UWSWGA - SOAR Focus Group Transcripts

This transcript was exported on Dec 16, 2021 - view latest version here.

Rachelle K. Scott: Yes. I agree with everything that was said by Matt and Mary, and I'd also add maybe the element of communication and awareness as to the benefit of giving with United Way. I know that I have not seen as many ads, and because the kickoffs have been more virtual or out of sight for me for whatever reason, it's one of those things I know that we have the success stories usually where people will come and talk about what the United Way dollars have meant to them or the donations, how they've been spent. Rachelle K. Scott: I'm presuming that there's still the quarterly meetings from a perspective of fiduciary accountability, and making sure that the outcomes are being measured in that. But the community, the broader community, do they get to see just how much good the United Way is doing with the contributions, and being able to see how much more could be done if they gave more. And what, from the aspiration standpoint, what could be done with this amount of money, if it was a million dollars last year, what could 1.3 million or 1.5 million? Just kind of thinking about it when you're visioning and stretching forth and having a goal. It's like, what do you plan to deliver? And then be accountable to that, and reporting, and celebrating that success, and hoping to broadcast the message, and letting the broader community know just what the United Way is doing, and then that garners more trust, and then the dollars will follow, I believe. Reggie Hammond: Yeah. Okay. Okay. Is there anything that, when you think about United Way's purpose, that people are really passionate about? Matt Atkins: That's very individualized in what people want to give or volunteer with. My personal passion lies more with lifting people out of poverty. That would be my preference, is to rise our entire community out of poverty because this is a very impoverished community, as I'm sure you know, having grown up here and having family here, it certainly makes the news and often it's shed in a negative light, but there's so much opportunity here for that. And there's a number of organizations that are working to do exactly that, is lift people out of poverty and stop the downward trend for individuals and young people. So, that's where my passion lies, but we have members of our board from really all across walks of life, and some are so incredibly focused on health, some are so incredibly focused on the education components. And they all work together, which is why we feel like we're doing such a great job in our community, and why we feel like we're well poised to do an even better job within our community, because we have that shared focus, although different passions as components of that focus. Matt Atkins: So, there again, I think that's going to be individually messaged and tailored, but that also, to me, creates opportunities to further tailor our marketing and our fundraising efforts to those individuals. This is isn't, okay, well, give to United Way, and you're going to give to all four of these pillars, why don't we just tailor those messages so that people can give to what they're most passionate about? We'll respect the donors' wishes, we'll make sure that their funds, if they choose to do so, or go in towards health, or towards income, or towards education, we'll be sure to respect our donors' wishes.

Reggie Hammond:

UWSWGA - SOAR Focus Group 1 (Completed 11/16/21) Transcript by Rev.com

Page 17 of 21

Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter maker