June 7, 2016
Email Drafts – Digital Toolkit
Campaign Preview Message
(Send one week before campaign launch)
Subject Line: Are you the kind of person …
Are you the kind of person who wants to make a difference in our city?
If so, please stay tuned for your chance to play a role in [COMPANY NAME’S] United Way Ottawa Campaign! When you support United Way, all of your support stays in Ottawa, and helps our community’s most vulnerable.
For a city to be great, it has to be great for everyone.
Thanks to the support of donors like us, United Way is working with local agency partners, government, stakeholders and community members like you, to change lives right here in our city.
Here at [COMPANY NAME], we’ve got some special events and activities in mind to help you raise funds and connect with friends and colleagues.
There’s always an opportunity for you to make your mark, so get ready to be a difference-maker! We’ll be in touch again on campaign kickoff day!
Campaign Kickoff (All Staff)
Subject Line: Things change today
In the coming year, more than 34,000 people in our city will experience a crisis. They could be people dealing with a financial emergency, or mothers and their children leaving abusive situations. It could even be your friend, neighbour or colleague facing a serious mental health issue.
You might wonder: Who helps them when they are in need?
The short answer? We do.
Through our team’s support of United Way Ottawa, here at [Company name] we are making a difference for these and many others in Ottawa.
Our generosity will help young, single mothers become stronger parents. We’re enabgling kids in vulnerable neighbourhoods to attend school programs that help them be all they can be. And we’re helping refugees settle into new, stable lives in Ottawa.
Will you change even more lives in Ottawa by supporting our campaign?
Over the past five years, [company name]’s employees have donated to United Way Ottawa , making the entire company proud and, most importantly, making our community a better place to live, work, and raise our families.
Here’s how to get started to make this year a success:
· Make your pledge to the United Way’s Community Fund
· Check out our United Way events later this month
· Sign up for a Seeing is Believing Tour and learn more about the causes we support
Together we are making our city better for all. Thank you for your support of United Way!
[CEO or ECC NAME]
Impact Story 1: All that Kids Can Be
There are a lot of single parents in our community, and raising a kid on your own can be tough. It can be even more difficult when you live below the poverty line.
Here’s a story I wanted to share, from a volunteer that works with a homework club in Britannia Woods. The club that she works with is supported by our gifts to United Way.
(include photo of volunteer with name / title)
Hi there,
I am writing today because I want to thank you on behalf of Abby, a little girl I work with. She would thank you herself, but she is only six and has not yet learned how to write a letter.
Abby lives in a priority neighbourhood. These are places in Ottawa where most residents live in poverty. Like Abby, one in five Ottawa children live below the poverty line, concentrated in small neighbourhoods like these.
Living below the poverty line, and in a single parent household, puts Abby’s future at risk. It’s very difficult for her mom to find the time to help her with her homework. Her neighbourhood is also unsafe – as low income areas can attract problems like crime, delinquency, and drugs.
United Way donors like you are setting Abby on the path to success. With your support, Abby can attend a safe after-school club that provides healthy snacks and homework assistance. Kids in the program see immediate and lasting improvements in their grades and well-being.
Please renew your support today, to help kids like Abby be all they can be.
Abby may never know what your support has done for her. Our goal is to ensure that, despite the challenges surrounding them, the children in these programs may not notice a difference between themselves and kids from other neighbourhoods in the city. This is the result we are working towards, and testament to the impact your gifts are having.
On behalf of kids like Abby, thank you for your continued and generous support of United Way.
Sincerely
Homework club staff member or volunteer/program graduate
Impact Story 2: Poverty to Possibility
When is the last time you had a conversation with someone facing homelessness?
If you’re like me, you very rarely get a chance to interact with the people affected. Yet each year, more than 1,400 youth in our city experience homelessness.
Our staff campaign is helping these young people transition into permanent housing. Below is a story I received about Zack, a young man who was able to find a home last year.
(include Zack’s photo)
I never thought I would become homeless.
Growing up, I had mental health issues and faced bullying at school. As a teenager, family conflict bubbled over and I just couldn’t stay at home anymore. I came to Ottawa to try escape my addictions and mental health issues. But they came with me.
At 16, I really was totally alone, without a home. It was terrifying. I vividly remember that first night, worrying for my safety. I stayed up all night huddled in the back of a parking garage just off of Bank Street.
Days, weeks, months passed, and my nightmare settled into a stressful and depressing reality. I needed to get out of that situation.
