pep talk

We blew the top off our SECC thermometer at some point this morning, clearing the $400,000 mark. Although there was no “official” target, we were hoping we’d hit this mark. Being able to offer at least this much makes a big difference to the charities, near and far, that rely on our support.

Now, the question on many minds: how close can we get to a half-million dollars? Do we have it in us, are there enough of us “last minute” givers (I’m usually one of you) to come up with another $100K? You’d think by now I’d stop being surprised by how awesome and incredible and generous you/we are. Maybe I need to take a page from Ben Raimer’s playbook, and let faith take it from here.

We’ve used a series of photos this year to represent the growth of our grassroots SECC effort. You may have seen the animated sequence on the home page of the SECC site. We have one final photo scheduled, and we hope you can stand with us to show your support. This one will be part photo, part celebration. Bring your best smile.

Final 2011 SECC “People’s Campaign” CAMPUS Group Photo
Thursday, Dec. 1, 11:30 am
At the Green Space at the University Plaza Parking Garage, above fountain (see map)

If you are off campus, there’s a final photo opportunity for you also:

2011 SECC “People’s Campaign” AMBULATORY Group Photo
Weds., Nov. 30, at 11:30 a.m.
At the Specialty Care Center at Victory Lakes in the first floor lobby (see map)

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I spent mine in the hills of North Georgia with some old friends, a long drive from home. Had a lot of time behind the wheel to think about everything, including our progress on SECC. I was very happy to see us pass the $300,000 mark during the holiday, very approriate for a time when we count our blessings and give thanks.

This morning, we’re off and running, at $336,583 from 1,283 great employees. Dr. Cary Cooper, in his role as interim EVP and provost, sent out a great message which likely provided a reminder to some. The deadline to participate is this Friday; please consider joining us.

What will come first, the $250,000 mark, or our 1000th employee participating in the campaign? It’s going to be close either way. At about 2:45 pm on Friday, Nov. 18, we are at $249,590 and 997 employees. You guys rock.

www.utmb.edu/secc

We passed the $200,000 mark this afternoon at about 3:30 pm, courtesy of the 793rd person to make a gift. Thank you.

www.utmb.edu/secc

To put together a successful big project, it usually “takes a village.” The SECC village is pretty big, but a lot of key villagers are totally behind the scenes, quick to step forward when something is needed, then back into the shadows to watch their good work yield fruit. Here are just a few of these silent superheroes, unmasked:

John Gibson—John has set up and run the backend of the SECC site, the system that enables secure log-on, online giving, payroll deduction, that ties to the agencies and manages the reporting. John is one of the first to the table and almost the last to leave it.
Kenna Bush—Kenna works for United Way, which serves as the organizing regional entity in Galveston, regardless of where you ultimately make your gift. Kenna works hard to facilitate what we do.
Mike Cooper—Mike works in Public Affairs and he built and maintains the front end of the SECC site, the pages you see when you visit www.utmb.edu/secc. He’s streamlined and modernized the site in a way that really serves users well.
Diana Davison—Diana does everything that would otherwise fall through the cracks. If you’ve ever worked with anyone like her, you know what I mean.
Ralph Mendoza and Tim Williams— The facilities team always comes through for us and the SECC, whether it’s hanging banners, putting up plywood thermometers, or lending physical and financial support to the campaign itself.
Katrina Lambrecht—It may be the people’s campaign, but it needs the president’s support, and Katrina (as our on-the-front-line representative of the President’s Office) has been a great advocate, advisor, supporter and team member.
Mark Navarro—Need a logo? Photo? Crazy piece of SECC art? Mark’s always been our man.
Stephanie Everling—The “Ying” to John Gibson’s “Yang,” Stephanie heads up an IT team that helps the campaign get better and easier to support each year. “Not possible” isn’t in her vocabulary.
Craig Elmore, Ruth Jones, and Kim Ray—Payroll guys. They make what should be complex (for us), look pretty easy. ‘Nuff said.
Becky Trout—The SECC Queen Bee. Without her running around and tending to the thousand details that are the foundation of the campaign, holding everything together, the hive would collapse.

Are there others? For sure, and that’s always the problem with attempting such a list. As I’m sitting here another dozen names pop in my head (Myra McCollum, Scott Livanec, Denise Gonzalez, Raymond Brouillard, Ruth Finkelstein, Casey Peterson, Brittni Stinson…). If I missed someone you know, or if there’s someone in your area who really serves as the chief cheerleader and SECC missionary that you’d like recognized, drop me a note and I’ll do another post.

Bottom line, thank you all, named or still in the shadows.

We always watch with interest the participation numbers in the SEC campaign. Try as we might, I don’t think we’ve ever broken above 50% for SECC, and my guess is this year will be no different. We’re fortunate that a good number of people give, and many are able to give generously, and at the end of the day that’s resulted in some incredible figures in past years.

But, there’s one little idea—a notion—that always sticks in my head when we’re talking about percentage of people who give. Giving feels good. It fills you with a warm sense of sharing, knowing that you’ve done something positive for someone else, that you’ve put your money to work for a good cause, for something you believe in, for someone else. It’s good karma. That’s why after people make that first gift, they usually come back the next year and make another, and that’s where my challenge kicks in.

If you’ve never made a gift before and you are reading this, try it once, this year.

1) To make things easy, use payroll deduction.
2) Choose a pledge amount of $2 a month (the minimum online gift), for $24 a year. Think of it as about the amount you’d leave in tip for one lunch a month. (If you honestly can’t afford this, as I know some can’t, my heart goes out to you. For you, the bet’s off.)
3) Pick a single charitable federation. Each “federation” is a collection of charitable organizations that will share equally in whatever you present to them. So, if you want to give locally, as an example, you could select “United Way of Galveston” (or your local equivalent) and with one gift support different organizations helping women, children, seniors, pets, education, fight hunger, and so on. There is an umbrella groups for faith-based charities, one focusing on children, one for environmental causes, and several others.

Try pledging the $2. Making your gift will take two minutes. You’ll feel good about it for 12 months. Try it and let me know how it goes.

We had a great turnout for our third group SECC photo. It was a pleasure to welcome two past SECC chairs, senior administrators, and plenty of us “regular folks,” all standing shoulder to shoulder for this great cause. The idea with these photos was to watch the number of people grow as this grassroots effort takes root. We’ll plan one last group shoot on campus, toward the end of the campaign in about two weeks (The clinics team is taking photos also, at Victory Lakes). Watch for details, and join us if you can. We’ll have today’s photo linked to the SECC Home page later this afternoon.