This session will provide a general overview of things all new United Way fundraisers need to know.  Topics will include: current trends in fundraising, basics of managing workplace campaigns, corporate relations, donor stewardship, effective fundraising communications, major gift development, and creating and growing affinity groups.

Come see how the MPOWR software tool can facilitate cross-agency collaboration, providing your community impact initiatives with a robust platform that will create an aligned, wrap-around network in your service area.

Consider joining other attendees, meet new friends, and sample local downtown restaurants at the informal dinner groups networking. Meet in the front lounge of the hotel at 6:00 p.m. to join a group.

Engage with a panel of local United Way professionals sharing how they are successfully implementing health initiatives in their communities. The discussion features projects that reach to multiple levels of community stakeholders.

Session Track: Community Impact

All United Ways can plan and execute an anniversary campaign – a concerted effort to celebrate a United Way anniversary. This session highlights from the newly released “Anniversary Campaign Guide” that will help United Ways craft their anniversary campaign to increase funds, raise awareness, and build the infrastructure for a full planned giving campaign.

Session Track: Marketing & Communications / Resource Development

The United Way workplace campaign has been called one of the greatest social inventions in American history. Why? Because it unites employees in all offices or branches of a company, and gives them an opportunity to donate, voluteer and even speak out for causes that tap into their passion. It's not just about donating dollars, though. It can help build community inside a company and out to live united. Take the next steps to enhance your workplace campaign.

Session Track: Resource Development

It is no longer a question if you should have online marketing, but what are the best strategies to implement and how do you measure effectiveness. Get the most out of your investment of time and money, learn to connect online in meaningful ways, and effectively measure your ROI in various social media programs. Develop a plan to better connect with your community and stakeholders through social media activities.

Session Track: Marketing & Communications

Public trust is the foundation of our brand.  It affects everything we do, from building individual engagement to leveraging effective partnerships.  Strong trust levels are key for our organization, so how is United Way faring on this front?  This session will focus on the results of the latest data and the key patterns of trust both nationally and locally.  Participants will also learn the best options available to our network to build and strengthen engagement in their communities.

Session Track: Marketing & Communications

Everyone Leads: Building Leadership from the Community Up

In “Everyone Leads: Building Leadership from the Community Up,” Paul Schmitz shares Public Allies’ two decades of experience developing more than 5,000 young adults from all backgrounds to become effective leaders in their communities. Paul will invite audience members to consider new leadership possibilities within themselves and their communities. He will also explore leadership development and community building strategies necessary to develop authentic, inclusive, and collaborative leaders; help leaders work better together; and engage community members as assets and partners in solving community problems. Such leadership is necessary for our more network-centric 21st Century social change efforts.

Paul Schmitz

CEO, Leading Inside Out & Senior Advisor, The Collective Impact Forum

Paul Schmitz is CEO of Leading Inside Out, a nonprofit and philanthropic advisory firm, Senior Advisor to The Collective Impact Forum, and the first Innovator in Residence at Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Social Innovation and Impact. Paul is the author of Everyone Leads: Building Leadership from the Community Up. Paul previously served as CEO of the national leadership development organization Public Allies, was a social innovation advisor to the White House, and has been named three separate years to The Nonprofit Times list of the 50 most influential nonprofit leaders in America.

Paul Schmitz will facilitate this interactive session on collaborative leadership. For collective impact to succeed, groups must be as rigorous about building culture as they are about building impact strategies. Participants will explore leadership styles, community building, team dynamics, and collaborative leadership competencies.

Session Track: Community Impact / Leadership & Operations

Breakout Session: Deep Dive Workshop

Local United Ways are conducting community conversations, bringing diverse stakeholders together to reflect on community challenges and opportunities. The results of these conversations help guide United Ways' impact work and help examine the strengths and weaknesses in your area. But community conversations aren't only for community impact. With the knowledge gained and effectively communicated, your United Way can be more relevant, mobilize more people, and ultimately have a greater connection in your community. Learn how local United Ways are successfully integrating community conversations into their marketing and communication strategies.

Session Track: Marketing & Communications

Breakout Session: Deep Dive Workshop

Good content is a must and will position your United Way as the thought leader and community convener. Learn to transform your content from good to great; develop and refine a content plan; and attract, connect, and inspire potential United Way supporters.

Session Track: Marketing & Communications

Breakout Session: Round A

The National Council on Aging’s mission is to improve the lives of millions of older adults, especially those who are struggling. This session will take a deeper dive into some of our online tools, (BCU, ECU, MMM) used in partnership with local organizations, to help meet our social impact goal of improving the health and economic security of ten million older adults by 2020.  

Session Track: Community Impact

Breakout Session: Round A

Strategic planning is critical for an organization's success. Luckily, as part of the network, there are easy to access tools that you already use that can be applied in new, practical ways. In this session, learn how one United Way utilized the UWW Business Performance Index to develop a cohesive strategic plan that directly aligns with network measurements. The session will cover the process, resources, effectively alligning various network tools, and how to engage stakeholders to develop a strong strategic plan.

Session Track: Leadership & Operations

Breakout Session: Round A

Learn from a panel of local United Way professionals how to effectively establish and grow affinity groups such as LINC, Women's Leadership, LGBT, and Leadership Giving. Discuss successes, challenges, and opportunities to engage with affinity groups.

Session Track: Resource Development

Breakout Session: Round B

Leadership is an on-going journey of reflection. The best leaders seek self-awareness and self-improvement deliberately and continuously. Develop the aptitude for leadership-awareness and self-improvement skills in small, regular doses.

