Engage more leadership givers

As an employee campaign coordinator, we know you're looking for the easiest way to get the biggest bang out of your campaign. One way to do that is to increase the number of individuals who are leadership givers by contributing $1,000 or more annually to the campaign.

Our leadership giving program offers an excellent opportunity for individuals to marry their commitment to the community with professional and personal growth through members-only events and other networking opportunities.

To increase the number of leadership givers in your organization, you'll want to focus on the company's top leadership and other individuals who you think will be interested in increasing their involvement in the community. Simply, contact your United Way campaign representative and ask to set up an Executive Presentation. Then pull your executives and staff together who have expressed interest in becoming more involved in the community or who you believe would benefit from the information.

These meetings offer several benefits to both the participants and your company's campaign. Some include:

1. The small group setting. This intimate gathering allows the United Way representative to focus on specific needs and questions your employees have. They're able to get the answers they want and learn about the ways United Way can benefit them and their individual philanthropic goals.
2. A new tone for your company's campaign. When employees see their top leadership and other colleagues more involved in the campaign, they tend to increase their participation, which can only reap positive results for your campaign as a whole.
3. Building awareness. At United Way we continually want to inform you about the impact your donations are making in the community. By allowing us a few minutes to talk about that as well as the additional benefits of becoming a leadership giver, your team will better understand what United Way is all about.

Company Spotlight: Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Economic downturns and other issues plaguing metro Detroiters have made campaigns much more difficult in recent years. In a time where most campaigns have seen some form of decrease, Enterprise Rent-A-Car has instead dramatically increased its campaign.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car continues to raise the bar with each campaign. In 2007, the company increased its campaign 45 percent from the previous year to $214,000. Much of this increase can be attributed to Christopher Gould, group vice president, and their dedicated campaign coordinator, Patty Lis. To grow their campaign in the current economy, they launched an energetic and informative Leadership Giving campaign and added 16 new Signature Donors (those who give $1,000-$4,999 annually).

In addition, Enterprise offered a 50 percent match to employee giving, which boosted participation in the campaign to an outstanding 89.3 percent of employees. The employer match motivates more people to give by allowing their dollars to go a bit further.

“I really don't know how I could possibly do better than last year, but we will," said Lis. "We have set goals for all of our locations throughout the state of Michigan, and we will introduce the element of competition among them.”

Enterprise seems to have found the secret recipe for success. From its executive support and large company match to the introducation of friendly competition, the company seems to have overcome economic pressures and created one of the most successful campaigns to date.

Kurt's Corner

Region leads in falling home values

Over the past several years, homeowners in Southeast Michigan have been feeling the effects of decreasing home values. The glut of unsold homes -- many put on the market as the result of job loss and a subsequent move out of this region – coupled with the foreclosure crisis, have served to drive down the value of our homes. Homeowners who must sell are finding that they cannot get out of the house what they still owe, unless they have been in the house for a number of years or made a large down payment at the outset. Property tax bills, while showing a decreasing assessed value, are often still going up thanks to the Headlee Amendment. This is seen as “adding insult to injury” and homeowners, as well as legislators, are fighting to make sure taxes cannot increase unless assessments increase as well.

The Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index is one measure of home values that allows us to compare Detroit to other major regions in the country. The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices measure the residential housing market and allow us to track changes in the value of the residential real estate market in 20 metropolitan regions across the United States. These indices use the repeat sales pricing technique to measure housing markets. First developed by Karl Case and Robert Shiller, the methodology collects data on single-family home re-sales, capturing re-sold sale prices to form sale pairs. The index family consists of 20 regional indices and two composite indices as aggregates of the regions.

The index for May 2008 was just released and the results for the Detroit metropolitan area[1] are not good. The index value for 2008 was 92.61, the lowest it has been since 1999. This means that the current value of homes in Southeast Michigan is at the same level as it was nine years ago, posing a problem for homeowners who had hoped to grow their investment. While home values have decreased in the other 19 markets that are measured, none has dropped as far. The graph and accompanying chart portray the housing value indices for the four Midwestern markets – Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis and Detroit – from May 1991 through May 2008. The indexes for Detroit and Cleveland reached their high points in 2005, while housing prices in Chicago and Minneapolis continued to increase in value for one more year. The drop for each, between their respective highs and May 2008’s index, are as follows:

• Chicago – 10.0 percent
• Cleveland – 10.7 percent
• Detroit – 26.1 percent
• Minneapolis – 17.8 percent

Table 1. S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for Midwestern Metros, 1991 - 2008

Figure 1. S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for Midwestern Metros, 1991 - 2008

A little housekeeping

The information above is just a sampling of all that United Way's research department has to offer. As United Way's director of Research, I have always seen my task as one that presents the facts. We are not here to gloss over anything or to paint the numbers as worse than they are. We're here to present a real look at the statistics that make up our region and how they apply to community issues -- in both positive and negative ways.

In the near future, the re-design of our Web site will allow the Research Department to have a more regular presence. We will be presenting weekly facts and maps that you will be able to use, whether it's to improve your service delivery, incorporate in grant applications, or just throw out in casual conversation. We're here to provide useful information for your personal and professional interests.

Some of these facts will mirror the depth of the economic crisis we face in southeast Michigan, while others will show that all is not lost. We'll let you know when we're up and running and I invite you to visit often and make comments and suggestions.

Give

Encourage your leadership givers to get involved

United Way is hosting a town hall meeting for leadership givers on August 27 from 8:30 a.m. - 11 a.m. The meeting will focus on the Financial Stability aspect of United Way's Agenda for Change and will explore two of our newest initiatives -- The Center for Working Families and the Alliance for Economic Inclusion.

This is a great opportunity for the leadership givers in your company to learn more about the impact their United Way contributions are making in the community. Please pass the information along and encourage them to attend if their schedules allow. To learn more or RSVP, simply e-mail Tiffany.Chaney@LiveUnitedSEM.org

Advocate

Sign up to advocate

Advocacy is an important component to change. By becoming an advocate you can use your voice to influence our elected officials and community leaders. At United Way, we're always looking for people to join our advocacy ranks.

To be a part of the movement, click here.

Volunteer

Help kids succeed

Kids are headed back to school next month, and Operation ABC is gearing up to help them read. If you've signed up to volunteer, but haven't yet attended training, there are opportunities to do so in September. You must have your DHS paperwork cleared before being able to attend a training or be placed in a school for the fall. For more information, or for help getting all of the steps completed, contact Laura.Stanton@LiveUnitedSEM.org.

If you know of someone who would be interested in joining the volunteer efforts, please forward this information. They can register to volunteer here.