Thanks to the generosity of donors like you, a United Way-funded program was there to help me. Kind staff helped me with my mental health issues and I began to overcome my addictions.
It’s been a year now and I can proudly say I’ve held down a steady job and am able to rent an apartment. I have a girlfriend and I’m excited to be applying for an apprenticeship program in construction.
Please consider renewing your generous support today to help other youth get off Ottawa’s streets.
Together, we can get Ottawa’s homeless youth off the streets for good.
Thank you,
Zack
Impact Story 3: Healthy People, Strong Neighbourhoods
Do you know a senior in your neighbourhood who lives alone?
Many seniors in Ottawa live full and busy social lives. But there are also hundreds/thousands who are isolated. Illness, the loss of a spouse, or estrangement from families can put seniors at risk. Without support, many seniors living alone, especially those living in poverty, face depression and poor health.
Thanks to the support of donors like you, together with United Way Ottawa we are changing their lives for the better. Below is one story of a senior who was helped by a United Way program.
My name is Addie and I am 85 years old. I was born in Saskatchewan but I raised my family here in Ottawa. After my first marriage ended, I was fortunate to re-marry. Things were going well, until my husband passed away.
That kind of loss changes everything. I felt so lonely, and I didn’t know where to turn. Many seniors experience this every day: isolation, poor health, and wasted potential.
A lot of people assume that seniors do not have much to offer. They think that we cannot contribute, that we cannot learn. The Good Companions Centre, a United Way partner, is proof that these assumptions are wrong.
The centre gives seniors like me with a chance to connect with people and socialize. And for many it provides the only hot meal seniors may get that day. It also provides something more.
One of the things I do with my friends is make Izzy Dolls – little knit dolls that Canadian soldiers give to children living in war-torn countries. I like to think these little dolls show the kids that we care. Through this program, my friends and I are living healthy, active lives, and more than that, we are doing good things for our community and the world.
You help make this possible.
Thank you for continuing to give to United Way Ottawa, and for your generous gifts to programs like ours.
Sincerely,
Addie
General Thank-You Letter
Subject: Thank you for all of your support
I want to thank you for supporting {Company name}’s staff campaign for United Way Ottawa.
The gifts you make show how much we care about our city’s most vulnerable. Together, we are changing lives right here in Ottawa.
I’m writing now to ask if you will help United Way Ottawa by filling out a short survey about your donation experience this year. If you do, you will be entered into a draw to win prizes through the United Way’s campaign sponsors – things like XXX and XXX. Please complete the survey now, and help United Way improve its program next year.
If you have any questions about United Way or about this gift, please let me know.
Thank you again for your generosity, and for showing your support for our community.
[ECC Name/ CEO]
“Last Call” Email
(Sent the day before the campaign ends)
Subject line: LAST CALL: Don’t miss out
Tomorrow is the final day of the United Way Annual Campaign. Already, many of your colleagues have added their name to the list of {COMPANY NAME] employees who care about their community and have pledged to give in support of our friends and neighbours who need it most.
I feel truly humbled to work amongst a group of professionals who have given above and beyond.
But I also know that we have an opportunity in this last push to do something special. Every additional person that chooses to give will help one more child or family right here where we live.
If you haven’t already given, please make a pledge today. If you have any questions, please ask me.
Thank you for everything you do to change lives in our community!
Sincerely,
[CEO or ECC NAME]
P.S. [Look for an email from United Way with a link to make your pledge online.] [Please remember to visit {URL} to make your pledge online.] [Please remember to turn in your United Way pledge form.].
End-of-campaign "thank you"
(Send after campaign concludes)
Subject line: I am so proud
I did a double take when I saw the final numbers for our United Way campaign this year. Knowing the people that will be affected by this support, it makes me proud to work with such a caring and thoughtful group of professionals.
Without further ado, I want to report: [insert appropriate result statements from below:]
[COMPANY NAME] employees gave $[DOLLARS PLEDGED] to United Way Ottawa.
[PARTICIPATION RATE]% of [COMPANY NAME] employees gave to United Way.
[NUMBER OF DONORS] of [COMPANY NAME] employees gave to United Way.
Today, I get to thank you on behalf of the thousands of people in Ottawa – families, children, neighbours, and friends – whose kids will be safer, who will get a chance to escape poverty, and who will live in a more supportive community, all because of your contributions.
On behalf of all the people whose lives we will change, please accept my warmest gratitude.
Sincerely,
[ECC NAME]