Session Track: Leadership & Operations

Breakout Session: Round B

It's hard to know how to reach the wide variety of audiences we need to engage for United Way outreach - from Millennials to Gen X, Baby Boomers, and the Silent Generation - each want different kinds of interaction and levels of engagement with United Way. Based on research conducted in United Ways, and personally learned best practices, this panel of United Way professionals will share how they are successfully connecting across the four generations.

Session Track: Marketing & Communications

Breakout Session: Deep Dive Workshop

Telling the United Way story continues to become more and more complex. Being able to explain the role of United Way in the fast paced world of the new workplace can be a challenge. This session will share results of the State of the United Way Brand and some of the challenges of telling our story. The focus will be a presentation on the updated Brand Narrative that will inform all of our communications going forward and strategies for applying it to a range of communications.

Session Track: Marketing & Communications / Resource Development

Breakout Session: Deep Dive

Sometimes at United Way we treat community impact, marketing, resource development, and admin as silos. However, when we take a more integrated approach to these core elements a tremendous synergy can be unleashed where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  Learn how to break down the silos, and develop an integrated United Way leading to mission realization.

Session Track: Leadership & Operations

Breakout Session: Round A

According to the 2015 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends Report by Content Marketing Institute, in-person events tops the list of the most effective marketing tactics. Unlike other strategies, events gives United Ways a chance to touch all of the senses of an audience, making the experience more memorable. Find out why events should be included in your overall marketing strategy, how to plan events that build brand awareness, and why events can generate excitement around the work of your United Way.

Session Track: Marketing & Communications

Breakout Session: Round A

There are many different opportunities and benefits for United Ways to sell investment products. This session will clearly define what is an investment product and what is not, the best practices in selling products, and how investment products can effectively tell the United Way story.

Session Track: Community Impact / Resource Development

Breakout Session: Round A

Participants will hear about the latest partnership between FamilyWize and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association that can empower people of all communities to live their best lives. Learn about the EmPowered to Serve movement and ways to connect the resources, tools and programs to the communities you serve.  EmPowered to Serve was designed to engage individuals and organizations to build a sustainable culture of health in communities so that all Americans can live in environments that support healthy behaviors, timely & quality care and well-being.

Session Track: Community Impact

Breakout Session: Round B

Engage with a panel of local United Ways to learn how you can change the way you make an impact through innovative funding. This session will detail best practices, lessons learned, and results from innovative funding initiatives developed through federal and local government entitites, community foundations, and community partner collaborations.

Session Track: Community Impact / Resource Development

Breakout Session: Round B

The implementation of 2-1-1 in your community is unique but many local contact centers face similar successes and challenges.  Take the opportunity of this open forum to share with other United Way professionals about effective practices, discuss how 2-1-1 is adapting with changing technological times, and discuss specific questions your program faces.

Session Track: Community Impact

Many United Ways have strong, effective partnerships with Labor Groups. This forum provides United Way professionals the opportunity to openly discuss labor group programs, share successes, examine challenges, and address specific questions.

Session Track: Resource Development

United Way professionals are invited to join together to discuss public policy/advocacy as an organization and network member. This forum will provide an opportunity for United Way professionals to share successes, challenges, and address specific questions about public policy/advocacy.

Session Track: Community Impact / Leadership & Operations

Standard finance can be a challenge for smaller organizations with limited resources. This forum provides United Way professionals the opportunity to discuss financial plans, accounting practices, and challenges faced in standard finance for the smaller organization.

Session Track: Leadership & Operations

What's Love Got to Do With It? United Way and Individual Engagement

United Way has always been about helping individuals improve lives and strengthen communities. Throughout our proud history, in communities large and small, United Way has helped people solve problems bigger than they could on their own. But today, digital disruption, new generational patterns, and shifting corporate and community needs have changed people's expectations for how they connect with United Way. Attend this relevant and fun session to help build United Way's exciting future in the individual digital age.

Mike Brooks

Vice President of Innovation, United Way Worldwide

Mike collaborates with United Ways and partners around the world as Vice President of Innovation at United Way Worldwide. The Innovation team’s current focus is helping more people improve lives and communities through digital tools. 

Prior to joining United Way, Mike worked in social enterprise and consulting. He co-founded incubator The James Gang and first-of-its-kind volunteer concert series The 10,000 Hours Show. 

Mike helped organize the then-largest non-partisan mobilization of young voters in US history in 2004. He is passionate about what young people do every day to change the world.

Mike graduated from The University of Iowa and earned a MPA in human and network dynamics from George Washington University. He is a Marquand Scholar at Yale Divinity School. He hopes to make his grandparents proud.

The Challenge: Achieve Cost Savings and/or Efficiencies in United Way Operations

The Innovations Lab is a facilitated session that is collaborative, engaging, entrepreneurial, fast paced, intense and interactive to inspire implementable results!  We will harness the brainpower of participants to generate energy, ownership and commitment for action.  You’ll work with a diverse group of conference attendees on your selected challenge to achieve cost savings and/or efficiencies in United Way operations.  You will walk away with innovative solutions to pressing problems or exciting new opportunities. Get ready for some serious fun!

Session Track: Leadership & Operations

​The Challenge: Engage Donors in Co-Creating Strategies that Help Families, Children and Youth 

The Innovations Lab is a facilitated session that is collaborative, engaging, entrepreneurial, fast paced, intense and interactive to inspire implementable results!  We will harness the brainpower of participants to generate energy, ownership and commitment for action.  You’ll work with a diverse group of conference attendees on your selected challenge to engage donors in co-creating strategies that help families, children and youth.  You will walk away with innovative solutions to pressing problems or exciting new opportunities. Get ready for some serious fun!

Session Track: Community Impact

U.S. President, United Way Worldwide