United Way Dips into Virtual Fundraising

At the end of 2008, the United Way in the Cincinnati and norther Kentucky region found itself falling $1-million short of its funding expectations. Over 100,000 people were out of work in the region, and on top of that, younger workers, retirees and moms were becoming more difficult to target. The solution? A robust online presence, part of which involved partnering with InXpo to create a number of digital initiatives.

The United Way dove into Twitter and Facebook and enlisted the help of bloggers, but also developed its own virtual environment using InXpo. The first project was a virtual kickoff August 26, which included a presentation by Rob Reifsnyder, president of the United Way of Greater Cincinnati, and by Proctor & Gamble's Chairman, A.G. Lafley, who is the marketing company for the United Way. P&G funded InXpo's work alongside a grant of $80K from the United Way.

“People are always surprised when they realize that United Way and its agencies touch nearly everyone in our community,” said Lafley. “In this spirit, we want to get more people involved in the campaign than ever before and the virtual kickoff is just one way to do it.”

“P&G shared the virtual event concept with United Way as a way to expand both the reach and impact of this year’s campaign,” said Charlotte R. Otto, campaign vice chair and retired global external relations officer at P&G.

The kickoff will be archived for 90 days at www.liveunitedgc.org and other virtual initiatives are expected in the future.

Comments

[Kevin Dugan]

>>The United Way dove into Twitter and Facebook and enlisted the help of bloggers>>

Hello! This is a great post. As one of the volunteers who organized the blogger outreach for the Cincinnati campaign, I wanted to give you some details around this portion of the campaign.

All of the social media efforts are focused around wecanliveunited.org. It channels UWGC's existing efforts around Facebook and Twitter but will also serve as the home to blogger stories that are told throughout the campaign.

THe advocacy section of the site is designed to help others spread the word as well.

Thanks!