Partners in Giving launches $2.7 million drive

Until deputy athletics director Jamie Pollard’s son James was born 16 months ago, Pollard supported the Partners in Giving charitable fund-raising campaign out of a sense of civic responsibility.

The importance of the annual campaign became clear once “James was born with a very rare and large tumor that nearly took his life,” Pollard says. “He spent the first three months of his life in intensive care.”

Two months ago, James was diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing aggressive chemotherapy. During all this, Pollard’s family relied on many of the organizations that Partners in Giving supports, and witnessed how important they are to other families.

“We now have a more personal awareness of the need to support this critical effort,” Pollard says.

The annual Partners in Giving campaign begins its fourth decade of raising money for charitable causes on Monday, Oct. 13. It is a crucial source of support for local charities such as Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin and HospiceCare Inc., and a significant contributor to many others. It runs through Friday, Nov. 28.

Launched 30 years ago this fall as the State Employees Combined Campaign (SECC), the annual fund drive has raised more than $36 million for charitable causes. Last year, 10,000 state employees pledged $2.6 million to the campaign. This year, the goal is $2.7 million. Each employee receives a pledge form and booklet that lists participating charities and explains how to contribute.

Employees can choose from more than 400 charities that promote family services, environmental stewardship, international disaster relief, animal welfare, legal assistance for disadvantaged people, health research and many other causes.

“The Partners in Giving campaign lets us give to almost any local, national and/or international organization, with the added assurance that they’ve been through a stringent screening process,” says Ann Groves Lloyd, director of the College of Letters and Science/School of Human Ecology Career Services and a member of the campaign’s University Coordinating Committee.

One of Wisconsin’s largest annual workplace campaigns, Partners in Giving covers all state government, UW, and UW Hospital and Clinics employees in Dane County.

“The campaign is unique because it enables the UW faculty, staff and student employees to contribute as a community,” says Brian Rust, DoIT communication manager and Partners in Giving campaign chair. “People certainly can and do give through other avenues, but Partners in Giving helps you give with your colleagues.”

Information: http://www.wisc.edu/secc.