Find your Local United Way
Learning Labs
[ General Sessions ] [ Awards Dinner ]
Thursday Learning Labs offer the best thinking and discussion on Advancing the Common Good and our community impact work. Check out descriptions and outcomes for these rich learning opportunities.
Learning Lab Descriptions – click on the following to jump directly to the area of interest.
Advancing the Common Good Issue Area
Education: Early Childhood
Education: Youth
Financial Stability Partnership
Health
Business Challenges
Community Engagement & Impact Strategies
Community Engagement
Impact Strategies and Results
Marketing, Communications and Brand Strategy
Organizational Leadership, Governance and Operations
Public Policy
Resource Development and Relationship Building
Resource Development
Relationship Building and Market Segments
Advancing the Common Good Issue Area
Education: Early Childhood
Advancing Early Learning: A National Framework and Strategies for Measuring Impact
To advance the common good in education, our emphasis must be where learning begins—at birth. Research suggests a clear strategic path forward for communities that want to support young children and their families. Research also tells us what skills and knowledge children need to succeed in school, work and life. Measuring progress toward success is a challenge for United Ways and for our nation. It’s imperative that United Way’s strategies are comprehensive, effective and focused on driving community changes proven to promote school and life success. United Way of America is leading efforts to create a system for measuring the impact of United Way’s collective efforts to increase school readiness. Attend this session to learn more about it and to offer your insights.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe a community framework for promoting school success.
- Share best practices about how other United Ways are using the framework to advance early learning in their communities.
- Use tools to measure progress in promoting school readiness, both for individual children and for the community as a whole.
Kareena DuPlessis, Director, Child Development Infoline, United Way of Connecticut
Neal Halfon, M.D., MPH, Director, UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities, UCLA Ped-Gen
Peg Sprague, Vice President, Community Impact, United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley
Education: Helping Young Children Achieve Their Potential—A Best Practice Exchange Water Cooler
Talk one-on-one with early childhood leaders and national partners. In small group discussions, learn more about their work, strategies and results. Brainstorm with United Way counterparts about strategy rationale, potential local partnerships and how to generate the resources needed for success. Pick three topics and spend 20 minutes in an intimate table conversation on each. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn, share and trade ideas with others who are working on early childhood and education initiatives.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe new strategies and approaches for advancing early childhood initiatives.
- Identify potential applications of new early childhood strategies in their communities.
- Connect with leaders in the United Way system and future potential partners to further their early childhood initiatives.
Diana Romero Campbell, Director of School Readiness and Homelessness/Housing, Mile High United Way, Inc.
Michelle Mittler Crombie, Vice President, Community Development, United Way of Lake County, Inc.
Kathleen Deerr, National Coordinator, Family Place Libraries, Middle County Public Library
David Dotson, Executive Director, The Dollywood Foundation
Noreen Dunnells, Chief Professional Officer, United Way of Central Minnesota
Maggie Edwards, Success By 6 Coordinator, United Way of West Georgia, Inc.
Janet Rice Elman, Executive Director, Association of Children's Museums
Christopher Hahn, President and CEO, United Way of Long Island
Susan Lawton, Director of Volunteer Services, United Way of Tampa Bay, Inc.
Linda McReynolds, Vice President, Organizational Development, United Way of Greater Chattanooga
Sue Stepleton, President and CEO, Parents as Teachers National Center, Inc.
Let Us Count the Ways: Business Leaders Making a Difference in Early Childhood Education
In many communities, early childhood education is showing up as the root cause of problems such as school test scores, achievement gaps and children entering school without basic skills for success. As research reinforces connections between workforce development, school readiness and early learning, business leaders are getting more and more engaged in early childhood impact. Beyond workplace campaigns and charitable giving, business leaders are elevating the conversation about early learning, pushing it to the top of private sector agendas, and linking it to critical issues of high-skilled workers, economic development and globalization. Attend this session to find out what you can do to support early childhood education in your community as part of your United Way’s impact strategies.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Use proven research-based tools that have helped business leaders and United Ways champion early learning impact initiatives.
- Describe strategies, successes, and lessons about business leaders leading community changes for early childhood impact.
- Leverage the experience of local United Ways that have catalyzed business leaders to advance early childhood.
- Identify industry-specific action tips used by business leaders.
Leveraging National Partnerships to Increase School Readiness in Your Community
Opening the pipeline between the resources and opportunities that national organizations can offer to local United Ways is part of the work of your national Success By 6 team. National partnerships can inform the design of national and local strategies to enhance language and literacy development and community support of early learning for young children. National partners can boost reach and impact, and United Way’s work in turn supports their networks and goals—a win-win for all! Whether your community is focused on early literacy and language development, child care quality, social-emotional development, parenting education, or child abuse prevention, this session has something for you. National leaders from United Way of America partner organizations will share how their resources and collaborations can improve key issues facing young children, their families, and their communities.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Take advantage of opportunities to align with national organizations and the resources they offer.
