-building competitions.
   
• Divide employees into teams and have competition between teams.
   
• Have fun!

• Target Top/Senior Management with a letter and/or meeting. Ask your CEO/GM to make the ask.
• Ask previous Leadership givers.

• Have greeters meet employees at company entrance to encourage United Way participation.
   
• Inform employees of the option to designate to specific agencies.
   
• One company coordinator wore the same tie during the campaign week. Each time an employee turned in a pledge card the employee got to cut off a piece of the tie. Not only was it great fun for the employees, but it was a great conversation piece that motivated employees to turn in their pledge cards.
   
• Hold a raffle for a day of vacation or some other item. Or auction off a day of vacation. Extra raffle tickets could be awarded for: early turn-in, new givers, turn-in by deadline, increased gifts, etc.
   
• Offer tickets to movies and local events for every $5 donated. Use tickets for prize drawings.
   
• Personalize pledge cards with employee names.
   
• Be sure to ask. Prepare your employees ahead of time by sending emails, putting up posters, etc.
   
• Organizations that achieve 80% participation will be recognized publicly by United Way in its campaign publicity.

• Attach a balloon to donors' chairs or say thanks with a piece of candy.
   
• Put a Thank You list in your employee newsletter or on the bulletin board.
   
• Have an informal afternoon ice cream social and invite all employees to come, but offer a group thank you to United Way donors at the event.
   
• Send a letter or postcard from the CEO to each UW donor.
   
• Use testimonials from co-workers in Thank You notes.