We just started the last week of the State Employee Charitable Campaign; it ends Dec. 1. These past two years we’ve stuck to our deadline, and I’d expect us to wrap it up officially on time once again this year. The last week is always a big week in the campaign. Lots of us (including me) work from an ever-shifting list of priorities, and until something is due, it isn’t a priority. That’s why, in my mind, the last week of SECC is typically the biggest.
I came across a short message from this same point in last year’s campaign. I was very pleased and somewhat surprised to note that that we are just about at the same place (and maybe a little ahead) in terms of total dollars and participation. Generosity and good will are alive and well among us, friends.
We set a very high stretch goal for participation of 50%, and I think reaching it will be a challenge. Our current rate is nearing 17% with a week left. The state average is 20%; last year we did about 40%. This year, for the first time, we are folding into our central university campaign about 3000 UTMB Correctional Managed Care employees who work across the state. It’s the right thing to do—they are “us.” However, communicating and making the campaign work over such a large area and diverse group is a challenge this first year.
I wanted to single out a few outstanding areas I noticed while trolling the participation statistics today. Many of the first areas to reach 100% participation have one, two or a handful of employees. They’re great; every dollar and every employee counts. There are a few areas that have many more employees and still manage to reach 100%. Audit Services and many of the divisions in PBS are examples that do well year after year. The DAMP Office (18 employees) and Precertification Office (29 employees) are two more big areas that have already reached 100%. These are people with tough jobs, working on the front line with people who need help. SECC is one way to provide relief, and it works because they see the need and they care enough personally to do something about it, outside and beyond their jobs. Let’s each do our part and join them.