- Identify how to leverage a local partnership to increase local impact.
- Describe the successes and lessons learned in existing local partnerships.
- Share promising practices to secure quick wins and long-term gains by partnering for increased impact.
Kathleen Deerr, National Coordinator, Family Place Libraries, Middle County Public Library
David Dotson, Executive Director, The Dollywood Foundation
Janet Rice Elman, Executive Director, Association of Children's Museums
Sue Stepleton, President and CEO, Parents as Teachers National Center, Inc.
Public Policy and the Power of the Private Sector: Creating a National Movement of Children’s Champions
Making lasting community change that helps children succeed in school, graduate on time and become productive workers is no easy feat. It requires building public understanding of—and demand for—good early childhood education. That requires public champions and often building political will to affect early learning budgets, programs, laws and regulations. Prominent foundations and organizations (such as the Buffett Early Childhood Fund and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) are putting more support than ever into initiatives advancing the birth-to-five policy. These national opinion leaders recognize the potential impact of a "movement" of business leaders as strong champions for children and are helping to build that movement from state to state. For United Way volunteers already engaged in early learning, this session
provides both national and local perspective to help United Way volunteers become even more powerful influencers in this effort, supporting early learning, speaking out and communicating to decision-makers about the benefits of strategic investment and effective policies.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe why foundations have focused in on this issue.
- Draw on examples from national organizations to mobilize community leaders as advocates.
- Activate an unparalled network of business leaders as champions for effective public policies.
- Summarize what business leaders and leadership groups are doing and can do to promote policies that advance the common good for our youngest citizens.
JoAnne Coy, Vice President, Corporate Communications, Investor and Community Relations, Columbia Bank
Matthew Melmed, J.D., Executive Director, Zero to Three
Daniel Pedersen, President, Buffett Early Childhood Fund
Education: Youth
Preparing Youth for Success in a Global Economy
Too few young people in America enter the workforce with the basic and applied skills they need to compete in a knowledge-based economy. Schools, families and communities struggle but continue to fall short in their efforts to provide all the supports to help our nation’s youth achieve their potential. Hear from the nonprofit, corporate and public sectors about the bold thinking and actions necessary to help children and youth along the path that leads them to success in school, work and life. Explore the "big picture"—the broad array of issues, partners, supports and factors that influence youth outcomes—and United Way’s potential role in that big picture. After this session, participants will be able to:
- Know the concerns of corporate America in a global economy.
- Understand a point of view and framework that can be applied in work supporting youth.
- Articulate that research proves that supporting and investing in learning and development should begin at birth and be sustained through young adulthood.
- Understand that success in school, work and life requires both academic and non-academic supports.
- Identify potential ways to connect with the corporate, education and government sectors to help youth achieve their potential.
- Be aware of the research, tools and supports that are available through United Way of America’s national partners.
Karen Pittman, Executive Director, The Forum for Youth Investment
Peg Sprague, Vice President, Community Impact, United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley
Youth: Helping Youth (age 8-young adult) Achieve Their Potential—A Best Practice Exchange Water Cooler
Whether you are new to working on youth initiatives or interested in enhancing your work, this interactive session will help you connect with leaders in the United Way system that are advancing the common good through initiatives to ensure that youth achieve their potential. They will share the strategies and partnerships that have worked for them, the lessons they have learned, how they have measured their impact, and ways you might replicate this work in your community. Pick three topics and spend 20 minutes in an intimate table conversation on each. This is a great opportunity to learn, share and trade ideas with others who are working on similar issues.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe new strategies and approaches for advancing youth initiatives.
- Identify potential applications of new youth strategies in their communities.
- Connect with leaders in the United Way system and future potential partners to further their youth initiatives.
Marc Levy, President/CEO, United Way of the Greater Dayton Area
Karen Pittman, Executive Director, The Forum for Youth Investment
Tim Stiles, President, United Way of Siouxland
Financial Stability Partnership
Advancing the Common Good through the Financial Stability Partnership
In 2007, United Way of America (UWA) launched the United Way Financial Stability Partnership to help hard-working individuals and families gain the tools to increase their income, begin to save, and purchase assets. This session will provide an overview of the United Way Financial Stability Partnership, including the barriers to financial stability, the strategies that community-based organizations are using to address these barriers, and the metrics that have been created to measure impact. Participants will also hear from United Way staff and volunteers who have successfully implemented a financial stability initiative in their community.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe the three steps in UWA’s financial stability framework.
