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Time for Change | |
Does your United Way connect with people of all ages? Have you found ways to attract the next generation of donors to your United Way? Do you know how your donors and community members like to receive information about your United Way? Now is the time to review what your United Way is doing and change your approach to how you communicate with your donors and the community.
Change may be difficult for your United Way, but it is an important step to take toward continued success. Instead of using the same approach over and over to communicate with your donors and the community, your United Way must review which methods are working and find out which ones are providing the most effective results for your United Way.
While using multiple methods of communication to reach people is essential, it is important to fine-tune your methods according to what your donors and the community prefer. By conducting market research of your donors or the community, your United Way will be able to discover the methods in which people want to receive information, resulting in better communication and an increase in donations.
A donor survey will help your United Way assess which communication methods your current donors prefer. A community survey will allow your United Way to find out how local residents want to receive information from your United Way. By conducting a donor or community survey, you can find out the preferred methods according to various age groups, males versus females, or other demographic categories. You can also discover what giving options your current donors or potential donors would prefer. By finding out how to communicate effectively with people across different demographics, your United Way will be able to target its communication efforts toward the appropriate audiences.
At Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. we have conducted market research for United Ways for over 22 years. We have seen the difference research makes for United Ways, once the results of the research are implemented. Whether your United Way's focus is on retaining current donors or attracting new donors within the community, we will help you gather important information that will impact the success of your United Way.
If your United Way is considering a new approach to how you're communicating with donors or the community, conducting research is a great step toward making this change. Give us a call at 1-800-724-9994 to learn more about how we can help your United Way by conducting research. If you have any questions, or would like additional information, please give us a call or e-mail Kasey Sylvester, Director of Client Relations, at . We look forward to talking with you about how Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. can work with your United Way to achieve effective and efficient communication with your donors and the community.
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Look at This Book: Switch - How to Change Things When Change is Hard
By: Chip Heath and Dan Heath, Random House, Inc., 2010 |
Book Review By: Gary M. Goscenski,
Director of Consulting Services
 Chip and Dan Heath don't promise to make change easy, but they do promise to make it easier in their new book Switch - How to Change Things When Change is Hard.
They make it easier by providing a three-part framework, which can guide you in any situation where you want to change behavior. The first part is to provide crystal clear direction as to what you want people to do. The second part is to engage people's emotional side to get people to cooperate. The third part is to shape the environment to make change more likely.
The analogy they use is that of an elephant and rider, where the elephant is our emotional side and the rider is our rational side. While the rider holds the reins and seems to be in control, the rider is small compared to the elephant, and if the elephant and rider disagree about where to go, the rider is going to lose. Using the framework, you will want to direct the rider, motivate the elephant, and shape the path to be taken.
There are a variety of different stories and examples in the book, many of which apply to United Way. An interesting observation is that bad is stronger than good - we are wired to focus on the negative. For a United Way, motivating people to volunteer or contribute may be more effective if we focus on the negative, such as, "there are 180 homeless people in our community," than on the positive, such as, "20 fewer people are homeless this year."
One key point in this book is that when change works, it is because leaders are speaking to the elephant as well as the rider. In successful change efforts, people find ways to help others see the problems or solutions in ways that influence emotions, not just thought. They go so far as to suggest that it is important to see the problem first, think about the problem second, and finally change the problem. At an extreme, a United Way that needs to change must convince people that the United Way is on its deathbed, and will only survive if radical changes are made.
For any United Way seeking to bring people to their cause, there is a section in the book about how people will identify with a cause. The goal is to get people to see themselves as "concerned citizens" and once that occurs, people will continue to act as concerned citizens.
Two valuable sections of the book are the one-page summary of the change process entitled "How to Make a Switch" and the section entitled "Overcoming Obstacles." Both of these sections make it easier to apply the framework covered in the book and to be successful in your change efforts.
Switch - How to Change Things When Change is Hard will be valuable reading for anyone tasked with the future of a United Way, and most people will also find they will learn a thing or two about personal change as well.
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About Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. |
We are dedicated to our mission of providing information and planning that make the difference for United Ways. We use market research techniques including telephone and mail surveys, interviews, and focus groups to obtain the necessary information to make effective decisions to plan for the future. We would be pleased to share our experiences working with other United Ways and discuss how we can help your United Way make informed decisions and plan for continued success.
Sincerely,
Gary M. Goscenski
Director of Consulting Services
Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc.
P.O. Box 496
Paw Paw, MI 49079
(800) 724-9994
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Useful Link | |
Review your communication approaches to ensure success at your United Way - Read Ten Steps to Stronger Nonprofit Communications
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Words of Wisdom | |
"The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress."
- Charles Kettering
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United Way CD-ROM | |
A resource developed specifically for United Ways.
The CD-ROM includes all of the information about Perspectives Consulting Group: who we are and what we do. Request a copy of our United Way CD-ROM by e-mailing
or call (800) 724-9994 to see how Perspectives Consulting Group can help your United Way.
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