Campaign Final Numbers

Here's the final report on the numbers for the Champlain College United Way Campaign

• We received 141 pledges totalling $29,495 - down $5,005 from our $35,000 goal
• Participation was at 40.28 percent - the goal was to have 53 percent. 

We also drew the final names  and cleaned out the prize closet,. The winners are:

• David Provost -$50 Bookstore certificate
• Catherine Bergeron Radoux – Night Strangers book
• Diana Agusta - $25 at the Bearded Frog
• Rebecca Peterson - $25 Amazon Card
• Leigh Bouffard – CC Sweatshirt
• Christine Hutchins – 3 tickets to Essex Cinema
• Karen Patno – Two Tickets to Essex Cinema
• Andrew Burkhardt – Two Tickets t Essex Cinema
• Deana Higgs – Sustain Champlain Water Bottle. 

Thanks to everyone who supported the Campaign with a pledge, a donation to the incentive prizes and to those who offered encouraging words along the way. 

Steve Mease and Chauncey T. Beaver - Co-chairs

And the Committee - Sarah Potter, Julie Richards and Melissa Hersh. 

One of my favorite sayings from a wise Jedi knight  found in the Emergent Media Center. 

Campaign to Close Today

To the Champlain Community:

Chauncey and I have some good news and some not-so-good news to report about the Champlain College United Way Campaign.

First, we have raised $28,715 and we have about 40 percent of the 350 employees participating. That’s an average gift of $205. That’s the good news and we deeply thank those who have already given so generously. The not-so-good news is that our goal is $35,000 with 53 percent participation.

We’ve tried many ways of getting the word out, plenty of email reminders and even puppy pictures, but we are still considerably off the mark on meeting our goal this year. Anyone who has ever asked for money knows it can be awkward and a little uncomfortable, but you do it anyway for a good cause you believe in. However, when a fundraising effort struggles in the final stretch to meet its goal, it is hard to pinpoint the reason.

Here’s a few reasons Chauncey and I have come up with:

1. People are busy and just haven’t taken action on their good intentions. The pledge card is sitting under a pile of papers on their desk.

2. People are feeling overwhelmed. Maybe it is the economy making things tight all around and many people can’t quite give at their previous level. Or perhaps they can’t give at all.

3. People are already giving to specific causes. Vermonters were extremely generous in contributing to help those hit by flooding in the spring and tropical storm Irene in August. There are hundreds of organizations and causes asking for help, especially this time of year.

4. Some of Champlain’s longtime givers to United Way have recently retired or moved on to other opportunities.

5. Perhaps Chauncey and I haven’t done a great job in educating people about the many needs in our community and how a gift to United Way has a multiplier effect expanding giving through careful management and oversight of programs receiving funding. We have already vowed to do it better next year and are crafting some new strategies and ways to say thanks to those who give.

Lots of possible reasons, but we both agreed it is not that Champlainers don’t care. We see Champlain’s generous nature every day – The Staff Council set a new blood drive record a couple weeks ago and programs like DREAM and other community outreach programs earn support from staff, faculty and students alike. Campus food drives, students helping to rebuild flood-damaged homes and efforts like CSCE’s Tent City next week reinforce the College’s core values of encouraging community service and civic engagement.

So the Campaign will officially come to a close on Friday, Nov. 11. And we will probably not meet the goal this year. That’s an unusual occurrence at Champlain. My experience is if we say we are going to do something, we do it. We did it last year and beat the goal.

If you have been meaning to give, either through payroll deduction which begins in January or with a one-time tax deductible gift, now would be the time to take action. There is $6,285 left to raise – 62 people giving $100 each could do it or 124 people giving $50 or… well, you get the idea.

If you have already given, but would like to help close the gap with an additional gift, we would be most grateful.

Nothing would please Chauncey and I more than being able to report back to you that a surprise last-minute surge of giving brought us to the goal.

A downloadable pledge card is available at http://champlainunitedway.blogspot.com/. You can drop it off with Steve Mease at Lakeside or with Julie Richards at Perry 322.

Making a pledge could mean all the difference to families, children and others who need the services and help provided through the United Way programs. As the slogan says, “Give. Advocate. Volunteer. Live United” Today, the emphasis is on the “Give.”

Thank you for your kind attention and support!

NOTE: The winner of the campus parking pass is Peter Straube. The remainder of the incentive prizes will be drawn and announced Friday afternoon.

Goal Updates

Since we extended the end date of the United Way Campaign, we have had a decent bump in the numbers from Monday.

• We have 35% participation - the goal is 53% - so we still have a ways to go there. 
• We have raised $27,139, or 77% of the way to our $35,000 goal. It's getting closer. 

