With a successful campaign now behind them, leaders with the United Way of Elizabethton/Carter County are focusing on the next campaign and looking for a new approach.
On Friday, UWECC Community Impact Coordinator Josh McKinney gathered a group of community leaders together to begin brainstorming ideas for next year’s campaign.
This year marked only the second time in 16 years that the local United Way met their annual fundraising goal. McKinney attributed a lot of that success to the hard work of Corey Paulson, who served as the Campaign Chair for the 2016-17 campaign.
“Ultimately it was him by himself,” McKinney said. “He had the support of the Board and the support of the organization, but he didn’t have a team that he could leverage.”
For the upcoming campaign, McKinney and the Board of UWECC want to put together a Campaign Cabinet that would assist and support the Campaign Chair. Other United Way community agencies have used the campaign cabinet model before, but McKinney said as far as he knows the United Way of Elizabethton/Carter County has never adopted that model.
McKinney said the Cabinet will be a 13-person team with each member having a specific area of focus to help the agency reach the campaign goals.
During Friday’s brainstorming session, those in attendance helped suggest the names of community members who might be well suited to work with the specific areas of focus. McKinney said the agency is currently looking for individuals who would be interested in assisting with the 2017-18 campaign either by serving as the Campaign Chair, working with the Campaign Cabinet, or helping out in other ways.
“If they feel like they have something to offer the Cabinet, we would love their help,” McKinney said.
Those serving on the Cabinet would need to commit 2-3 hours per month to work with the Cabinet before the September kick-off.
“It will be a little more time intensive during that September through January campaign time frame,” McKinney said.
Anyone interested in helping out the United Way of Elizabethton/Carter County in any way with the upcoming fundraising campaign is asked to contact Community Impact Coordinator Josh McKinney at 423-543-6975 or by e-mail to director@uwayecc.org.