Why United Way Matters to Purdue and the Community

You are helping your co-workers participate in creating a stronger community.

Why it matters to Purdue:

• Recognized as a leader in positively impacting people’s lives
• Regarded as a caring community employer
• Relationships with other key community leaders are built

Why it matters to you and your co-workers:

• Educates about community needs and United Way’s impact
• Builds employee morale and pride
• Communicates availability of services for employees in need
• Provides leadership and development opportunities for employee committee volunteers

Why it matters to your community:

• A healthier, stronger community
• An improved quality of life for everyone.
• A vital economy
• Wabash Center learner

Here are some quick tips that make asking for a pledge easier:

• Know the facts.  
  Read the background materials carefully. The more you know about United Way, the easier your job will be. Prepare a solicitation case. Check out United Way’s Web site at www.uw.lafayette.in.us for facts and stories that make a compelling case for giving.
• Make personal contact.
  People give to people. Set up face-to-face meetings to ask for a pledge. It’s best not to just leave pledge cards on desks. Group meetings are the most effective and efficient way to reach all employees in an organization. It can take as little as 20 minutes to convey the key message to your group, make the ask, and even show the United Way video. Please call your United Way to schedule a Loaned Campaign Representative to speak at your meeting(s). Remember, people give to people, so don’t overlook this critical step.
• Be positive.
  Explain the benefits of giving to United Way. Stress the importance of each person’s contribution to our community. Emphasize that you’re raising funds for urgently needed programs to help children succeed in life, help individuals get jobs and stable housing, strengthen families and neighborhoods, and put people on the road to becoming socially, emotionally, and economically self-sufficient.
• Be prepared for questions and concerns.
  People deserve to know that their money is being used wisely. If you don’t know the answer to a question, find out by calling on United Way staff and get back to your colleague.  

Responsibilities for Team Captains

1. Attend Purdue’s training session/tours on August 27, Stewart 302–306, 7:45 a.m.; Kickoff Breakfast on Tuesday, Sept. 18, Ross-Ade Stat Club, 7:45 a.m.
2. Receive or pick up campaign materials from your senior and/or junior chairs, September 18.
3. Add your name and department to the mailing envelopes before you distribute them, to assure your co-workers know who their team captain is. Have them write their names on outside of return envelope.
4. Distribute solicitation envelopes by hand to staff members on or soon after September 18th. Tell the United Way story. Schedule a Loaned Campaign Representative (LCR) to talk to your department; a video is available from your area senior chair and on the Web site.
   
5. Return pledge forms to Gift Processing, Dauch Alumni Center, daily during the campaign. Employees also may use campus mail to return their forms. (DO NOT send CASH in campus mail!)
6. Use weekly lists of outstanding pledge forms to follow-up with employees who have not returned their forms. Your senior chair will distribute lists to you. THESE REPORTS are for your information only! Do not e-mail these reports to anyone.
7. Provide blank forms for those who have lost forms or for new staff members (or direct them to the United Way Web site to download a blank form). Contact Anne Washburn at 49-49240 with questions about pledge forms.
8. Give a poster to each employee who returns a pledge form. (Pick up posters for Grad assistants at Dauch.) See below.
9. Have all forms returned by November 12 so we can meet the Purdue goal of $725,000 by the Victory Celebration.

Important to Know:

• Pre-printed pledge forms have been prepared for all monthly paid staff, biweekly paid staff, and graduate assistants (you will not be delivering to grad assistants; they will get their solicitations through campus mail).
• Forms for terminated staff should be returned to United Way, Dauch Alumni Center, with a notation as such.
• Do Not Open Envelopes Containing Returned Pledge Forms.
• If a staff member so desires, the pledge may be sent directly to United Way, Dick and Sandy Dauch Alumni Center, 403 West Wood Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2007. Contributors should be encouraged to return forms through Purdue.
• Payroll deductions are the easiest way to give. These deductions will begin with the first paychecks of 2009! Checks should be made payable to “United Way.”

NOTE: Grad assistants in all areas will be sent their pledge packets through campus mail.

Handling Objections Confidently

Some of the people you solicit will object to the idea, particularly when you ask them to increase their pledges this year. Rejections are a natural part of the campaign process, so regard them as welcome signals that you are doing your job the way it should be done. However, unless you really understand what objections are and how to handle them, they can present big problems. The following gives some practical insight into the psychology of objections and how to handle them with confidence.

Keep these points in mind:

• Be empathetic. Listen carefully to what your prospect says. This does not mean that you agree, however. You can be empathetic and concerned without necessarily agreeing.
• Objections aren’t personal. An objection isn’t directed against you, it is directed at the idea you are presenting.
• Encourage the contributor to talk. When an objection is voiced, let the individual expand on it at length. If the objection is insincere, illogical, or both, it will tend to fall of its own weight as he/she attempts to articulate it.
• Objections may actually be misperceptions. Clarify the basis of the objection and present facts to alleviate the misperceptions.
• Don’t argue with your prospect. If you argue with an objection, you will force your prospect into defending it. Remember the old adage about winning the battle but losing the war? As a campaigner, you may win an argument, but you will lose your sale.
• Relax and be yourself. You shouldn’t feel that your job is to match wits or verbally “fence” with your prospect. Neither is it necessary to overwhelm your prospect with rhetoric. You have an important idea to present, and you should be absolutely straightforward in so doing. Remember, the solicitation interview isn’t a “win–lose” situation; it is a “win–win” situation! 

