by Jon Doll
It’s looking good. Although we have not completely wrapped up our annual effort, we are confident we will reach, and quite possibly exceed, our $2.5 million dollar target. To date, $2.3 million dollars is in house with some of our major firms still wrapping up their workplace campaigns. We are so thankful to the thousands of individuals and the 200+ local businesses that participated in our 2014 campaign and we wanted to take this opportunity to thank this generous community for your support.
None of our campaign success is possible without the tremendous efforts of our area’s largest employers who put forth engaging, educational and fun workplace campaigns for their employees. Kohler Company, Sargento, and Johnsonville’s company campaigns are all completed and each one came in significantly higher than last year’s returns. Collectively, these three companies account for a whopping 41% of our overall campaign goal of $2.5 million dollars. Additionally, we are grateful to all large, medium and small businesses that participated and continue to support our organization. Your contributions are necessary for our success and collectively account for 59% of our campaign.
The money we raise in this community is essential. Each year our Planning and Allocations Committee spends a great deal of time reviewing program funding applications in order to determine how your donations are distributed to affiliate agencies. For the 2014 year, United Way is proudly distributing roughly $1.7 million dollars to 49 programs at 22 Sheboygan County affiliate agencies.
Volunteers, volunteers, volunteers. None of this happens without our 30 Campaign Cabinet volunteers and roughly 250 workplace volunteers. This is not volunteering for the faint of heart either. Our Campaign Cabinet volunteers give so much of their time strategizing, delivering campaign packets, following up, picking up packets…etc. And on the other side, planning a company campaign takes a large amount of time and, depending on the company’s size, a lot of people.
I also need to thank our fantastic Campaign Co-Chairs, Kristin Abell from LTC and Dave Bolland from Plymouth Foam who both gave so much of their time to moving this campaign forward. These two tremendous individuals set the tone of success for two years in a row now. We can’t thank them enough for their time, leadership and generosity.
In the coming few months our annual campaign will wind down, we will celebrate our success and Kristin and Dave will pass the baton to our 2015 Campaign Chair, David Graebner, Aurora Healthcare CEO.
At United Way our mission is to provide leadership in building a stronger and healthier Sheboygan County by uniting resources and human needs to empower individuals to improve their lives. This is what our campaign is about. This is why we support so many programs in this community. This is why my staff and I come to work… and this is why I say “thank you” to all who participated in, and gave to, our campaign.
Jon Doll
Executive Director, United Way of Sheboygan County