SECC-Dane tops goal; UW donations up 18 percent

The state and university’s annual workplace campaign has surpassed its goal of $2,675,000 for charitable causes, organizers say.

The achievement by the State, University, and University Hospital and Clinics Employees Combined Campaign of Dane County is especially gratifying in light of public anxieties about terrorism, war and the economic recession, say campaign organizers.

Although the seven-week campaign officially ended Nov. 30, contributions streamed in for the next two months, finally pushing the total just over the top.

Organizers knew when the campaign began in October that their goal, an increase of nearly 4 percent over the previous year’s contributions, might be tougher to attain than usual because of simultaneous appeals from disaster relief funds for victims of September’s terrorist attacks.

“That almost certainly affected the results of our campaign, but it didn’t stop us from reaching our target,” says Phyllis Fuller, co-chair of the SECC-Dane Administrative Board and a child support planner for the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. “I think that’s a real tribute to our employees. In the midst of a national emergency, they didn’t forget the everyday needs of charities participating in SECC-Dane.”

In fact, contributions by university employees as of early February were up almost $182,000, an increase of more than 18 percent from last year at the same time – to $1,173,893.

Contributions by UW Hospital and Clinics employees were up nearly 12 percent, to $103,392. The combined numbers of university and UWHC donors also rose by about 5 percent, to 4,404.

SECC-Dane organizers attributed the increases at least partly to stepped-up campaign marketing efforts in 2001 directed at university and UWHC employees.

Meanwhile, contributions from state agency employees were up by almost $20,000 compared to last year to $1,410,888, but the number of donors had dropped by about 6.5 percent to 6,772 — a probable reflection of separate fund-raising efforts for disaster relief in many government offices. In addition to making personal contributions, state agency employees raised almost $54,000 for SECC-Dane through special events and activities.

The average SECC-Dane employee contribution rose to just more than $240, with university donors averaging $306; state agency donors, $208; and UWHC donors, $180.

“We’re very pleased with how this campaign turned out,” says SECC-Dane Board co-chair Greg Zalesak, a departmental administrator at the UW Medical School and UWHC. “We sincerely thank everyone who contributed. We also congratulate the hundreds of employee volunteers whose hard work helped make this campaign a success.”