There is still time to make your pledge or one-time donation. Download your pledge card from the link at the left top of this page. 
I know we can reach the goal - it only take a couple minutes to fill out the pledge. There many ways to donate:

• Personal Check
• Cash
• Bill on a certain date
• Gift of securities or stock (You will need to talk with United Way after you turn in the pledge) 
• Credit Card

Or best of all...
Payroll Deduction - the best way to give on an ongoing basis. 

Prizes Available as Campaign Ends

These prizes will be drawn on Monday morning. Everyone who gets their pledge card in by Friday at 5 p.m. will be eligible for the drawing. 

Prizes still available to be drawn:

• A 2012 SPRING SEMESTER ALL-ZONE PARKING PASS
   (Donated by Champlain College Campus Security)
• A $25 AMAZON GIFT CARD (donated by Stephen Mease)
• A $50 CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE BOOKSTORE Gift Card (Donated by the Bookstore)
• AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF "THE NIGHT STRANGERS" by Lincoln, Vt. author Chris Bohjalian. Hot-off-the-press (donated by Pat Boera)
• $25 at the Bearded Frog in Shelburne, (donated by Spruce Mortgage) 
• Several passes to Essex Cinema
• Sustain Champlain water bottles (donated by Sustain Champlain)
  
  You have to be in it to win it! 

Blood drive A success

Thanks to everyone who stepped to meet and beat Jen Perlee's goal of 102 pints of blood donated at the Champlain College Staff Council fall blood drive. It was the best ever, she said. 

• 128 presenting donors
• 52 First timers (up by 20 from last year)
• 102 Pints of blood collected (beating last year by 1!)
• Up to 306 lives we helped!

Thanks to everyone that donated their blood, sweat, and maybe even some tears. J

 Our students were awesome yesterday with some walk-ins waiting over 1.5 hours to donate. Thanks again till next year…when I’ll be back to beg for your blood again!

If you missed the drive don’t forget you can always to the center:

32 North Prospect Street
Burlington, VT 05401

800-RED-CROSS to make an appt.

Werewolves and Where's your Pledge?

Chauncey and I have been talking about what it will take to get about 80 more people to make a pledge, sign up for payroll deduction or make a one-time gift to the United Way of Chittenden County, another United Way in Vermont or a specific agency.

We’ve tried puppies, heart-wrenching stories, even conjured up signs of nature that you should give to United Way.
We’ve enticed you with incentives like an iPad, vacation money, and gift certificates. We’re down to scare tactics as Halloween approaches. (see above)

We even tried actually talking about the real needs in our community and how if everyone would just give a little, we could do so much more together than alone.

It’s difficult to figure out what motivates people to give to one cause and ignore another. Personal preference or connections play such a major role in our giving habits – if you have experienced hardship or know someone who has, you are probably more likely to give to help a homeless family or donate clothes to a winter jacket collection.

If you have children at home that have never experienced hunger or the ache of going to bed with an empty belly, then I bet you might be more likely to donate to the food drives just because you are grateful for your situation and can’t imagine what that must be like for a parent forced to choose between heat and food for their family.

Maybe you have taken care of an aging parent or family member and were relieved by help from a Visiting Nurse or the caring people at Respite House. I know you would help them if they asked directly. Who wouldn’t?

You don’t have to look very far these days to see someone in need. We’ve all seen the power of working together in the weeks following tropical storm Irene. Roads are back, people are returning to their homes, businesses are coming back to life. That all happened because of a cooperative effort. We can’t all be Phish or Grace Potter and raise thousands of dollars on talent and goodwill. But because everyone gave a little something to help in the face of great need for Vermont – time, energy, material goods or money, we are getting through it.  

United Way is a cooperative effort that makes sure people who need food get it;  kids and families who need shelter have a place to go; and seniors get to stay in their homes and be independent for as long as possible.  It happens because of your gift to United Way. It’s your choice to participate. Chauncey and I don’t know who gives or who doesn’t. If you look at your own situation and decide that you can share some of your good fortune with others that would be great. It’s my experience that often times it is those with limited resources who dig the deepest to help another person.

In theory, we were planning to end the Champlain Campaign tomorrow, Wednesday, Oct. 26, but it looks like we are going to have to extend it a few more days unless $11,500 shows up overnight or 80 people suddenly turn in their pledge cards by the end of the day.

Here’s where we stand at the moment - 112 pledges totaling $23,679  which is 32% participation.  

But don’t think Chauncey and I are discouraged. We know some of you have been meaning to do it and just got busy. Or you lost your pledge card. Or you are new to the area and no has taken the time to explain that we have a great United Way that maximizes your gifts for the best results. They raised $4 million last year and hope to do it again this year. And the overall needs are greater this year.

We still have some great prizes to give away if that motivates you to give, but deep down Chauncey and I are hoping you will do it because it really makes all of our lives better if we help one another through the hard times of life.

Thank you for your support and for reading all the way to the end!

And if you have already given, thank you again for getting us this far.

Blood Drive Wednesday