pep talk

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.

We were scheduled to take our third SECC group photo on Thursday, Nov. 10, but we’ve postponed it until next week. The memorial service for School of Medicine faculty member Dr. Stephen Hodson (victim of a tragic auto accident last week) is scheduled for Thursday at 11 a.m. Our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues; we want to be sure people are able to pay their respects.

The new date for the photo is:
Monday, Nov. 14, 2011
11:30 to 11:40 a.m.
(Please arrive a little early; we will take the photo close to 11:30)
Green Space at the University Plaza Parking Garage, above fountain (see map)

If you believe in the power of our people, and support the SECC and the good work it makes possible, COME STAND WITH US.

We’ll be taking a second group photo on the east end of the University Plaza Garage at 11:30 on Friday, Nov. 4. It will only take 10 minutes at most, and we’re hoping people will stop by on their way to lunch or the Field House. The photo will be used on the home page of the SECC site and in other communication, part of an animation (you’ll be able to watch the SECC effort grow, with more people in the shot each time).

Hope you can make it.

Stand with us Friday, Nov. 4

I’m always impressed and a little excited at the start of each year’s campaign, to watch the thermometer start its skyward climb. We had a great first 24 hours after Dr. Callender’s letter went out, getting close to $50K. It’s a great beginning and compares well with past years. The challenge is to keep the “needle” moving; usually giving during the campaign follows an inverted bell curve, with lots of activity at the beginning and a flurry again at the end, with a drop in the middle. I’m usually one of those coming in toward the end, but this year plan to do it earlier. With some holidays and a lot of work stacked up, the sooner I get it done the better. Hope you’ll follow my lead.

See where we are today

It seems strange to be writing in my blog for the first time in a year, and to look back at my last entry, and realize it’s my passion for the same subject that’s brought me back.

Dr. Protas did a great job with the State Employee Charitable Campaign last year; she brought energy, style and enthusiasm to the effort, and energized all around her. The effort showed; the final campaign tally for 2010 topped a half a million dollars in support from the remarkable people of UTMB ($528,278, to be exact).

So here we are in 2011, on the verge of launching another campaign, a new type of campaign. In 2011, it’s up to us: this year it’s the “People’s Campaign.” No official chair to lead, wrangle, plead, implore and cajole. As someone who’s been involved in some fashion in these campaigns for a while, the thought of not having a “fearless leader” arrived unwelcome; it inspired that knee-jerk that often acccompanies change. How could we do it without our combination quarterback and cheerleader? We’ve been fortunate to have some great campaign chairs (more on them in a later post), and they’d all been instrumental to success. But as the idea sunk in, it started to make a lot of sense. If one motivated person like Dr. Protas could do so much, what if we had a dozen, or fifty, people just as committed as she was to seeing the campaign be successful? What would the collective impact be? And what better time than now, when technology makes it so easy for large groups to connect, engage and share?

Bad governments have been toppled, social uprisings have spread like wildfire, people have banded in spontaneous response to help victims of fire, flood and earthquake. Why couldn’t we, as a group with such an incredible history of sharing and supporting our communities and important causes, be counted on to carry the campaign torch ourselves?

So, I’m no longer worried. I know we can do it, you and me and a few thousand of our closest friends, a few dollars at a time. Watch for ways to engage starting Nov. 1.