- Articulate the ways in which financial stability initiatives advance the common good.
- Identify at least one strategy from UWA’s financial stability framework that could be successfully implemented in communities.
Madye Henson, Vice President, Community Impact Development, United Way of America
Sergio Mariaca, Chair, Board of Directors, United Way of Palm Beach County
Gordon McHenry, Director, Corporate Strategy and Northwest Region Global Corporate Citizenship, The Boeing Company
Engaging Partners and Leveraging Resources to Achieve Financial Stability (Give, Advocate, and Volunteer)
Partnerships are a core component of the United Way Financial Stability Partnership™. By expanding relationships with both traditional and non-traditional community partners and by engaging our partners in new and different ways, local United Ways can increase and accelerate the impact of their financial stability strategies. During this session, we will hear from local United Ways that have utilized new approaches to partnerships to advance their financial stability work and from partner organizations that demonstrate aspects of United Way’s give, advocate, and volunteer approach to community engagement.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Summarize the approaches that United Ways have used to engage non-traditional partners and/or the non-traditional roles that partners have played to create impact.
- Identify partnership opportunities to help United Way give, advocate, and volunteer in the area of financial stability.
- Draw on examples to create a business case for partnership engagement (i.e., benefits to partners).
Madye Henson, Vice President, Community Impact Development, United Way of America
Brenda Suits, Senior Vice President, Business Operations Executive Corporate Philanthropy, Bank of America
Traci Wickett, President, United Way of Southern Cameron County
Income: Promoting Financial Stability and Independence—A Best Practice Exchange Water Cooler
Want to learn more about how you can advance the common good in your community? Whether you are new to financial stability or interested in enhancing your work, this interactive session will help you connect with leaders in the United Way system that are advancing the common good through financial stability initiatives. They will share the strategies and
partnerships that have worked for them, the lessons they have learned, how they have measured their impact, and ways you might replicate this work in your community. Pick three topics and spend 20 minutes in an intimate table conversation on each. This is a great opportunity to learn, share and trade ideas with others who are working on similar issues.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe new strategies and approaches for advancing financial stability initiatives.
- Identify potential applications of new financial stability strategies in their communities.
- Connect with leaders in the United Way system and future potential partners to further their financial stability initiatives.
Julia Hadlock, Executive Director, United Way of the Upper Valley
Diane McCants, Director, Community Impact, United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta
Elivio Serrano, Senior Vice President, United Way of Palm Beach County
Jerilyn Stowe, Community Impact Manager, Improving Financial Stability, United Way of Salt Lake
Jill Thayer, Manager, Community Investment, United Way of the Capital Area, Inc.
Integrating Technology to Accelerate Impact through United Way Financial Stability Partnership
Are you interested in using technology to advance financial stability strategies in your community? Technology has emerged as a tool with the potential to systemically change the way that individuals access income- and assets-enhancing products and services, making financial stability much more attainable for lower-income families. To more fully integrate technology into the United Way Financial Stability Partnership™, United Way of America is partnering with Nets to Ladders (N2L), an Austin-based technology firm committed to transforming the social sector through business process innovation. Its groundbreaking web-based software platform—the Benefits Enrollment Network (BEN™)—accelerates and improves the benefits enrollment process and facilitates entry into the mainstream financial community.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Explain how technology can help create lasting changes in community conditions.
- Explain how integrating technology impacts financial stability and/or promotes asset building.
- Define the activities and processes for integrating BEN™ into their local financial stability initiative, list the ways that United Way can leverage technology, and access resources to support a broad range of asset building/financial stability strategies.
- Draw on the experiences of local United Ways, their community partners and volunteers in integrating BEN™ into their financial stability strategies.
Marc Ferguson, President and Founder, Nets to Ladders, Inc.
Diane McCants, Director, Community Impact, United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta
Anne Wilson, Chief Executive Officer, United Way of the Bay Area
Linking Early Childhood Success and Family Financial Stability
Room 318
There is a great body of research that suggests an intrinsic link between the success of children at a young age and the financial stability of their families. In this session, we will explore those linkages and how local United Ways are integrating their efforts in these two areas. This will be a co-learning experience, so come prepared to share your ideas and questions.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Recognize how early childhood success and family financial stability are interconnected.
- Identify concrete ways for how a local United Way can integrate its early childhood and financial stability initiatives.
- Describe how linking early childhood and family financial stability can lead to more sustained changes in community conditions and go beyond program outcomes.
