University and health system employees give hope to statewide charities

By Leila Ugincius

Virginia Commonwealth University and VCU Health System employees contributed more than $550,000 to their combined Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign for 2007, exceeding the previous year’s campaign by almost $24,000.

The CVC is an annual giving program that encourages Virginia state employees to contribute to humanitarian, environmental and health- and human-service charities.

Contributions for the combined campaign increased 4.5 percent for 2007, once again surpassing the record from the previous year. The VCU campaign, "Give Hope,” began Nov. 1 and ended before the holiday closing in December.

Employee pledge cards accounted for $378,764, almost 70 percent of the total. The remainder of the contributions was raised through special annual events such as the Heart Walk, the Gurney Tourney, the Relay for Life and the Breast Cancer Walk.

This year’s campaign included several new features, such as eye-catching red mailings, availability of online giving for university employees and a silent art auction, which raised an additional $4,200.

Of this year's participating charities, 10 were affiliated with VCU, including the Hospital Hospitality House, the Loftis Bereavement Fund, the VCU Massey Cancer Center, the VCU-Carver Community Partnership, the Virginia Mentoring Partnership, the Center for Human-Animal Interaction, Pediatric Palliative Care and the Virginia Council on Economic Education. New to the list were Connect Richmond, a network of information tools designed to build the capacity of nonprofit organizations, and ElderFriends, which reduces isolation and loneliness among low-income, shut-in elders by pairing them with trained volunteers who provide companionship.

John Bennett, senior vice president for finance and administration, served as chair of the university and health system combined campaign. According to state CVC guidelines, 100 percent of proceeds designated for a charity will go to the charity or charities indicated. Employees can make contributions using cash, check, credit card or payroll deduction.

Since 1997, the VCU and VCU Health System combined campaign has donated more than $4.2 million to charity.

For more information on the university and health system combined campaign, visit http://www.vcu.edu/cvc/index.html.