Campaign Kickoff 2011

It’s that time of year again: the leaves are changing colors, the air is crisp, and people are bringing out their sweaters.  Yes, it’s time for the Sherburne County Area United Way’s campaign kickoff!  The kickoff is done every year, but this time around there are two changes.

The first change isn’t directly related to the campaign kickoff, it’s our Business Blitz.  For the first time, the Sherburne County Area United Way is having a Business Blitz.  The blitz will be on Tuesday, September 27^th, and all local business are invited to participate.  The goal of the Business Blitz is to make connections with local businesses, and collect a one-time donation from participating businesses.  Like all other money given to the Sherburne County Area United Way, donations collected during the Business Blitz stay local, and will be used to fund local agencies and programs.

The second change is that this year, our campaign kickoff is going to have a carnival atmosphere, including a magician and fun food!  We are also encouraging networking at this year’s kickoff, both to let local business people get to know each other, but also to facilitate the sharing of campaign information between companies.  Our goal for this year’s kickoff is for people to get to know each other and for everyone to come away with information that will help create a better campaign.  There will also be speakers talking about the impact of the Sherburne County Area United Way in the community.

The Sherburne County Area United Way’s campaign kickoff will be held at the Elk River Golf Club from 11:30 – 1:30 on September 29^th.  For more information on ways to contribute to the Sherburne County Area United Way, or for more information on either the Business Blitz of campaign kickoff, please call 763-633-5886 or email joy@shercounitedway.org or jenna@shercounitedway.org.

Word of the Week: Volunteer

One thing that is very important to a nonprofit organization is the relationships that are built between the organization and the community it serves.  There are many different types of relationships that exist between an organization and the community, and one of the most important is between the organization and its volunteers.  Dictionary.com defines volunteer as “a person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for a service or undertaking”, but to a nonprofit, volunteers are so much more than that.

I’ll use an example from last week to show you what I mean.  Last Thursday we had a general meeting and wine tasting for the Sherburne County Area United Way’s Women’s Leadership Council.  The Women’s Leadership Council is composed entirely of volunteers from around our service area, and they do amazing things, such as raising the funds that made our summer programming possible.  It’s because of people like the members of the Women’s Leadership Council that I would like to alter the dictionary’s definition of ‘volunteer’ to have “to make a substantial difference” at the end of the definition.  Because that’s what volunteers do: they make a substantial difference within an organization and within the community.

Why is this so?  One reason is that volunteers that we’ve worked with have been truly passionate about the mission of the Sherburne County Area United Way.  Together, we have believed in and worked towards the same thing: fixing the source of problems in the community, not just dealing with the symptoms of the problem.  Looking once more to our Women’s Leadership Council as an example, they are focused on teaching self-reliance skills to youth, which will give youth the tools to help themselves as they grow.  This has allowed us to get this programming into the community, which benefits us all.

While we do have great examples of volunteers doing amazing things in our community, there is always room for more help.  For a list of volunteer opportunities with the Sherburne County Area United Way and other local organization you can check our website: www.shercounitedway.org/pages/GETINVOLVED.