Reaching out to Colleagues at Work for the Common Good.

On our work at United Way, we try to each out as broadly we as we can to enlist people to “live United,” i.e., to give, advocate and volunteer for the common good of children & families. Specifically our goals are:

• Children will enter school ready to learn;
• Youth will stay in school, keep safe, and realize positive options for the future;
• Individuals have the skills and opportunities to be financially stable; and,
• All children and families will have access to safe, affordable and appropriate housing.

One of our primary channels is developing support in people’s workplaces. We are blessed in that over 90,000 people give us their financial support through the workplace, and five times as many gain at least minimal exposure to our work. However, many people, including very many generous supporters don’t really understand these goals and what we’re doing to accomplish them. On the one hand, this is a tremendous testament to people’s faith in United Way’s integrity and effectiveness. However, we and our partners in the community will be able to accomplish much more if large numbers of people have a deeper understanding of our work. Think of the influence 450,000 informed, committed advocates for children & families would have on public perception!

This year, a group of volunteers from 25 of our leading supporters (Find a list of participants here) have come together to help us discover ways of communicating with people at work more effectively. They have reviewed & critiqued our materials. They have also participated in direct service work and explores how it connects with building capacity and influencing policy to achieve the goals above. Over the next few months they will experiment with new ways to communicate and educate their colleagues, and at the end of the year will gather to reflect on lessons learned.

This blog thread is part of the experiment. We will use this space to document & discuss our experience. We are doing it in this public forum to invite anyone who is interested in helping us think about these questions to join the discussion.