On-the-Job Campaigns Benefit When Workers Feel Secure

Compiled by Nicole Lewis and Elizabeth Schwinn

Kevin Canavan, president, Community Health Charities (Hartford)

How do 2003 donations to date compare with 2002?

We’ve seen mixed returns,

although the trend most recently has been much more positive. Community Health Charities is a workplace-giving program that collects money for 37 health-care groups in the state of Connecticut. Our partnership with United Way of the Capital Area, in Hartford, raised $700,000 less than in 2002, or $26.3-million. But that was more than we planned for, given significant corporate layoffs in this region.

Our campaign with Mohegan Sun Resort/Casino remained flat, but our campaign with Cannondale Bicycle Company saw our contributions double. Workplace-giving campaigns are in many ways unique to the company and its culture. Where there’s strong leadership by not only senior management, but buy-in by employees, that’s where you see significant increases in results. Cannondale, ironically, was just coming out of bankruptcy during the campaign, but it became a team-spirit kind of thing with the employees.

Has the recent positive economic news had any impact on fund raising?

With workplace giving campaigns, the psychology of the work force is critical. If employees believe their company is stable, they are more inclined to participate in our campaigns. The positive economic news over recent months has enabled most campaigns to keep pace with last year or keep losses to a minimum.

What fund-raising techniques have proved most successful?

People were much more engaged in the campaign. Last year, a lot of companies basically said they’d do a low-key campaign, with written pledge material but no presentations by speakers. This year, we saw an upsurge in presentations, and the overall attitude was much more positive than it was last year. Most people feel that the downsizing in their company is over, and they’re beginning to see a turnaround in retirement portfolios and in company profits.

Also, for the first time we placed print advertisements promoting our workplace-giving campaigns. One of our concerns was that the public knew of the charities that we represented, but were not all that familiar with who we were. The ad draws a link between our federation and its members. We also used public relations to increase press coverage through op-ed pieces and other articles. These were all timed to coincide with the kickoffs of major campaigns. We haven’t tabulated our results, but anecdotal information suggests campaigns in those communities did better.

What are your predictions for 2004?

We anticipate growth in the 5-percent range. With a strengthening economy and the end of major layoffs within the corporate community, we believe 2004 will be a turning point for increased individual giving in the workplace.