Even in good times, charities need SECC support

With the economy prospering, is the need for charitable giving all that great?

“I think it is greater than ever,” says Greg Zalesak, chair of the administrative board for the annual State, UW and University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics Combined Campaign of Dane County.

“There is always the need to help the young and the aged, to help families, to help people internationally,” says Zalesak, a 22-year SECC veteran. “There’s always the need for a safe, clean environment. I would say that now, more than ever, with the economy as good as it is, we should be responding and trying to assure that everybody is enjoying the same high quality of life.”

“Giving at the office” is one way to make that possible, says Phyllis Fuller, vice chair of the SECC board.

“A lot of our participants feel extremely lucky or blessed,” says Fuller, who has contributed to SECC for 15 years, “and most of them say, ‘It makes me feel really good that I can do something for my community or for other people.'”

Since its inception in 1973, SECC has raised more than $25.8 million for charitable organizations. Last year, 4,400 university employees gave a total of $982,000 to the campaign. The average contribution was $223, double that in most charitable giving campaigns. Meanwhile, nearly 7,300 state government employees gave a total of $1.14 million. Their average gift was $156.

Almost 11,700 state and university employees in Dane County “gave at the office” last year, voluntarily contributing more than $2.1 million to nonprofit organizations that perform vital public services locally, nationally and around the world.

“Partners in Giving” is this year’s campaign theme, depicted by a multicolored heart mosaic symbolizing the contributors, volunteers, public agencies and private organizations that make SECC a heavy hitter among charity fund-raisers. The drive is the largest annual employee fund-raising campaign in Wisconsin, and one of the most successful state campaigns in the country.

Still, fewer than half of all eligible employees in Dane County participate in the campaign, something its organizers hope to change.

This year’s SECC campaign ends Tuesday, Nov. 30. For information, employees can contact their unit’s SECC coordinator, consult the SECC brochure distributed this month, or visit: http://www.wisc.edu/secc/.