Welcome to the final issue of United Way’s 2006 Campaign Tutorial E-Newsletter series. We hope that you found this series informative and useful. Please take a moment to fill out this short survey help us improve our service to you.

Now, for tips on how to tie up all the loose ends when your campaign closes, keep reading!

Remember to say thanks! It’s been said that you only get one chance to make a first impression—and the same can be said for a last impression. Closing this year’s campaign with heartfelt thanks to donors will leave them with a good feeling and even more receptive next year. Don’t miss your only chance to thank the people who dug deep to make your campaign a success. Here are some tried-and-true ways to let your co-workers know you appreciate their generosity:

• Stop by to thank people in person for their efforts. It’s amazingly effective!
• Send personalized thank-you letters (using their names instead of “Dear employee”). Even better, hand-write notes to donors letting them know that YOU appreciate their gifts.
• Publicly acknowledge your team and CEO for their contributions of time and talent.
• Close the campaign with a celebration breakfast or lunch, or meet after work for “happy hour.” Use this event to announce the winners of your silent auction or hold your campaign raffle, announce the amount raised and participation increases, and thank your team and everyone who donated.
• Give everyone a small gift of thanks. For a personal touch, consider baking cookies. If money is tight, a chocolate kiss attached to your thank you note is a nice touch.

Reporting Here are some tips and reminders on how to properly report your campaign results.

• Report often—weekly if your employees are taking the Step Up Challenge. Envelopes are due by 4:00PM on Wednesdays to enter the next week’s prize drawings.
• Report regularly to your CEO and team if your campaign lasts more than a few days.
• At the close of your campaign, make sure to report out to everyone at your company to let them know how the campaign did.

When filling out envelopes containing pledge forms:

• Record only the amount that is actually in each envelope. Please do not submit a running total on each envelope.
• Make sure to circle “no” if your campaign is not final, and “yes” if your campaign is final.
• If your company is giving a corporate gift, make sure to include a corporate pledge form filled out with the company name, the amount of the gift, and an authorized signature.
• Make sure to include your name, phone number, and signature on the report form.
• Remember to make photocopies of pledge forms for your payroll department.
• If you’ll be reporting your results by spreadsheet, first make sure to have the correct setup for your data fields. When you’re finished, send the completed Excel file by e-mail to jscott@unitedway-cny.org.

Watch for continuing updates
This may be the final issue of the 2006 Campaign Tutorial E-Newsletter Series, but that doesn’t mean you’ve heard the last from us! We’ll be sending you regular updates on the Step Up Challenge and campaign progress reports.

In the meantime, below are some links that you may find useful:

• E-Newsletter Archive. Overzealous with your delete button while cleaning out your inbox? No problem. Click to link to our entire 2006 E-Newsletter series.
• Campaign Toolbox. You may want to bookmark this page, which includes everything from campaign ideas to downloadable pledge forms and even our 2006 Campaign Videos.

Thank you for all your efforts on behalf of United Way and our community! We’ll be back in touch soon.