Workplace Giving: An employee benefit

August 12, 2010 -- “We’re not comfortable asking our employees to give right now.”

Huh?

You’d be surprised how often we hear that these days when we’re talking to employers about letting us come in and start new workplace campaigns.

In fact, not long ago a major employer headquartered right here in our region—one with more than 2,000 employees—said that very thing to us.

First, we’re not asking employers to ask their employees to give. We’ll do that. We’re just asking for access.

Second, what better time than now to offer employees the opportunity to give to the cause of their choice through payroll deduction?

People see the need. They see nonprofits doing a great job of meeting that need. They want to help out. They want to give.

Offering people the opportunity to give through payroll deduction—the easiest, most “painless” way to give—is an employee benefit, not an imposition.

It also produces more support for the nonprofit community—typically 5 ½ to 6 times more—because most people find they can afford to give more when they can do it a little bit at a time.

And besides enhancing employers’ community standing and building employee pride, workplace fundraising is an employee relations tool; a way to build teamwork and have fun together.

So everyone wins when employees can give to the cause of their choice through payroll deduction. How could anyone not be comfortable not offering the opportunity to do so?

Ups and Downs

June 23, 2010 -- Like many of you, I spent part of Father’s Day weekend viewing the U.S. Open golf tournament at Pebble Beach on the TV, watching all the ups and downs of the world’s best golfers battling one of the world’s great golf courses.

It was a de ja vu moment for yours truly. As a sports writer back in 1972, I was privileged to cover the first U.S. Open ever played at Pebble. I even caught a brief glimpse of myself in some of the archival footage aired on Sunday.
I was able to walk inside the gallery ropes and watched Jack Nicklaus play 60 of the 72 holes. Nicklaus was on a mission: his 11th major tournament win, seeking to tie the legendary Walter Hagen. I’ve never seen or met anyone more fiercely focused. He was incredible.

Nicklaus held off the likes of Arnold Palmer, Bruce Campton, Lee Trevino, Homero Blancas and Tom Watson (who was playing in his first Open). Nicklaus overcame cold, wind and rough that seemed to be knee-deep to pull away and win by three strokes—at two over par!

It was as strong a competitive performance as I ever witnessed in my years as a reporter. Based on national and local giving trends, we will need that same kind of determination, hard work and dedication of excellence to get UWCCR through at least two more difficult years.

Giving USA Foundation reported about two weeks ago that charitable giving fell 3.6% in 2009, the second-worst one-year drop on record (the worst being 5.5% during the 1974 recession). Still, the total given is estimated at $303.75 billion, 33% if that to religion.

Nationally, individual giving dropped only 0.4%, to $227.41 billion. We, of course, saw a much different picture. State workers reacted to ongoing budget turmoil. They’ve had their incomes reduced by about 15%. They dropped their giving 10% in the 2009 CSECC campaign.

Private sector individual giving here was down 10.7%. Major corporations moved jobs out of our area. And city and county employees, caught up in their own budget turmoil, reacted like State employees (we include city and county campaigns in our “private sector” tally).

Corporate giving nationally was up 5.5% to $14.1 billion, but much of the increase was in-kind gifts, not cash. Locally, corporate contributions have never been a strong part of our campaign because we have so few headquarters here. Our 2009-10 corporate dollars were down 9.2%.

All that adds up to lots of challenges as we look to 2010-11 and beyond. It’s going to be rough. The economy is not going to be warming up much any time soon. And the winds of change are definitely blowing.

Remarks about Being Misquoted

May 17, 2010 -- “I was misquoted.” “My quote was taken out of context.” “That’s not what I meant.” How many times have you heard someone say that?

Not nearly as many times as I’ve heard it, I guarantee you. I used to be a newspaper reporter. And I also used to be a VP of public relations. So I’ve both misquoted and been misquoted.

My point? It happened to me recently. And as a result, an article in which I was quoted, came off making me sound as if I was criticizing a good friend.

In response to a question about how the 2009-10 campaign had gone, I said we’d experienced a number of plusses and minuses—including Intel’s campaign being down overall.

I explained that Intel’s very generous employees had actually given about $70,000 more than in 2008-09, but that Intel had changed the way it matched gifts and the overall total was down.

I pointed out that this was because, like many others, Intel had been buffeted by rough economic times. And I went out of the way to say I was not being critical of Intel’s decision.

For whatever reasons, this latter part of my comments didn’t make it into the story and I’ve gotten some feedback that some of our friends at Intel were taken aback by my quotes.

So, for the record, “My quote was taken out of context!” If you want to know what I think about Intel, its campaign and its people, see the piece in the Sacramento Business Journal.

Thanks!

FREE developmental program for your employees

Mar. 30, 2010 -- Employers, when was the last time someone offered you a great developmental opportunity for your employees for free—and it was actually free?

Well, have I got a deal for you! We call it our Loaned Executive Program. Among the graduates of our program are elected officials and corporate and nonprofit leaders. Here’s how it works:

Your organization loans United Way an employee for three to four months (August through Thanksgiving).. The employee stays on your payroll but works full-time with us on our campaign (fundraising) staff.

They learn how to conceptualize and manage projects from start to conclusion. They learn how to make presentations in front of large and small groups.

They learn how to strategize and implement targeted campaigns and how to train and facilitate individuals and groups of individuals to achieve goals.

And they do this working side-by-side with my staff in hundreds of different workplaces all over the five-county region we serve (Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo).

So you’ve got a rising star in your organization for whom you would like to provide a no-tuition developmental opportunity, I’d love to talk to you about it.

Long-time United Way volunteer will be missed

Feb. 25, 2010 -- You probably missed it in the Bee, but our oldest surviving board and campaign chair passed away recently: 94-year-old Dr. John Kassis.

