GIVE is about more than just dollars

By Colin Peterson

How’s business? This is a question I’ve been asked a lot recently. When people find out I work in fund raising, their follow up questions sound similar to what you might ask a car salesman or investment banker you just met. “Oh, how are you guys holding up?” The short answer is that we’re definitely feeling the impact of the economy on the funds we’ve been able to raise but it could be a lot worse and we are just grateful to live in a generous community.

For a more detailed response I would add that while charitable dollars are harder to come by, the need for programs we’re investing in is going way up. Just like every other business (for profit and not) we’ve been taking steps to cut costs internally so donor dollars are getting deployed in the community and stretching as far as possible.

While these are certainly hard times and people in many cases do not have the capacity to make the financial commitments to charity that they have made in the past, there is still a strong desire to contribute. One of the ways we are getting the most out of every donor dollar is by identifying the other ways individuals can contribute. Our strategy for uniting the caring power of our community is built on engagement around giving, advocating and volunteering. If you want to get involved in our advocacy work, I strongly recommend you sign up for our advocacy newsletter. If you want to find hundreds of volunteer opportunities and get matched up with one that fits your interests then check out volunteer solutions.

Soon, like this week, we are going to unveil a fun new way you can help us help central Iowa. United Way of Central Iowa is going to launch a YouTube video contest asking you to tell us how you LIVE UNITED. We are having this contest because we want to hear from you and give you a chance to tell us about helping the community in your own words. The videos will be judged, posted on our YouTube channel, and winning entries will get featured at events throughout our 2009 campaign. So put on your creative thinking hat and look for more details to come on our website on how you can help us continue to mobilize Central Iowa around GIVE, ADVOCATE, and VOLUNTEER.