United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County has kicked off its annual giving campaign with a Virtual Kickoff, a fun, film noir-style video message titled “The Case of the Successful Campaign.”
The short video follows Detective Bill Dingblocks (“building blocks”) as he seeks out people who give, advocate and volunteer to make their community a better place in the areas of Education, Income and Health.
(United Way’s 2010 Virtual Campaign Kickoff can be found on youtube.)
This is the second year United Way used the Virtual Kickoff concept, moving away from a traditional event that drew a couple of hundred people each year in favor of a video that was seen by more than 1,000. The Virtual Kickoff video is being shared by e-mail, blogs and social media, and United Way staff and volunteers hope those who see it will share it with their friends.
In years past, campaign kickoff was a time to announce a fund raising goal for the organization, said Chris Young, 2011 campaign chair. In recent years, it has become a time to get the community engaged about supporting positive change in our community in the areas of Education, Income and Health, United Way’s three focus areas.
“We all have a stake in our neighbors’ success, and it’s critical for people to know they have more power than they think to positively impact our community,” said Young. “One way to do that is giving through United Way. Then pass it on and share United Way with their friends and families.
“We were listening when the community told us they wanted our focus to be on making sure every child succeeds academically, socially and emotionally, on people meeting their basic needs and becoming economically self-sufficient and on people being safe and having the knowledge and resources to be healthy,” said David Bailey, president and CEO of United Way. “Do we want to raise more dollars this year to meet those goals? Absolutely. And we’re going to go for it.”
Thanks to six companies that held their campaigns prior to kickoff, United Way is beginning its campaign with more than $600,000 already secured toward increasing the dollars available to fund work in Education, Income and Health.
These “trailblazing” companies had strong, early campaigns:
• Asheville Radio Group
• Clean Environments
• Irene Wortham Center
• Forest Commercial Bank
• RBC Bank
• United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County
United Way mobilizes people into collective action through Giving, Advocating and Volunteering in the areas of Education, Income and Health. We believe these are the building blocks of a good life for everyone. That’s what it means to LIVE UNITED!
By making results-based investments in our community, we support long-lasting, measurable change in people’s lives right here in Asheville and Buncombe County.
For more information, contact: David Bailey, President and CEO of United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County – 255-0696
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.