Moving Beyond the Silos: Community Strategies in Workforce Development
Are you looking to promote change at the individual, institution, and workforce system level? Join your colleagues in identifying the critical factors to building the capacity of the workforce development system. Learn from local United Way staff and community partners about creating a seamless system that helps workers access the ladder to financial stability and independence through skill development and career advancement. Discover how to leverage local investments and engage employers in developing a sustainable workforce system.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe the critical factors to building a flexible, integrated, and comprehensive workforce development system.
- Recognize workforce development as a critical component to the financial stability initiative.
- Identify the critical players in developing a sustainable and effective workforce system.
Health
Advancing the Common Good through Health
Enjoy an interactive, informal conversation that will join national perspectives and local experience. Learn how a groundbreaking, free health status technology, the Community Status Health Indicators Report, can guide and inform your work. This technology was developed by Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, the Center for Disease Control, and the Robert Wood Johnston Foundation, along with other public and private health organizations. This up-to-date, interactive website includes data down to the county level on access and utilization of health care services, vulnerable populations, risk factors, and environmental health. Learn how this research can help you plan and track your health care initiative.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe key community-level implications of the national health crisis.
- Access information that will help them learn about the health in their communities.
- Take first steps toward utilizing resources and national partnerships that will help build a health initiative and advance the common good in their communities.
Jennifer Stanley, M.A., Director, Public Health Systems Research, Public Health Foundation
Health: Improving People’s Health—A Best Practice Exchange Water Cooler
Whether your United Way is new at developing strategies to improve people’s health or interested in enhancing your work, this interactive session will help you connect with leaders in the United Way system that are advancing the common good through initiatives to improve people’s health. They will share the strategies and partnerships that have worked for them, the lessons they have learned, how they have measured their impact, and ways you might replicate this work in your community. Pick three topics and spend 20 minutes in an intimate table conversation on each. This is a great opportunity to learn, share and trade ideas with others who are working on similar issues.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe new strategies and approaches for advancing health initiatives.
- Identify potential applications of new health strategies in their communities.
- Connect with leaders in the United Way system and future potential partners to further their health initiatives.
Michelle Roers DiNapoli, LSW, Director, Community Impact, United Way of Morris County
John Franklin, President and Chief Executive Officer, United Way of Morris County
Priscilla Gould, Executive Director, United Way of Lane County
Robert Haight, President, Heart of West Michigan United Way
Gregg Hetue, President and Chief Executive Officer, Brown County United Way
Jack Holmes, President and CEO, United Way of Central New Mexico
Alyssa Lord, Director, Access to Healthcare Initiatives, United Way of New York City
Business Challenges
Community Engagement and Impact Strategies
Community Engagement
2-1-1 Beyond Giving and Getting Help
Progressive United Ways and 2-1-1s are aligned and engaged in community impact work. This session will provide three examples of how 2-1-1 advances the common good in the areas of income, education, and health. Senior staff and board members will describe how they focused on the big picture and share how they incorporated 2-1-1 strategies as an integral building block of their impact strategies.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Recognize at least three ways that 2-1-1 services can be used in strategies for advancing the common good.
- Identify ways that 2-1-1 services may be viewed as investment products and volunteer opportunities.
- Use the examples presented to develop a list of three ways that 2-1-1 services can enhance community impact objectives and outcomes.
Doug Plant, Vice President, Community Services, United Way for Southeastern Michigan
Thomas Ptashnik, Senior Managing Consultant, IBM Global Business Services
Beth Lee Terry, Executive Vice President, United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area
Stephen Wertheim, Director, 211, First Call For Help, United Way of Greater Cleveland
Advancing the Common Good in Small Cities
How are small city United Ways (raising less than a million dollars) advancing the common good? You don’t have to be big to do community impact. Learn how small United Ways are addressing key challenges in their communities.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Explain how the transformed United Way works.
- Share how small cities are operating within the common good framework.
- Identify next steps for moving communities forward.
Laurie Hagey, Executive Director, United Way and Community Foundation of Northwest Iowa
Advancing the Common Good through Engaging Crisis Partners
United Ways are becoming increasingly focused on crisis preparedness, response and recovery after a disaster. During times of disaster, and as we advance the common good through income, health and education, partnerships are invaluable. This session will be a facilitated discussion between the key partners in times of disaster and will address their individual and partner roles in major disasters.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe how having partners can be beneficial during times of disaster.
- Assess who the potential crisis partners are in local communities.
- Develop a plan of how to better engage partners in discussions regarding preparedness, response and recovery.
- Strengthen emergency management relationships and collaborations.
Major Todd Hawks, Public Affairs Secretary and Associate National Community Relations and Development Secretary, The Salvation Army
Gregg O'Ryon, Senior Director, Client Services, American Red Cross National Headquarters
Diana Rothe-Smith, Executive Director, National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster
Advancing the Common Good through Interactive Strategies
This session will provide an overview of United Way’s national interactive marketing strategy, which will leverage existing and future social networking tools and resources to invite people to advance the common good in their own communities or at the national level.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Explain how the national liveunited.org interactive strategy can fit with their work.
