People’s Choice Award Winners – Community Fund Drive 2013
Michele Adkins and Terry MacNeil, East Bank District Facilities Management
Michele and Terry were the lead volunteer's for the East Bank District of Facilities Management. These two women were superlative in their efforts this year. They led and were responsible for a 70 % participation rate for our District. To make it more impressive there are almost 300 employees in our District!!! The increase in participation since these two have taken the leadership in this campaign is simply astonishing.
The campaign they organized and dedicated themselves to was first rate. They were innovative, persistent, and creative marketers. The time they dedicated to raising money for the seven federations was matched by their enthusiasm. A key component of their unmatched success was their ability to create prizes, festivities and functions that matched our employees’ interests. With the number of employees in our District this is not an easy thing to do.
In addition, they have already started planning for next year's fund drive and thinking of even more events and creative marketing. In concluding, Michele and Terry are deserving of personal recognition because they have by themselves made the Community Fund Drive an important and indeed defining component of our culture in Facilities Management. They epitomize the values, work ethic and service that define the mission of the University of Minnesota.
“I can't imagine any two more deserving of this award!”
Terry MacNeil has gone above and beyond the call of duty - working on her off-hours to gather our raffle basket items and purchasing our fundraising event food items! She has been coming in early and working late to make sure everything is coordinated and running smoothly.
Sadie Brendalen, Applied Economics and Sara Jensen, Agricultural Education
Sadie and Sara together brought energy to the month of fund-raising in a non-intrusive and completely positive way. They were enthusiastic and turned the drive into an opportunity to build community within our division.. The month started off with a kick-off bagel breakfast where people could learn about the fund drive and think about how they would like to give. The month ended with a chili cook-off that was well-attended and a lot of fun. The cook-off ended with a vote, prizes, and $200 raised for the drive. Through these efforts, Sadie and Sara provided motivation to keep giving throughout the month. Compared to other units within our college, I'm told our participation rate was 18%, compared to the average 14%. Their enthusiasm was infectious and offered a fun way for the two units in our division to come together in a collaborative effort. Congratulations to Sadie and Sara on a great fund drive! Well done.
Kay Cooper, College of Continuing Education
Kay has been a co-lead of the CFD for the College of Continuing Education (CCE) for many years. Kay starts planning 2-3 months in advance of the October 1" launch date. Under Kay's leadership and planning, the College runs several successful college-wide events. Past events include a pizza kick-off that usually features a federation speaker, a raffle at the end of October to close out the campaign, and many other events during the month of October.
Kay is instrumental in keeping the College's CFD Team on track with her communication skills, project management abilities, and providing strong leadership. CCE has a long and proud history of strong participation rates. Under Kay's leadership, the Collegeannually places high in the rate of participation in units with 100 or more employees.
Stephanie Davison, West Bank District Facilities Management
Stephanie started working on the CFD this year in late July and independently came up with a list of vendors, drafted a letter of request, created a phone call script for companies without an online donation form, wrote emails and dropped in to local businesses and prepared thank you letters. In addition, she created flyers, posters and decorations and help promote, set up and clean up events held on the West Bank.
Stephanie kept a running total of the prizes/donations that she personally collected (and what they are valued at) and the total amount was between $956 – $1,076. She solicited donations from all of the major MN sports teams: (Vikings, Wild, Timberwolves, Saints (minor league), Twins, Swarm), from the Guthrie Theatre, Chanhassen Dinner Theatre, Bakken Museum, Mill City Museum, Wild Mountain Resort, Mesa Pizza, Potbelly Sandwich Shop, Bruegger’s Bagels, Chipotle, Quiznos, and Qdoba.Therefore, as you can see, Stephanie was invaluable in making the CFD successful for our District.
Aaron Folsom, School of Public Health, Epidemiology
Aaron Folsom was a huge help as a volunteer for the School of Public Health. He continued to send out emails to our division throughout October (he offered to write), go door-to-door to his faculty colleagues to get their pledges in and he made an offer to make a sort of matching-pledge to encourage participation as we are winding down.
Aaron brought the campaign to life in a special way and really made the campaign successful for Epidemiology.
Katie Hoffman, CBS
Katie Hoffman worked on the CBS campaign helping with organizing the fun and effective ideas to make the CFD campaign a success. She communicated messages about the CFD and distributed them in many effective ways throughout the college. “She brought such enthusiasm and inspiration to the table that it helped me to focus on the fun of the fund drive from that point on. Anytime we had a meeting or I had a question after that, she continued to lend a helping hand without hesitation and with a smile. She was truly a joy to work with.”
Ruth Martin, University Services Finance/Accounting
Ruth's passion for the CFD was immediately apparent to me. She strives toreach and engage others in many ways, most fundamentally by fostering a collaborative effort among the University Services groups located in the Donhowe Building. In fact, the firstcommunication I received regarding the CFD was from Ruth, who had proactively identified the volunteers from each group! She believes whole-heartedly in the impact the CFD has and is committed to doing all she can to make the campaign a success.
Ruth sent out a CFD reminder email and appropriately her signature includes the following quote:
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
-Winston Churchill
We are proud to nominate Ruth Martin for the People’s Choice Award
Cleo Medlock, OIT
This is what some of Cleo’s colleagues had to say about her:
“She is encouraging and really wants to help our community. She organized and brought in a couple of speakers at two of OIT's locations and the speakers were fantastic and answered questions that people had. Cleo is committed to helping out others that need help.”
Johnny Thompson, Carlson School, Marketing Services
Johnny began planning for Community Fund Drive early in the summer and reached out to the University and the Federations to make sure the Carlson School's campaign supported the University's. Working closely with Maureen Hartung of Community Shares Minnesota, he was able to illustrate the reasons staff should participate in the Community Fund Drive and the impact that individuals can have.
One of the highlights was the creation of a video shared with all staff featuring those who benefits from the University Community Fund Drive.
In addition to video, the multi-faceted campaign included print pieces, signage, and email appeals featuring Carlson School faculty and staff sharing why they participate. (You couldn't walk 20 feet in either building without seeing CFD posters or on-screen displays.) He also organized two events in the atrium featuring seven representatives from the Federations that enables Carlson School staff to learn firsthand the impact of their donation. We received tremendous feedback from staff and the Federations on how valuable these sessions were. The coordinated effort helped the Carlson School surpass last year's totals more than a week before the deadline. (With a late surge, it could be the Carlson School's best year ever.)
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