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December 7, 1995

United Way drive ends this month

As of Dec. 1, Pitt's 1995 United Way campaign has received more than $235,000 in pledges from 2,507 members of the University community. This year's total is approximately $8,000 ahead of last year at this time, when the campaign received pledges of about $227,000 from 2,468 Pitt staff, faculty and administrators.

Pledge cards for the 1995 campaign must be completed and returned by the end of the month, according to Michelle Garraux, communications coordinator for the drive and director of University Graphics and Printing.

"Basically, the campaign is proceeding well," said Garraux. "We're about 4 percent above last year at this same time." According to Garraux, prize drawings to reward early participants seems to have helped the campaign. Over 100 prizes, most of them donated by University departments, have been given away. They included T-shirts, tickets to athletic events, Pitt jewelry and a free month of parking.

The campaign goal for 1995 is $450,000, which is about 6 percent over last year's total of $430,000. Other goals of this year's campaign are to boost participation from 42 percent last year to over 50 percent this year and to increase individual contributions by 5 percent over 1994.

Pitt employees' level of participation and contributions last year earned the University a silver medal from United Way for its per capita level of contributions, more than $25 per participant.

Payroll deduction remains the preferred method of payment. Donors have selected over 300 individual agencies to receive their pledges. Areas receiving the most contributions to date are homelessness, hunger, child abuse, domestic abuse and community violence.

Contributions so far from the Administration area total about $59,600 with a 40 percent participation rate; the Provost area, approximately $78,600 with a 55 percent participation rate, and the senior vice chancellor for Health Sciences area, $97,000 with an 18 percent participation rate.

The average University gift size so far this year is $94, compared to $92 last year.

Leadership donations of $1,000 or more have been received from 48 individuals to date, compared to 45 at this time in 1994. The average leadership gift size is down slightly, from about $1,438 in 1994 to $1,423 this year.

Retiree donations, which became part of the campaign last year, already have surpassed last year's final total of $3,497 from 34 individuals. The 1995 total as of Dec. 1 is $3,985 from 39 retirees.

–Mike Sajna

Filed under: Feature,Volume 28 Issue 8

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