- Identify ways in which new and existing technology can be used to support give, advocate and volunteer.
- Draw on examples from other United Ways to strategize how social media can be utilized to engage audiences and communicate the Advancing the Common Good positioning.
Iavor Ivanov, Director of Web Experience, United Way of America
Clint O'Brien, Vice President, Business Development, Care2
Melvin Young, Vice President, Marketing and Brand Strategy, Brand Leadership, United Way of America
Advancing the Common Good through Volunteer Engagement
Volunteer engagement is an underleveraged component of community impact, a key engagement strategy in the new business framework, and a critical element of LIVE UNITED. This workshop will focus on the important role that volunteerism will play as we invite everyone to help advance the common good.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Learn how to apply the new United Way Volunteer Engagement Strategy to community impact work.
- Discover how United Ways are teaming up to support the National Day of Action.
- Understand how new technologies and techniques can assist in reaching new audiences and how they can be used to recruit new champions of this work.
Iavor Ivanov, Director of Web Experience, United Way of America
Mei Cobb, Volunteer Engagement, United Way of America
Pam Sanderson, Volunteer Center Director, United Way of Yellowstone County
Building Knowledge of Your Community Around an Issue: A Critical Step Toward Advancing the Common Good
Authentic engagement to strengthen knowledge of the community advances the common good when you’re informing, involving, collaborating with and empowering people around one of the building blocks of a good life: education, income and health. This session will show how you can develop more effective community change strategies by deepening your engagement around a specific issue. You’ll hear from local United Ways and outside experts about how engaging people around an issue, learning from them, using what you learn, and then letting people know how you used it will build buy-in and mobilize people to create opportunities for a better life for all.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe methods to engage people that build buy-in and commitment.
- Identify communities of interest around an issue in their own communities.
- Develop an engagement plan for a specific community of interest.
Community Engagement 101
United Ways that are in the business of creating community change must be in the business of authentically engaging their communities. Authentic engagement goes far beyond simply raising money, asking people to help raise money, or plugging them into volunteer opportunities. In this session, we will explore the fundamentals of community engagement—its many purposes, when each kind of engagement is appropriate, how to avoid the "authenticity trap," how to make engagement part of your year-round work, and perhaps most importantly, why community engagement pays off.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Recognize the different primary purposes of community engagement.
- Explain what it means to authentically engage.
- Describe concrete ways to build year-round engagement into work in a way that will accelerate efforts, not sidetrack them.
Michael Wood, Director of Strategy, Community Impact Leadership, United Way of America
Understanding How Communities Work
Advancing the common good requires United Ways to have a deeper understanding of the fundamental structures, relationships, norms, and networks that make communities work. This session is designed to help you accelerate your community change efforts by better understanding your community’s capacity for change and how to calibrate your efforts based on that capacity. This knowledge is critical to changing United Way’s relationship with the community.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Recognize the fundamentals of community that have to be considered before engaging in any community change work.
- Describe why community change initiatives take off in some communities and fall flat in others.
- Identify how people naturally engage and move from having purely personal concerns to building community values and beliefs collectively with others.
Armando Rayo, Director, Hands On Central Texas, United Way Capital Area
Michael Wood, Director of Strategy, Community Impact Leadership, United Way of America
Year-round Engagement and Recognition with Corporate Partners and Their Employees
Stuck in a rut when running an annual employee giving campaign? Looking for ways to invite your employees and customers to experience United Way’s work to advance the common good? This engaging and informative session will explore ways that companies and their employees can LIVE UNITED and experience United Way in a whole new way. You will hear from National Corporate Leader champions that are promoting give, advocate and volunteer.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Identify new ways for employees to experience United Way outside of the campaign.
- Develop a plan to engage employees throughout the year.
- Create opportunities for employees to LIVE UNITED in the community.
Janice Johnson, Corporate Relations Manager, UPS
Megan Robison, Community Relations Manager, GE Consumer & Industrial
Impact Strategies and Results
Building a Powerful Case for Action: New Approaches to Research and Data
Have you ever heard the saying "the numbers speak for themselves"? Well, they can but not without a lot of careful thought and attention. Come to this session to learn new approaches to find the data and research you need, communicate data to tell a story, and help analyze the data to get the answers you need. Your community’s road to impact strategies and outcome measures starts here!
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe how to build credibility as a community partner through data.
- Generate new sources and partnerships for finding data and best practice research.
- Utilize new techniques for displaying and communicating data.
- Describe how data and research lead to sound impact strategies and focused action plans.
