Mary Foster: The power of generosity, Tyler Gives and United Way’s community impact

MIKE LANDESS: Four years ago, Tyler Gives was created in the midst of the pandemic. It’s hosted by United Way of Smith County. A one-stop, one-day, one-menu, one-website way to give to the charitable organization of your choice. I’m Mike Landess for UT Tyler Radio. With more on Tyler Gives is United Way of Smith County Campaign Director Mary Foster. Welcome.

MARY FOSTER: Thank you for having me.

LANDESS: Give us the nuts and bolts of exactly what Tyler Gives is about and how it began.

FOSTER: Wonderful. Thank you for the opportunity. This is Tyler Gives-It’s an annual campaign that is specific to our 26 nonprofits that we partner with. We needed another opportunity to have a creative way of reaching donors during the pandemic, because people couldn’t get out physically. We couldn’t go to our businesses that we would normally meet with, and so we were anticipating a shortfall. Of course, the shortfall didn’t happen because everyone being at home thought about, “Well, while I’m well, what can I do?” And Tyler being the generous community that it is, when we offered up a way to give online, they came out in droves. Our first year we raised $168,000 online.

LANDESS: In the pandemic?

FOSTER: Yes.

LANDESS: That’s amazing.

FOSTER: Overall, because there was a $50,000 match, they had a total of $218,000 distributed to those 26 nonprofits, and it’s only grown since then. Last year’s numbers — we raised $222,000 in that one day. There was a $75,000 match, and it came out to $297,000 in distributed funds.

LANDESS: That’s fantastic.

FOSTER: So of course, we have a higher goal than that…

LANDESS: Of course you do. Well, do you have a match this year?

FOSTER: We do. We still have a $75,000 match. We did add a giving incentive, so anybody who gives during Tyler Gives, we have a gift card. It’s $750, a Marriott gift card. You can use it at any Marriott location or affiliates, but that is going to be available to the donor, whoever gives on that day.

LANDESS: OK, and again, tell us about what’s the minimum donation you have to make to be eligible for the gift card.

FOSTER: A dollar.

LANDESS: Really?

FOSTER: Any gift is eligible. Wow, Of course I’m not going to take it if I give, but I do plan on giving that day.

LANDESS: Well, that’s a great idea. Gosh, that’s pretty cool. So, is this strictly limited to online giving?

FOSTER: It is. This continues to be our one annual online fundraiser. Of course, if you ever want to come by, or you want to give in person, or you want to send in a check, you are always welcome to do that. No gift is too small. No gift is too big, either. We do an annual campaign. We go and visit all those different companies, and we are in the middle of our leadership dinner campaign, or our leadership giving campaign, rather. We send out — it’s one time a year a direct mail out. It’s the only time that we mail out a request. People can give online, or they can send something in at any time. If you call me and you say, “Hey, we want to do a campaign with our employees,” I’ll be there. It doesn’t matter if it’s 5 a.m. or 11 o’clock at night.

LANDESS: Well, you are available to take the money. I get that. So when is the, when is the actual date for this? To be sure we have it clear, the time of day that it starts, when it ends, and when do you announce the money?

FOSTER: Right, so it is Nov. 28, 2023. It starts at 8 a.m. sharp, and it goes until midnight. And a lot of people will go, “But isn’t that Giving Tuesday internationally?” Yes, but this is specific to those 26 agencies that we partner with.

LANDESS: Now, the 26 agencies. How long does it take for them to actually see any of those funds arrive in their coffers?

FOSTER: They will see it before the end of December. And so it’s actually a very quick turnaround, because they go through an allocations process every year in April. And so on a monthly basis, they receive last year’s contributions. This is an almost immediate turnaround of two to three weeks, and they will have it in their funds, and it goes to their general campaign.

LANDESS: In the introduction I used the term “menu.” The menu is found on the website in terms of being able to pick and choose who you want to give that money to.

FOSTER: Exactly. So, if you go to TylerGives.org today, you can go and look at the different nonprofits and the programs that we’re funding this year, and so you can even plan your gift. You can say, “You know what, I want to give to six of these, so that day I’m going to distribute my gift.” Or you can give to all of them at the same time. But you can go to TylerGives.org right now and actually, now the gift and the big celebration is Nov. 28. But you can give all the way through the month of November on TylerGives.org, and it will count toward our overall total gift.

LANDESS: Gosh, that’s terrific. So tell us about United Way and the challenges that you’ve faced since the pandemic. Obviously, you pivoted really remarkably well during the pandemic. How has that worked out over these years following it?

FOSTER: Following, we have been so fortunate this year. Doors have opened, we’ve been able to visit clinics, we’ve been able to go into the buildings that have previously just said, “You know what, we’re going to play it safe the next few years, and let’s do a Zoom meeting instead.” When you get to be face-to-face with somebody, and have an agency speaker talk about how grateful we are to still be here, and it’s because of our community, we’re doing so well. And it’s only because of the people who have kind of been like, “Hey, we want to see you guys.” And so we get to go to places that we haven’t even been before. We have a lot of new pillar gifts. Speaking of pillar, we run United Way off of our pillars. Those are companies in our community that pay the overhead cost of United Way, whether it’s materials, staffing, whatever. Then, the employees or individuals whenever they give a gift, 100% of it goes to the nonprofits. That’s the way that we operate. Not every nonprofit is able to do that, but because these companies believe in our message and our promise of 100%, they say, whether it’s $5,000 or $100,000, they want us to be able to keep our promise. And we’ve been extremely fortunate, especially this year.

LANDESS: So if I go to the website, and I say, “OK, here’s a hundred bucks that I want to spend on Habitat for Humanity.” A hundred bucks goes to Habitat for Humanity, not 100 bucks minus this charge and that cost and whatever?

FOSTER: Exactly — 100%.

LANDESS: That’s a great draw for that. What kinds of things do you have for the future for this particular program? You’ve obviously got to get through this one. What about next year? You’re already thinking about, “Gee, next year, we want to….” What?

FOSTER: Well, you know what, if you’ve got an idea, I will happily take it and throw it up against the wall. We’re a fundraiser. We’ll do whatever it takes. We are actually really excited because this is going to be our fourth year. I mean, you know, whenever it gets to that 5-year, 10-year, you’ve got to do something big. We don’t know what that is yet. I mean we would love it if our $75,000 match became a $100,000 match and just keep on pushing that to see what we can do to really energize people to get involved. Because it feels so good that $5 that you donate on that day and you can go in-and now you’re not going to be able to see the total as it ramps up, because we do have some money that comes in a little bit later, so it’ll probably be a few days before we make an announcement saying what the overall total is. But you’re $5. I mean, I sit there with my coffee and a donut watching the number in the building going, oh my goodness, we made the match. Oh, before noon. That’s when the majority of it, in four hours, the majority of the giving, happens. It is so humbling and exciting. I was like, “Can we do this again in 6 months?”

LANDESS: You’re putting the fun in fundraising.

FOSTER: Exactly! As far as other events and opportunities -We’re always trying to find some other way. We don’t have anything that we can officially announce yet, but we do have some things in March that we’re planning on doing that are going to be a lot of fun and we’ll be able to invite or include the community.

LANDESS: Stay tuned.

FOSTER: Yeah, stay tuned!

LANDESS: Our guest has been Mary Foster, campaign director for the United Way’s, Tyler Gives. To hear this conversation again or to share, go to KVUT.org. I’m Mike Landess for UT Tyler Radio.