Questions you may be asked … and how to answer them:

• What local agencies are members of United Way?
  1. American Red Cross
  2. The Arc
  3. Big Brothers/Big Sisters
  4. Boy Scouts of Sagamore Council
  5. Community & Family Resource Center
  6. Tippecanoe Community Health Clinic
  7. Crisis Center
  8. Family Services, Inc.
  9. Food Finders Food Bank
  10. Girl Scouts of Sycamore Council
  11. Hanna Community Center
  12. Lafayette Adult Resource Academy
  13. Lafayette Family YMCA
  14. Lafayette Transitional Housing Center
  15. Legal Aid Corporation
  16. Lynn Treece Boys & Girls Club
  17. Meals on Wheels
  18. Mental Health Association
  19. New Directions, Inc.
  20. Salvation Army
  21. Tippecanoe County Council on Aging
  22. Tippecanoe County Child Care
  23. Volunteer Bureau
  24. Wabash Center
  25. YWCA
  
• Why return pledge form to your team captain?
  So the team captain knows you received your solicitation and had the opportunity to make your decision on whether or not to give. Team Captains will give Purdue posters to those who return forms.
• Who knows what or if I give?
  Only those in Gift Processing and Payroll who process gifts; area heads, chairs, team captains know only the percentage giving and total amounts for the 18 Purdue areas.
• Who benefits?
  One in three individuals in the community who needs the services of the 25 participating agencies.
• How much should I give?
  Only you can decide. Purdue does not specify or promote “fair share.”
• How do I give?
  Complete your pledge form; give by check, quarterly pledge, or payroll deduction (the easy way).
• I give directly to the agencies.
  Great! But please consider an additional small gift to the United Way; it can do a great deal of good throughout the community, extending the impact of your charitable giving.
• What if I don’t want my money to go to all of these agencies?
  Contributions may be designated to any specific agency within the 25 supported by the local United Way, and all such designations will be honored in their entirety. Note: the United Way planning and allocations committees review the requests of the various agencies, and they do “pre-allocate” the target dollar total for the campaign among the agencies so as to try to ensure the best coverage of community needs. Remember, just because you haven’t seen or heard about an agency in the news doesn’t mean the need is not there. The most generous gift is the undesignated gift.
• Who decides how the money is used?
  Volunteers, many of them Purdue employees. The United Way of Greater Lafayette has a very small staff; the total budget for all expenses is less than 10% of the campaign; budget and allocation decisions are made by volunteer committees.  

GREAT ACTIVITIES TO PUT THE FUN IN FUNDRAISING!

1. America’s Funniest Office Video Party. Find an employee with a video camera. Have them take candid video footage of your Week of Caring volunteer event. Schedule a short meeting in a conference room to show the video to your employees. Sell tickets, soda, and popcorn and donate the proceeds to the United Way Campaign. If the video is a big hit, perhaps raffle off a copy or sell duplicates.
2. Baby Picture Match Game. Invite employees to try their luck at matching baby and/or pet pictures to pictures of the management. Award the entry with the most correct answers for a prize or some other fun incentive. Charge employees $2 per ballot.
3. Balloon Pop. Employees donate prizes for this event — a variation of traditional raffle. Before filling a balloon with helium, put a note inside with the name of the prize. Employees pay $1 to buy a balloon and pop it to find out what prize they've won.
4. Bingo. Sell bingo cards for employees to purchase. Get donated prizes for all winners.
5. Book/Video Sale. Employees donate old books, videos, CDs, and cassette tapes for an employee book sale. Sell paperbacks for $1, hardbacks for $2, and cassettes, CDs, and videos for up to $5.
6. Bowl-A-Thon. Employees pay a $2 entrance fee to participate in this event. Give each participant a special pledge form in advance to use when asking for their support. Encourage fan support, fun, and enthusiasm.
7. Casual Day. Sell Casual Day stickers allowing employees purchasing them to dress casually on certain days. Employees purchase stickers. Designate certain casual days as “Crazy Days” and encourage your employees to show their wild side: Tuesday=Stupid Hat Day, Wednesday=Outrageous Socks Day, Thursday=Sports Team Day.
8. Manager Car Wash. Employees donate $5 to have their car washed by their “boss” in business clothing. Charge extra for special services like cleaning the interior or polishing the rims. Charge for Polaroid photos of the employees and the boss washing their cars.
9. Chili Cook-Off Contest. Employees cook their favorite chili recipe and enter it into a cook-off contest. This activity can also add “spice” to a community fair. A panel of “chili experts” selects the Official Chili Champion.
10. Coin War. Each department/floor has an empty water bottle (the BIG kind). Employees drop their spare dimes, nickels, and pennies into the bottle. These coins are counted as positive. A quarter counts as negative. Employees may “sabotage” another department’s bottle by dropping a quarter into their bottle. At the end of the Campaign, both positive and negative coins are counted, and the group with the most $$$ raised wins. All proceeds go to the United Way.
11. Executive Chair Race (or “Exec-U-Glide”). Set up a relay course for executives to go through sitting in chairs or riding tricycles. Use a stopwatch to time contestants, with the best time winning a prize. Observers wager $1 on their favorite contestants.
12. Executive Prison. Transform an office into a jail cell. Next, round up your prisoners (the usual suspects). “Arrest” managers and executives and allow them to make telephone calls to their staff members to “bail” them out. Proceeds going to your campaign as “Fundraising Event” money.
13. White Elephant Sale. Employees donate unique “white elephant” gifts that others can buy at affordable prices. This is especially popular at carnivals.