NEA Impact: Ep. 11 - Heather Coats

It's so crazy because it can be different every day.

This week we have a softball tournament coming up on Saturday, which is one of our fundraising events.

So this week I'm doing a lot of tournament prep, which could be anything from setting tents up at the softball field to making coaches packets, um, emails.

The, the admin side of nonprofit, I think a lot of people don't know the skill set that you really need to do that well, that you really...

This is really being run like a business atmosphere where you would do if you owned your own business.

Um, you know, the accounting from HR to, to, um, making sure that you're having things that you're having to purchase at the best cost available to save that money because the donor is donating their money to cover things like that.

Um, to then all the things that, you know, kind of warm your heart.

Last week we had a caller call in, and he was, um, just doing such a good job coming out of some hardships, had been on a great track, got a job, did not have a vehicle to get a job.

We were able to get him a bicycle that he requested, um, to get to work every day.

So a day like that is such a wonderful day because you see that immediate impact.

So, you know, it's things where you have a caller call in and you're able to get them a bicycle to get them to their job so now they can, you know, take care of themselves, to the admin side of it, which is so important too.

Um, and then every day, I would say the biggest thing that we do here is think about the donor and think about the recipient of that donation.

So how do we acquire new donors so we can give out more money? How do we keep the donors that we have? And how do we meet the needs of those recipients, agencies or the public that are needing those? That's probably what drives the forefront of my day 99% of the time.

Okay.

Yeah, seems like a lot going on, uh, for what you're doing.

And so, uh, has the organization evolved over the last, uh, few years? Or, you know, could you speak a little bit on that when you first arrived until, until now?

Yeah, even though it's been about four and a half years, I'd have to look at the actual date of when I started, but about four and a half years since I've been here, it really has.

So fundraising in general is, has seen some shifts.

So United Way, when it first started, you know, United Way is a global organization.

One of the really awesome things about United Way is, if you get involved and plugged in in your city, chances are if you move to a new city they're gonna have one there as well.

But each United Way gets to work independently because the needs that, even in Arkansas, the needs we have here, because we live in the Delta, are gonna be different than, say, those needs in Little Rock or, um, you know, in Fayetteville area.

So when we are looking at what's happening, we look at trends for fundraising of course.

And so some of those things that have been happening is, you know, United Way was the first organization that came into agencies and said, "Hey, deduct from your payroll." And luckily that was well received and so businesses said, "Yes, we'll let you come in." So just like when you check, you know, you want your insurance or Christmas club to come out, you can give to United Way.

That's kind of seen a shift.

While we are so thankful we still have many, many businesses in town that do that, some donors are wanting to go more to an event space fundraising, so they want to go to a ball or they want to go to, uh, an event, you know, like the softball tournament.