Even the best messages fall flat if there is no call to action that’s lifted up. An eye-catching flyer about your early grade reading initiative at the local coffee shop should do more than describe the initiative, it should connect people with your United Way (via website, Facebook, Twitter etc.) and set out a concrete call to action that they can carry out though your website.
The calls to action that United Ways develop in bringing early grade reading strategies to life will be critical. They must help individuals and institutions relate to a cause, see a clear pathway to action and see that they can be part of this effort.
As part of your communications strategy, push out calls to action that will engage individuals in activities that can help. Some examples:
- Spend an hour reading to kids at the local library.
- Become a volunteer tutor at a local elementary school or in an after school or summer program.
- Encourage a friend to volunteer with them in an afterschool or summer reading program.
- Buy books for disadvantaged kids in the community.
- Donate to the community’s afterschool or summer reading programs.
- Join an e-newsletter list to find out more about early grade reading activities in the community.
Later, after you’ve developed strategies, you can refine your call to action (and messaging) to underscore those strategies and enlist and enroll people to help drive the strategies your community will be pursuing. Starting calls to action before that can begin to build a cadre of supporters and only strengthen a community’s support for its children.
