Northern Berkshire United Way Restructures Annual Campaign
 Maureen Baran, vice president of campaign for the Northern Berkshire United Way, talks about the new structure of the annual campaign at the Williams Inn on Friday morning. |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Northern Berkshire United Way is adopting a new model for raising money for its 21 member agencies.
At the annual campaign kickoff meeting Friday morning at the Williams Inn, Maureen Baran, vice president of campaign for NBUW, laid out the new process, which involves breaking the nine-month-long annual campaign cycle into five smaller portions.
"The whole campaign has been remapped," Baran said in announcing what will be known as the "Campaign Leadership Committee." "It required a lot of time by a lot of people."
The logic behind the change is twofold, Baran said. First and foremost is the need to offer shorter volunteer opportunities to people who might not be able to commit to the entire nine-month campaign.
"We had to get smarter about the use of our volunteers' time," she said.
So instead of volunteers committing to the entire campaign, people instead will be asked to commit to one of five phases, each last around two months. The five phases are employee contributions; small business contributions; corporate donations; "red feather" donations (of more than $500); and professional donations (by doctors, lawyers, etc.).
The second reason behind the change is a using a more targeted approach to raising money. And how much money does NBUW want to raise this year? The goal announced Friday morning is $525,000, which represents a $5,000 increase over the actual amount that was raised last year, Executive Director Joseph McGovern said.
McGovern said he is optimistic that changing to this new structure will help NBUW meet that goal.
"If you're not moving forward, you're moving backward," he said after the meeting had ended. "I'm excited. I'm really looking forward."
McGovern said he already has seen how compressing the time expectation for volunteers can have a positive effect. The group of people that used to be on the allocation committee, which decides how much each member agency receive, also used to be the nearly yearlong liaison to the agency. A change already was made to compress that into a six-week volunteer stint.
"We went from 14 volunteers to 32," he said. "It's obviously more efficient for them. The most precious thing we all have is time."
Baran said she was impressed by the group of people who came up with the new structure and said NBUW is ready to implement it.
"The people who came together had their hearts in the right place and their heads in the right place," she said. "It's exciting this year. It's going to be a challenge. We're not afraid of a challenge."
Also at Friday's meeting, the officers and board of directors for 2014-15 were announced and voted upon, with Amy Giroux of Adams Community Bank remaining as president. McGovern also unveiled NBUW's new Facebook page and urged people to "like" it. The 100 or so people in attendance on Friday also heard from Leo Marable, the team leader of workforce development for Goodwill of the Berkshires, one of the United Way's member agencies.
Marable shared his inspirational story of finding his place at Goodwill after going through the agency's GoodWorks soft skills program.
"This program taught me a lot," said Marable, who said his two goals in completing the program has been to show his young son that hard work pays off and to be in a place where he could propose to his girlfriend. Thanks to the program and to his subsequent hiring at Goodwill — where he quickly rose through the ranks to become head cashier and then team leader — he has reached those goals.
"I was able to show my son what it means to be successful," he said, adding that he is also in the process of planning a wedding.
Most importantly, though, he said he is happy to be able to give back to an organization and a community that gave so much to him.
"At one point I was in need and I got the help. And now it's my opportunity to help others in need," he said. "We're not just a clothing retail store. We are a way to fill the void that is missing in some people's lives."
Tags: annual meeting, breakfast, campaign, fundraising, NBUW,
