Partners in Giving raises $2.6 million for charities

Good news may seem scarce lately, but here’s some: State, UW–Madison, and UW Hospital and Clinics employees in Dane County reached into their pockets to pledge nearly $2.6 million for charitable causes during the recently completed Partners in Giving campaign.

The one-year total represents the second-highest in the 29-year history of the annual workplace campaign.

“We fell short of the goal we set for the campaign last spring,” says Phyllis Fuller, co-chair of the Partners in Giving Administrative Board and a child-support planner for the state Department of Workforce Development. “But considering all the unsettling news we had after that — especially the size of the state budget deficit and concerns about layoffs — and the fact that many state employee contracts remain unresolved, the 2002 campaign did remarkably well.”

Although the seven-week 2002 campaign officially ended Nov. 29, contributions streamed in into 2003. By March, the total reached $2,598,103, about 90 percent of the $2.9 million goal.

While pledges by UW Hospital employees rose by about 6 percent from the previous year, contributions by state employees and university employees were down about 5 percent and 3 percent, respectively. The actual number of donors fell in all three categories, from almost 11,200 the year before to just more than 10,100, a drop of almost 10 percent.

Although the number of givers declined, those who gave to the 2002 campaign were more generous than ever. The average contribution climbed to nearly $257, with university donors averaging $321, state agency donors $224 and UW Hospital $201. All figures are considerably more than previous averages.

For information about the campaign, see the Partners in Giving Web site at http://www.wisc.edu/secc.