Fanshawe makes history with United Way Campaign

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: JENNIFER GILLESPIE
Fanshawe has set a record donation of $111,114.72 this academic year to go towards the United Way Campaign. Donations were collected through fundraising events, activities and payroll contributions. The trophy was given to the department and Champion of the Year who raised the most funds during this year's Campaign.

Fanshawe's United Way Campaign raised over $100,000 for the eighth consecutive year for a grand total of nearly one million dollars. Fanshawe's United Way Campaign Committee; made up of volunteer members of the Fanshawe Student Union (FSU), support staff and faculty, have surpassed their goal of $115,000 by approximately $1,000. Interrobang reached out to the outgoing chair of the campaign committee Candace Miller to find out how they raised all that money.

“It was really quite impressive and I was amazed with all the work, dedication and contributions at all levels of the college. It really takes the cooperation of all levels of the college to bring in that amount of money,” Miller said.

Albeit a rough start to the year, with the faculty strike in the fall causing uncertainty of accomplishing the goal, the team was still able to pull through.

“Based on what had occurred in the fall with the academic strike, I wasn't sure what was going to occur; whether we were going to meet our goals, but all in all I was super impressed. Even though people might've been financially impacted, they were still willing to contribute without any question,” Miller said.

According to Miller it was a combination of volunteering, donating and contributing that made this year's campaign a success. However, some adjustments did have to be made because of the strike; events were postponed and moved to a later time. Fanshawe employees could find out about the United Way Campaign events on the online schedule as well as through the employee portal. Students could find out how to participate in the United Way's Campaign events through the FSU.

Miller described this year's special events help by the United Way Campaign Committee as record breaking. They held raffles, bingo, a gift basket challenge and paint nights just to name a few. “Our raffle this year [was our biggest special event]. It was [for] a wheel barrel full of wine, [we had] two wheel barrels full of wine,” Miller said.

All of the money raised by the campaign came directly through Fanshawe. According to Miller, outsourcing or advertising was not used to raise donations or promote the campaign outside the Fanshawe community.

“We do it collectively, there's just one committee for Fanshawe and then [the other campuses] can participate in any sponsored events. They are considered a champion group, so Woodstock, St. Thomas and Simcoe would have their own champions.There's a champion for every area of the college, whether it's a faculty, a department or a school, […] we have individuals that are represented as a champion and they're the ones that help us communicate messages and help us sell tickets and do internal things within their area to raise additional dollars,” Miller said.

This year the Student Success Department raised the most money and their champion, Linda MacLeod was awarded the distinction of being Champion of the Year and as such gets to keep the ceremonial trophy in her department until the following year.

“We started this tradition last year [where] we have a trophy that is transferred over to the department [that] brought in the most dollars. […] It's like a belt, but we have a cup that you can be the champion of. So Linda MacLeod is the Champion of the Year in the Student Success department, which raised the most dollars from a departmental perspective. This is going above and beyond what you do on your employee donations or special events. She did two paint nights, and [during the] gift basket challenge [the] basket [she] contributed raised the most money, she [also] organized a number of internal events within her department that helped to raise the dollar amount. It was a really close competition with only a $100 difference between two departments,” Miller said.

While the United Way Campaign for this year is over, keep an eye out for events starting back up in May. You can find a schedule of the United Way Campaign activities at fanshawec.ca/UnitedWay.

And to find out how Fanshawe contributions have been aiding the community through the United Way check their annual report on the United Way website unitedwaylm.ca/about-us/annualreports-financials/.