He was a member of the prominent Sacramento family that founded the area’s first locally owned super market chain (Stop-n-Shop). In their time, they were great supporters of ours.

Dr. Kassis chaired our campaign in 1961-62 and the board of what was then the United Crusade of Sacramento in 1963-64. His late brother, Frank, was our 1951-52 board chair.

That leaves Attorney General Jerry Brown as the former board/campaign leader from the furthest back in our history who is still living. He chaired our 1971-72 campaign.

For those of us who are virtual natives of the region, it is interesting to look back and see all the familiar names on the roster of people who have led this organization.

The list includes mayors, judges, members of the legislature, county supervisors, presidential and gubernatorial cabinet members, business leaders and so on.

And we’re very fortunate to have the same kind of support these days. That’s important because United Ways are independent, local nonprofits—not just branch offices.

Our board’s role is to represent the diversity of our five-county service area and make sure that we are serving the region well. They carry on the legacy of Dr. Kassis and our other pioneers.

Re-connecting with retirees and other valued members

Jan. 14, 2010 -- We know you’re out there. We know you’re community-minded. We know you like helping other people. We just don’t know how to find and connect with you.

Who am I talking to/about? Retirees. People who used to be United Way volunteers and donors. People with whom we’ve lost touch over the years.

Literally thousands upon thousands of people donate to the nonprofits of their choice through our many workplace fundraising campaigns each year.

But when people leave the workplace—get a new job, retire or whatever—we tend to lose touch with them. Employers rightly protect their employees’ and retirees’ privacy very aggressively.

Yet at the same time, many of those people—especially the retirees—would like to stay involved in the community. They want to give, volunteer and advocate just like the rest of us.

And we’d love to have them do that through us and our partner agencies. We just don’t know how to reconnect with them.

So, if you’re among the folks we’re looking for and if you’re looking for ways to stay connected to the community, how about re-connecting with United Way?

We’re constantly looking for volunteers to help us with our various projects. And right now we’re in the process of forming a retiree volunteer program.

If you’d be interested in helping out, please send me an email (sheath@uwccr.org). Thanks!

Sharing a message of thanks with outstanding nonprofits

Dec. 7, 2009 -- Every few months, I create a mini-newsletter that I send to the chief professional officers of our 140-plus certified partner agencies. This time, I began the newsletter with this message, which I wanted to share with you:

I mean this sincerely: I stand in awe of those of you who are out there “in the trenches,” finding ways to continue delivering quality services in response to record levels of need despite severe economic restraints. I continue to be amazed by your resourcefulness in a time of diminished resources; by your tenacity at finding ways to fulfill your organization’s mission despite the battering you are taking. As I said in one of these ‘non-newsletters’ a few months ago, running a nonprofit agency is not for sissies. I know that most of the time you’re feeling overwhelmed and underappreciated. So just in case no one else does it, I want to congratulate you for what you’ve achieved and to thank you on behalf of the regional community that benefits from it.

If you agree with me, I’d ask that you take a moment and send a message to the CPO of your favorite nonprofit, letting him or her know. This is an especially difficult holiday season in the nonprofit world and I know it will be appreciated. Thanks.

Don't forget education and the arts!

Nov. 5, 2009 -- This is going to sound strange coming from the CEO of a nonprofit whose mission is health and human services, but I’m very concerned about the impact of the current economic situation on education and the arts.

Healthy communities need vibrant arts and culture and strong educational systems. Arts and education can be overlooked in times like these, when so much attention gets focused on human services needs. That’s unfortunate.

I would urge you not to forget the arts and education as you make decisions about what causes to support. And I would remind you that if you happen to work for an employer that partner with United Way to offer you payroll deduction giving, you can designate your gift to any 501(c)(3) organization—including arts and education organizations. We will deliver your gift wherever you instruct us to send it.

The important thing in my mind is that people give back to the community and I also happen to believe that payroll deduction giving is the best, easiest way for most people to do that. I’m not saying that you should ignore human services needs in your giving decision—far from it!—but I am saying that we can’t lose sight of those things that make our society unique and strong. And it just so happens that United Way’s workplace campaigns enable you to address both.

United Way donors continue to keep community spirits high

Oct. 6, 2009 -- We’re into our peak fundraising season. Big time. And so that’s naturally the thing that’s most on my mind at the moment.

Wherever I go these days, the first question I get asked is: How’s it going? The expectation is that I will respond with a tale of woe about how difficult it is to raise money for charity at the moment.

The truth is, it’s never easy and this year there are some interesting challenges. But I’m pleased to tell you that your local United Way is faring better than most.

The latest figures from giving USA show that in 2008, giving to human services dropped by a whopping 12.7% nationwide. The average United Way dropped by 4.5% last year.

Here at UWCCR, our overall campaign results essentially came in at the same level as the prior year. That was good news for the regional nonprofit community, which is struggling to keep up.

In fact, if you stop to think about it, that result was pretty remarkable considering the state of the economy and the turmoil caused by the State budget crises.

What’s going to happen in 2009? If enthusiasm is any barometer, we’ll be OK. We’ve gotten far more requests from employers for more campaign presentations than in recent memory.

These are presentations by us and/or our partner agencies directly to employees in the workplace. The more people hear from nonprofits directly, the more they are likely to give.

So, that’s a very positive sign. So, too, is the fact we continue to have employers agreeing to work with us to offer payroll deduction giving to their employees for the first time.

If you’re an employer who doesn’t currently offer this opportunity to your employees, I’d love to have a brief conversation with you about how it produces a win-win-win scenario.

My direct line is (916) 856-3939 and my email is sheath@uwccr.org. Thanks.