for
the Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts
Feb.
23, 2001
|
COMECC near 50% participation goal Employee contributions surpass $440,000 target by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff  he
campus has nearly manifested Chancellor David K. Scott's dream of
50 percent participation in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Employees
Charitable Campaign (COMECC), announced Gloria Fox, Community Relations
and Special Events associate, at the COMECC Celebration Breakfast.
As of the Feb. 13 breakfast, the number of donors was 2,441 - 23 shy
of the 50 percent mark. Fox said one or two pledges are coming in
each day and that she hopes to see the final total top 50 percent.
The amount of money raised exceeded the $440,000 goal, totaling nearly $454,000. More than 100 COMECC department coordinators were on hand to give Scott a standing ovation when he addressed the group. Scott said he would make good on a promise to give an additional $5,000 to the campaign if participation levels topped 50 percent. "Just as well I got a salary raise," he quipped. Scott, Deputy Chancellor Marcellette Williams, and three other staff members, each gave $10,000 to set the pace for the Leadership Circle, a group of donors who contribute $500 or more. This year 366 employees participated in the Leadership Circle, helping to bring the average donation on campus to $185.96. Since Scott became involved in the campaign in 1993, the average gift size has risen 77 percent, the total raised has increased 189 percent, and the percent of employees participating has doubled. "High participation is very important," Scott said. "Passing the 50 percent mark is symbolically important because you make a transition from being a set of contributors to being a collective that contributes. Many departments had high participation levels this year, Fox said. More than 50 saw 100 percent of employees participate, and an additional 63 departments had donations from at least half their employees. Fox related several individual success stories. "Custodians were 73 percent overall this year," she said. "[Professor] John Nelson had 67 percent in English, and boy did he work at that! "In the entire Research area, everyone but one person contributed. There was one holdout. That at least proves that we didn't break anybody's arm!" Fox told how Research and Instructional Services librarian Ute Bargmann made phone calls for COMECC from a rehabilitation center where she was recovering from substantial injuries received in an auto accident. Bargmann and reference librarian Jeffrey Tenenbaum co-coordinated COMECC efforts in the six Libraries departments. Scott told the group that the need for the type of assistance COMECC helps provide in local communities is great. "Forty percent of the people in our area do not have the support levels to meet their basic needs," he said. He thanked the assembled volunteers for bringing participation so near to 50 percent. "Gandhi said, 'You must become the change you want to see in the world.' Well, the University of Massachusetts has become the change that we want to see in the world." |