Measuring Community Impact: How Others Are Doing It
Measuring our community impact is one of the biggest, and most important, challenges we face. How will we show that our community-change initiatives are, for example, increasing school-readiness and family financial stability or reducing teen obesity among specific community populations? We can learn a lot from the work of other community-change organizations. Heléne Clark and her colleagues at ActKnowledge have helped many such organizations create systems for tracking the results of their efforts. Their approaches to identifying indicators, measures, and data collection methods that have been effective for others can provide solid guidance for our own work.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Determine if existing community indicators will or won’t measure the impact of a specific community-change initiative.
- Draw on approaches to identifying community impact indicators, measures, and methods that have worked for other organizations.
- Identify appropriate roles for initiative partners in tracking progress and results.
Opportunities for Agencies: New Roles in Community Impact Work
In the community impact model, partners are engaged for the roles they can play in advancing community-change strategies. While traditional direct services are not always prominent in these strategies, the roles that agencies can play often extend far beyond offering services to clients. From providing research to coordinating strategy implementation to connecting people with resources, agencies are taking advantage of the community impact model to expand their contributions to their communities. Come hear both agency and United Way perspectives on the new relationship between United Ways and their traditional agency partners.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe to agencies and other stakeholders at least six ways that agencies can contribute to community-change strategies besides providing client services.
- Incorporate new roles for agencies in thinking about strategy planning and implementation.
- Ensure that investment criteria recognize the range of roles in community-change strategies that may need and merit support.
Putting Technology in its Place: Build Your Web-based Community Workbench To Improve Engagement And Impact Strategies
You will interact with United Ways who are evolving the Community Issues Management (CIM) Collaborative to engage stakeholders in identifying, analyzing and prioritizing community issues. This collaboration, based on a national web-based framework and a network of partners, is continuously improving a suite of data visualization tools that enable decision makers to conduct place-based analyses and save these scenarios in a community workbench area. Learn, with concrete examples, how these tools integrate local, state and national datasets such as socio-economic, demographic, health, education, emergency preparedness, and infrastructure data that enhances your ability to improve community engagement and impact strategies.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Access a large array of free data (including Advancing the Common Good indicators) and mapping capabilities that help illuminate priority issues for your community
- Recognize how CIM can be used to frame issues, integrate data, inform the decision making process and visualize complex community issues
- Reference examples of how CIM has facilitated better communication of complex issues in community engagement efforts and how visualization improves impact strategies.
The New National Goals, Issues and Indicators: What They Can Mean for Local United Ways
Bold new national goals in the areas of education, income and health are being announced at this year’s Community Leaders Conference. These goals, and the national issues and indicators in the Advancing the Common Good framework, could have a major impact on the work of United Ways from around the country as they advance the common good. This session will detail the work that led to the new goals and will also explore how United Ways can adopt or adapt the goals, issues, and indicators in their communities.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe key factors related to the identification and development of the issues, indicators, and goals.
- Explain the benefits and uses of the framework for their United Way.
- Identify resources available to support local adoption and adaptation of the issues, indicators, and goals.
Alex Sanchez, Senior Vice President, Community Impact, United Way of America
Using Leadership Delegations to Create Your Community Impact Agenda
The United Way of Dane County has perfected both the art and science of using leadership delegations to create impact agendas for its community. A temporary leadership team has been assembled for nine months to study a critical community issue, conduct engagement activities and make recommendations to the community about what needs to be done. Come learn how these broad-based teams marry data, best practice research and local wisdom to set a community goal and develop a multi-year "issue" action plan to get there. You will find this successful model very replicable for use in any community.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe a proven process for the development of multi-year "issue" action plans.
- Identify the steps and processes required to make the leadership delegation model a success.
- Describe how data and best practice research can develop focus and strategies that will yield results.
- Reference ideas and techniques for embedding ongoing community engagement in all of their work.
Marketing, Communications and Brand Strategy
24/7/365: Year-round Communications with Corporate Partners
Why do you buy a certain product? Why do you invest with a certain bank? Why do you give to United Way over other noteworthy charities? The answer, in part, is COMMUNICATION. We base the decisions we make, whether it is which toothpaste to buy or which charity to invest with, on what we know about the company and/or its products. The only way to educate people about United Way and its focus on Advancing the Common Good is through COMMUNICATION. And not just once or twice, but it must be a continual flow of informative information. Come to this session to hear from companies that are tapping into electronic tools to communicate and learn about the types of messaging they use. You will also learn about the national tools that United Way has to offer regarding messaging, success stories, etc.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Develop an effective year-round communications plan.
- Use innovative communication tools.
