United Way of Allegheny County

The United Way of Allegheny County is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of the people in its community. Located in Pittsburgh, PA, it provides a service that helps those in need by raising funds and providing volunteers for the local communities of the western Pennsylvania region. Additionally, it offers valuable resources and information for people to find help for health and human service-related problems.

Countless organizations benefit from the United Way’s efforts year after year. These organizations nurture children and youth, support older people, strengthen families, promote health and healing, and increase self-sufficiency. In 2002, the United Way of Allegheny County surpassed its record-setting fundraising goal of over $39,000,000!

As the Director of eBusiness, William Vogliano oversees the organization’s Internet strategy. When looking for an email marketing application, he wanted a product that would allow him to connect personally with his customers on a mass scale and a company that knew the importance of having a knowledgeable, responsive technical support staff.

Challenge
The United Way of Allegheny County needed a way to revolutionize its marketing strategies: it wanted to bring its fundraising efforts to the individual on a year-round basis, rather than the historical United Way techniques of just once a year in the workplace. The United Way of Allegheny County decided to engage in a more cost effective marketing medium that would demonstrate to people in its local communities that the United Way benefits everyone and does not just provide value through services for the “other person”.

Why Campaign?
After spending countless hours researching and comparing several different email marketing products, Campaign software was chosen because of its “cost, functionality, and ease-of-deployment”. Additionally, the United Way of Allegheny County found that it was easy to automatically personalize each email message with specific customer information already available in its database. Lastly, the United Way liked how Campaign’s automation capabilities, including its real-time database writeback feature, helped to minimize database management time.

Solution
With the launch of an email marketing program using Campaign software, the United Way of Allegheny County began building personal relationships with its customers, gained community recognition and succeeded in communicating its many benefits. William Vogliano stated that targeted email marketing with Campaign software “helped us assume the role of an infomediary, or information hub, within our community, a natural role for us to assume. We use it to share relevant information so people can find help and give help”.

Results
The United Way of Allegheny County has found that Campaign software is the perfect tool for building relationships with their customers and communities. “Using it in combination with profiling and personalization, (Campaign) software gives United Way of Allegheny County the ability to communicate one-to-one with its customers year-round. By providing valuable, relevant information about health and human service issues in our community, we plan to continue strengthening relationships with our customers,” says William Vogliano.

About Arial Software
Founded in 1993, Arial Software is widely considered the leading industry pioneer in permission email marketing software. The company's products are used by thousands of businesses, non-profits, associations and other groups to compose and send email newsletters and personalized messages directly to subscribers, customers, prospects and members.

If you are interested in a Campaign Enterprise email best practices case study, contact the Arial Software Media & Press Relations department here.