The final tally for the University’s 2010 United Way campaign is in, and the total is $551,461. “We knew we had exceeded our $500,000 target when the campaign ended in early December, but the final number is pretty amazing,” says campaign chair Jennifer Beehler. This is the University community’s second consecutive United Way donation to exceed the half-million mark.
Beehler, who works at the Ontario Veterinary College as secretary to the chair of Clinical Studies, attributes the impressive total in part to the “Everyday Hero” theme adopted by U of G and United Way of Guelph and Wellington. The county-wide campaign also exceeded its goal, raising more than $2.7 million and citing 2010 as its most successful campaign to date.
“We asked people to donate a dollar a day, and many staff, faculty, retirees and students did just that. The number of donors who gave at the “Everyday Hero” level went up by 75 per cent.” U of G’s 138 leaders ($1,000 and up) raised their average gift to $1,500.
Beehler credits the campaign’s 150 plus volunteers and her co-chairs ─ Prof. Alan Sullivan, Plant Agriculture, and fourth-year commerce student Vanessa Young ─ for building excitement around the hero theme. “Between our volunteers and donors; we’ve got a lot of United Way heroes at U of G.”