Nick Schmidt, Corporate Citizenship Representative, Xcel Energy
Give, Advocate, and Volunteer: How to Deliver on the Call to Action
There are strategies and tools that your United Way can begin using right now to deliver on the LIVE UNITED invitation to give, advocate, and volunteer. Start by repurposing what you already have in place or underway, and learn about the free resources at your fingertips that can help you engage people across your community. This session will highlight several United Ways that are taking the lead in aligning their engagement strategies to advance the common good.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe how an existing tool or strategy can be repurposed to deliver on the call to give, advocate or volunteer.
- Identify two new tools that can begin to be used right now.
How to Communicate About Advancing the Common Good and LIVE UNITED
Learn how to communicate using the Advancing the Common Good message strategy in this high-energy presentation, featuring insights from the latest consumer research. Practice using the key messages in real-life situations, such as in media interviews and campaign speeches. You will also find out about the new formula for telling your story that will inspire people to LIVE UNITED where you live.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Communicate using research-tested language that appeals to the target audience rather than confusing social work jargon.
- Create a localized elevator speech.
- Tell stories about people who are advancing the common good by giving, advocating and volunteering in the areas of education, income and health.
Organizational Leadership, Governance and Operations
Achieving Impact: Recruiting and Retaining the Right Talent with the Right Competencies
Attracting and retaining the right talent with the right competencies is at the heart of United Way’s performance linked to achieving greater impact. Explore with both leadership volunteers and executives what’s required to leverage United Way’s brand in recruiting, engaging, and retaining talent.After this session, participants will be able to:
- Apply competency-based recruitment practices in selecting the best talent.
- Utilize effective strategies to retain employees including on-boarding and employee engagement.
- Link employee performance to impact focused outcomes.
Scott Badesch, President and CEO, United Way of Palm Beach County
Sergio Mariaca, Chair, Board of Directors, United Way of Palm Beach County
Board Members Who Became Believers: How They Came to Understand Community Impact
Are you a volunteer who still has some doubts about the new community impact work? Do you have fellow board members who are not yet comfortable with this work? Come to this session to hear volunteers tell how they became believers and passionate spokespersons for United Way as a community impact leader. Get valuable ideas for experiences you could recreate for your board members that could catalyze interest in the move to community impact.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe what moving to community impact means.
- Promote understanding and excitement among board members about the move to community impact.
- Identify and leverage approaches and experiences that can be created for other board members to catalyze their interest in the move to community impact.
Martin Torbert, Director, Marketing and Public Relations, National Starch and Chemical Company
Building Strategic Diversity Management Capability
Why should you care about Strategic Diversity Management? United Way recognizes that in order to effectively engage communities to achieve community impact goals, staff, volunteers, donors/investors, and community partners should include the communities that United Way serves. The dynamics that we face in our work, communities, and organizations require us to create and implement organizational diversity strategies that enable us to fulfill our mission and accomplish our goals. To be a best-in-class organization, a United Way must demonstrate inclusiveness through its culture, recruitment, partnerships, and other business practices.
Strategic Diversity Management is a business imperative that leads to your ability to fully engage all partners.
We will explore the definitions of diversity and inclusion and learn the importance of building diversity management capability to enhance relationships with donors, increase community engagement and develop professional talent. Hear from other local United Ways on how they have implemented organizational diversity management strategies, and walk away with a resource guide to take the next steps to build capability and implement diversity and inclusion strategies.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Examine how diversity and inclusion management can improve their organizations.
- Learn how other United Way organizations have created and implemented organizational diversity strategies.
- Receive a comprehensive toolkit that enables them to build and implement organizational diversity management strategies.
Rose Singer, Principal Consultant, Roosevelt Thomas Consulting and Training
Boost Your Community Impact by Building Your Cultural Competency
The United States is undergoing a profound and deep-rooted metamorphosis in its population, its culture and the very manner in which business is conducted and services are provided. This transformation very well may be the greatest cultural and economic shift this country has ever known. With over 100 racial, ethnic, and cultural groups in the U.S. today, cultural diversity is a reality. For many Americans, differences in appearance, speech, behavior, values, beliefs and communication patterns are no longer viewed as something to be avoided or ignored but rather an opportunity for growth and making a difference. As a community impact United Way, being culturally sensitive is imperative. Learn how cultural competence can assist your organization, member agencies and programs in planning and decision making, establishing priorities, building capacity, maintaining accountability, and allocating resources that result in an inclusive and thriving community.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe how cultural differences within and between groups impact the ability of an organization or a program to meet community needs.
- Explain the value of a cultural competency self-assessment, the essential principles and strategies to conducting a self-assessment that is embraced by key stakeholders, and the key considerations for leveraging the self-assessment process and results.
- Identify additional resources and best practices to help advance cultural competency in their United Ways.
