How2Day: Ideas to Raise Money for the United Way

The United Way engages volunteers from across the world. Ryan McVay/Lifesize/Getty Images
The United Way is a nonprofit organization with offices across the world that focuses on forming partnerships with other nonprofits to solve financial, educational and health problems. The organization provides funding and volunteers to charitable groups working to improve the standards of living in their local communities. As you raise money for the United Way, consider activities that will be easy for donors and community members to participate in regardless of their income levels.

A web campaign is a way to raise money without the cost of hosting an event. Set up an online campaign on a website like First Giving or Go Fund Me, which allow you to create a profile and unique URL that can be distributed to family and friends. The key to a successful online fundraising campaign is visibility; you will need to get the link out to as many people as possible. Take advantage of the social networks of your friends, family, and volunteers. Send out an email explaining your effort and ask that the link be forwarded on; alternately, post the link on Facebook and Twitter, and comment on forums with the link in the signature. You can also advertise it on personal and organizational blogs, in print media, or on the radio and television. Because the United Way is a credible, recognizable organization, you will not face the barriers of suspicion and lack of knowledge, and donors can give as much or as little as they are able with a simple web form.

With a jail 'n' bail fundraiser, you can provide an entertaining "arrest" situation and raise money for the United Way in a public space. To start, arrange for a jail area to be set up in a public place, like a shopping mall or a busy sidewalk. Community members can pay a fee to have someone arrested by people posing as policemen or even off-duty officers; the person will be picked up and brought to jail. Once there, the jailed people must make calls to their family and friends for pledges to raise bail money, which can be set at a general level or changed per person. They may also make pleas to passersby to raise additional funds. According to the Moultrie Observer, a jail 'n' bail fundraiser held by a sheriff's office in Georgia raised over $3,000.

When you want to raise money for the United Way, loose change can add up to a significant amount; a change collection is also a way to involve volunteers of all ages in the fundraising effort. If school children are participating, you can have them go door to door, put out containers in the school office or set up a table at lunch. Ask older volunteers to set out donation cups in grocery stores, coffee shops and retail outlets. You might also approach currency exchange places in airports to see if they will allow you to place a donation cup at the window; because exchange facilities do not convert coins, travelers can donate their change before they leave the country.

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