Our Personality
Direct—clear, honest and to the point
Compassionate—see the humanity amid the numbers and data
Approachable—relatable, relevant, trustworthy amid information overload
Our Values
Unity—standing together as a community for the good of our community
Innovation—trying out-of-the-box solutions to issues and partnering with agencies
who do the same
Integrity—doing what’s right for our community and the people in it, even in adverse
or tense situations
Tone of Voice
Compelling leads our tone. We inspire action by putting our audience in touch with issues through personal stories and successes—as well as by presenting facts and data in digestible, relevant ways. Sometimes we hit people hard with reality; other times we lead them toward an emotion and allow it to percolate. Both approaches guide people into our brand so they see themselves in our mission and work. We respect people’s intelligence and present them actionable ways to put their energy and expertise— big, small, wide or narrow—to use in solving problems and creating change.
Brand Attributes, Scale, Leverage, Influence And Effectiveness
These are the value adds—what United Way uniquely brings to the table when a donor invests.
SCALE: Can we take an effective program or asset and grow it to the size or coverage needed
to make asignificant impact on the problem?
LEVERAGE: Using something to the maximum advantage; the idea that an appropriate amount
of effort or investment can create a larger result.
INFLUENCE: The power to share decision-making or policy to ensure a benefit from someone
or something, especially through status, contacts or wealth.
EFFECTIVENESS: The degree to which something is successful in producing a desired result, metric or impact.
Examples of the four attributes as they relate to The Parent-Child Home Program (PCHP):
SCALE
Pilot program served 160 families with three agencies, now serving 1,000 families with nine agencies. Families participate for two years, then graduate and new families access the program. The cumulative number of young children who are prepared to succeed or now in successful in school grows throughout King County.
LEVERAGE
Donor dollars go farther by leveraging $2M per year of county Best Starts for Kinds dollars and an additional $1M for the city of Seattle We leverage our long standing relationships with agencies throughout the county to both inform us of where the need is the greatest and administer the program in a culturally relevant manner.
INFLUENCE
United Way is at the table with the city, county and through our impact council to inform and build a better early education system. Advocating for the PCHP as a critical model of home-visiting to prepare children for school success. Our influence and the effectiveness of the program has resulted in a combined $3M annually from the city ans county.
EFFECTIVENESS
95% of the families enrolled in the program complete the program. Children who complete the program are 30 percentage points more likely to graduate high school.
PCPH Graduates:
• Score higher on readiness scores than both the comparison group and state average.
• Significantly out-perform comparison group in reading and math at Grade 3.
Examples of the four attributes used in blog posts:
High reinforcement of three attributes—headers call out attributes with specific examples
Moderate reinforcement of influence—copy only, using headers
Moderate reinforcement of scale—visually spotlighted with callout box
Moderate to low reinforcement of effectiveness and influence—copy only, spotlighting stats
Low reinforcement of leverage—copy only
Low reinforcement of scale—woven in but not spotlighted specifically
Using Our Value Prop: Together, We’re Building...
Our full value proposition: Together, we’re building a community where people have homes, students graduate and families are financially stable.
The purpose of the value prop is to show what United Way brings to the table around issues people are aware of but might not associate with United Way:
– Unity (“together”)
– Reader sees self in the work (“together, we’re)
– Value of progress and moving forward (“building a community”)
– People at center of work (“where people have…”)
– Focus (3 focus areas of work)
• It's good to use as conclusion to blog posts to tie back to brand, but do not force it if it takes away from the genuine, real-person voice in the blog post.
• It's OK to shorten to drive home the priority area. For example: “Together, we’re building a community where students graduate.” or “Together, we’re building a community where all people have homes.” or “That’s why we’re building a community where…”
In success stories: Show reality, struggle, disparities and inequities
Story and image
Story, images and subheaders
In general blog posts: Call out hard facts, ownership and social responsibility
Examples of Fight Vs. Win
• Images on website landing pages reflect win; accompanying copy and details bring in fight element.
• Blog posts images, when possible, reflect emotion first, which can be fight or win, depending on
or story. Fight examples include calls to contact legislators for policy change, calls/urges for
homelessness solutions or involvement. Win examples include success stories (mostly of smiling
clients), volunteering-related posts, and most financial stability and early learning blog posts.
Guidelines For Client Stories As Blog Posts
• Stay as true to client quotes as possible, only fixing typos or adjusting punctuation
• Use client first name. Change first name if client or agency requests. (I don’t see a need for a last
name that outweighs the importance of maintaining a client’s privacy)
• Highlight powerful client quotes/phrases by using them as subheadings, in callout quotes or with
bold type.
• United Way role in client and/or grantee agency should be obvious, not buried.
• Pay attention to the photo and lead of the story and any quotes/callouts. Make sure they do not
reinforce racial tensions, disparities or other stereotypes. Make sure they do not sensationalize an
aspect of the story and therefore exploit the client in some way for United Way or reader benefit.
Strike a balance between the story and what will affect the reader toward action.
• Always link to webpage of United Way program that client worked with.
Sharing Online Content
• Stay as true to client quotes as possible, only fixing typos or adjusting punctuation
• Use client first name. Change first name if client or agency requests. (I don’t see a need for a last
name that outweighs the importance of maintaining a client’s privacy)
• Highlight powerful client quotes/phrases by using them as subheadings, in callout quotes or with
bold type.
• United Way role in client and/or grantee agency should be obvious, not buried.
• Pay attention to the photo and lead of the story and any quotes/callouts. Make sure they do not
reinforce racial tensions, disparities or other stereotypes. Make sure they do not sensationalize an
aspect of the story and therefore exploit the client in some way for United Way or reader benefit.
Strike a balance between the story and what will affect the reader toward action.
• Always link to webpage of United Way program that client worked with.
Social Media
— UnitedWayKC
— @unitedwaykc
— @unitedwaykc
#JoinTheExchange
#StandAgainstHomelessness
#InitiateChange
#iStandForYouth
#LeadUnited
— Community Resource Exchange
— [Evergreen] Homelessness
— Annual Breakfast
— Reconnecting Youth
— Emerging Leaders
#JoinTheExchange
#StandAgainstHomelessness
#InitiateChange
#iStandForYouth
#LeadUnited
— Community Resource Exchange
— [Evergreen] Homelessness
— Annual Breakfast
— Reconnecting Youth
— Emerging Leaders
How is Material “United Way”?
• Materials should always have an element of the “togetherness” that is United Way. In the past, this has been communicated via use of the phrase “Live United.”“Live United” is no longer used in sentence form within copy but can still be used to promote this “togetherness”—for example, on event T-shirts. “Live United” does not lead messaging but is secondary at most.
• Use “we” and “our” as pronouns instead of “United Way.” This creates a more personal tone, versus
a distant, corporate tone. “Our community” implies a united ownership, whereas “the community” is
passive and indifferent.
• United Way’s partnerships are its strength. Therefore, phrases such as the below should be used in
most materials, especially blog posts, web content and other digital content.
United, we fight [poverty, homelessness, etc.]
– United, we win…
– We’re uniting for…
– Together, we’re…
– With your help…
– “Let’s do this…”
– “Let’s make this happen…”
Leads with "together" at end of first paragraph
Concludes with "with your help" call to action