Janet Jackson, Chief Executive Officer, United Way of Central Ohio
Dr. James Mason, Manager, Education and Cultural Competency, Providence Health
Mergers and Consolidations: Collaborative Partnerships for Successful Growth
Through the successful execution of mergers and consolidation agreements, United Ways have redesigned to maximize their transformation to community impact. As a result, the task of dealing with their systemic issues and business challenges is enhanced by the added value of merged organizations. Come to this session to learn from staff and experts who have successfully consolidated their efforts.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Identify and undertake an objective analysis of the pros and cons of a local merger agreement and be able to execute a plan of action.
- Describe the effective practices employed in local and regional merger agreements.
- Share examples of system redesign as a driver of positive systemic change in organizational efficiency and growth.
Michelle James, President, United Way of Western Connecticut
Mike Larson, President and CPO, United Way of Greater Battle Creek, Inc.
SurThrival Skills for Small City United Way Professionals
If you want to do more than just survive in your job, then join us for SurThrival Skills for Small City United Way Professionals. Designed from the point of view of small city executives who always have too much to do, you will learn not only how to survive, but thrive!
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Evaluate current responsibilities and workload and learn to establish boundaries.
- Develop goals, priorities and focus.
- Take home skills to move from surviving to thriving.
System Citizenship
Have you ever had a conversation about a person’s negative experience with United Way and discovered that this person was speaking about your neighboring United Way? How would you react if this person had a bad experience and has decided to take it out on you? Autonomy can be a double-edged sword, and at times like this, you may need to make a difficult choice: you can deflect the blame and put it back on your neighboring United Way, or you can work past the blame stage to help this person move from a negative United Way experience to a positive one. In this session we will examine the origin and meaning of this concept of "system citizenship," as well as talk about what each member United Way’s role is in being a good system citizen. We will be discussing specific situations experienced by member United Ways, and you will receive advice on how the concept of system citizenship could and should play a role in resolving a myriad of issues facing your organization.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe "system citizenship" in various contexts (legal, technical, practical).
- Describe the far reaching impact that system citizenship (good and bad) has on the United Way movement.
- Identify elements and benefits of "good citizenship."
- Apply the good citizen approach to the situations that organizations are facing today or may face in the future.
The Role of the Board in Accountability, Fiscal Responsibility, System Citizenship, and Membership Compliance
Accepting the role of board member for a non-profit organization comes with a set of duties and responsibilities that cannot be taken lightly. The board must be guardian of the organization on behalf of the entire community and failure to exercise due diligence in that role can lead to disastrous results for the organization and the board member. In this session we will examine several of the key duties of board members, including what they are, why they are important to the organization, and how you can better serve your organization in these areas. If you are a new board member who wants to better understand your role or an experienced board member who just wants to have a refresher, this session is for you.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Explain the critical importance of exercising fiscal responsibility over the organization’s assets.
- Describe what system citizenship is and what it means to both the local United Way and the United Way system.
- Describe the United Way of America Membership Requirements and why they are key to the local United Way’s success.
- Identify and use new ideas, tools, and approaches to maximize contributions as board members.
Turbocharging Community Impact Success through Staff and Volunteer Alignment
Aligning United Way staff to support early childhood and financial stability initiatives is yielding results in many communities. Aligning volunteers—often a high-octane but untapped resource—to contribute their passion, time and expertise is an idea just beginning to be explored. United Way volunteers with skills, influence, relationships, knowledge, and commitment want to contribute and make a difference for young children and working families in their communities. Come to this session for compelling, practical examples of both staff and volunteer alignment—what it looks like and the benefits it can yield.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe what alignment means in the community impact United Way.
- Identify practical approaches for both staff and volunteer alignment that get results for the community impact United Way.
- List resources available to assist in alignment efforts.
Paul Franke, Board Chair, Mile High United Way, Inc.
Karen Ortiz, Vice President and Director, Early Childhood Education, Helios Education Foundation
Brian Spicker, Senior Vice President, Community Impact, Valley of the Sun United Way
Public Policy
Public Policy and Community Impact: The Nuts and Bolts
Because government is a critical decision-maker and the major provider and funder of health and human services, United Way must actively engage in public policy and develop partnerships that include local, state and federal governments along with the private sector and nonprofit sector. Is your United Way contemplating engaging in public policy work? Are you unsure how to present it to a skeptical board? Are you wondering how to get started? Learn why United Way engages in public policy and how it enhances your ability to have sustained impact in your community.
After this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe the pros and cons of public policy for United Ways.
- List the steps to get started.
- Identify some of the common pitfalls.
- Identify budgetary considerations.
- Find additional resources from United Way of America.
Tony Ross, President, United