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Venoco Increases
Campaign Support This Year
Venoco, Inc. has wrapped its 2006 United
Way employee campaign. The campaign was really fun for Venoco employees
due to the hard work of the Campaign Committee. The campaign committee
included chair Marybeth Carty,
Pat Moran, Tony Soriano,
Martha Saavedra, Nicole
Ling, David Aguilar,
and Laurie Styles. The committee
rounded up raffle gifts, set up presentations for all employees, and
handled all of the company’s pledge forms.
The company raffle took place at a company pizza party. Prizes included
Caesar’s Palace gift certificates, a Sony Playstation 3, a digital
camera, a Video iPod, a digital camcorder, gift certificates to the Ojai
Valley Inn, and five full vacation days. Considering the fact that
Venoco has only 150 employees, the company was very generous with the
prizes offered.
The employees were given four presentations - three on-shore and one
off-shore. The off-shore presentation was on Platform Gail. Tony Soriano
was nice enough to escort the United Way speaker on the boat ride out to
the platform. The speaker, Joel Dinan,
noted that Tony went out of his way to make the trip fun and
educational. “I really learned quite a bit from Tony about the oil rigs
that day” Dinan said. The presentations on-shore included breakfast for
the employees, a United Way speaker, and also speakers from Venoco.
Venoco runs a very strong campaign every year with strong corporate
support. In 2005, with a campaign of almost $35,000, Venoco placed
eleventh on the list of biggest employee campaigns in Santa Barbara
County. This year, the company matched $17,500 in employee pledges, up
from $15,000 in 2005. In addition, the company has also given United Way
of Santa Barbara County a $30,000 grant this year to bring the
Fun in the Sun program to Carpinteria.
The corporate leadership of this company has really set the tone for a
strong annual employee campaign.
Nordstrom Holds a
"Spectacular" Workplace Campaign Rally
Nordstrom set the bar high
last year. Under Campaign Manager Lisa McKinley and Store Manager
Valerie Korac, the Nordstrom United Way committee planned fun
events, motivated employees, and doubled its employee campaign. In all,
employees raised over $26,000. This year, McKinley went even further,
pushing the goal 5% higher.
As always, McKinley planned a spectacular store rally to kick off the
campaign, with singing, dancing, prizes, and a bake sale. This late
September kickoff brought the store close to its goal, but McKinley and
the committee kept going through the month of October, presenting more
fun events and collecting all the remaining pledge forms from employees.
The campaign culminated in a chili cook-off and balloon pop on Friday,
10/27, followed by a Jeans Day on Saturday, 10/28. Employees cooked up
their favorite chili recipes and their coworkers tried it out and voted
on the best chili. Meanwhile, employees also bought balloons for $5 and
popped them for the prize slips inside: coffee gift certificates,
dinners for two, pizza, clothing and more. The Jeans Day—a first for
Nordstrom—s paid $5 to sport their favorite
denim for this Saturday event.
With all of the special events and enthusiasm from employees, Nordstrom
was able to surpass its goal, c4. Nordstrom came out
ahead again, thanks to the extra effort of the campaign committee and
the employees.
United Parcel Service
Runs a Fun and Successful Campaign
 The
Santa Barbara United Parcel Service (UPS) distribution center,
located in Goleta, just wrapped up its 2006 employee campaign. The
center has run a strong campaign for a number of years,
and is one
of the national pacesetters for the United Way employee campaign.
In
addition to contributing through payroll deduction, the managers at UPS
decided to do two “special events” to raise money for United Way of
Santa Barbara County. The first of these events, a basketball shootout,
allowed each participant to make a donation of ten dollars in order to
play for prizes, including t-shirts and gift certificates. The players
were allowed to shoot ten times, and those scoring the most points won.
The shootout was a great success.
UPS’s second special event was an employee carwash, off the Turnpike
exit in Goleta. The carwash was such a success, the drained and drenched
employees decided to call it a day at 2 p.m. instead of the intended 3
p.m. finish time. A total of ten UPS volunteers worked for four hours at
the wash, the equivalent of an entire work week for one person!
All
the enthusiastic support and volunteerism that UPS put forth is an
excellent example of how companies step up to make a difference in their
community. As a result of the extra effort by the staff at UPS, the
branch had its best employee campaign ever. The Goleta location will
motivate other branches around the country to reach for new heights, as
UPS will use its Goleta location as a measuring stick for the entire corporation.
Fantastic New Campaign at Bank of
Santa Barbara
March, 2006
Bank
of Santa Barbara hit the ground running with its first United
Way campaign. The new bank held its Grand Opening in January and
already had the support of President Andy Clark ,
who joined our CEO Club in December.
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Dawn Mitcham
and Andy Clark pick raffle winners |
Campaign Manager Dawn Mitcham
jumped on board in February and steered the campaign past the $2,000 mark
in March, — impressive for a first-year campaign with 12 employees!
The
all-staff presentation in the morning was well-attended with plenty of
breakfast treats available, but the campaign’s big hit was the stellar
raffle. Mitcham, Clark, and
a number of other employees approached vendors and clients who were happy
to part with a free brunch at the Four Seasons Biltmore,
dinners for two, athletic club packages, massages and more.
Mitcham opened the raffle to the community,
including clients and friends.
All in all, the raffle accounted for close to half of the campaign
total. Mitcham
also introduced a Casual/Jeans Day sticker to use through June, which was
seen in full force the day of the drawing.
The
enthusiasm at the bank was high throughout the campaign, especially during
the raffle drawing. Employees
were clapping and cheering as everyone traded off picking winners from
a fishbowl, full of hundreds of raffle tickets.
Mitcham offered to extend her efforts to the upcoming Lunch Bunch and
Day of Caring, which she will coordinate for the bank.
In addition, Mitcham, Clark, and four other Bank of Santa Barbara
employees will be attending the 2005-2006 Annual Awards Celebration, where they are nominated for Best
New Campaign.
The Territory Ahead Finishes up
Another Great Campaign
March, 2006
The
Territory Ahead, United Way of Santa Barbara County’s 15th
largest workplace campaign, wrapped up another successful drive the last
two weeks of February. Behind
the support of CEO George Ittner and Campaign Manager
Laurie Marx, the festivities started with two company-wide
presentations.
Marx got everyone excited by having over 10 items to raffle off at each presentation. This whipped both crowds into a frenzy in hopes of winning the many gift cards to such stores as Home Depot, Saks Fifth Avenue, Babies R Us and Restoration Hardware . Not stopping there, Marx worked extra hard and had another drawing at the end of the campaign for all donors. The highlight included a portable DVD player!
All the excitement led to an increase in donors over last year! Everyone at The Territory Ahead was excited about this year’s campaign and is looking forward to participating in the upcoming Fun in the Sun
and Lunch Bunch events, as well as Day of Caring.
Healthy Workplace Campaign Wraps Up at
Sansum
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Sansum Team Leaders |
March, 2006
Thanks
to a strong employee response, the Sansum - Santa Barbara Medical
Foundation Clinic United Way Campaign broke through the
$36,000 campaign goal and topped $38,000—a growth of over 17%!!
Executive Vice President and CAO Paul Jaconette and Campaign
Co-Chairs Mark Ortgies and Carol Sauceda
thanked Team Leaders for their successful efforts with a lunch and awards
ceremony at Elephant Bar on Friday, February 24th.
Team Leaders are volunteers at each of Sansum’s sites who set presentations,
secure raffle prizes, take part in fun events, and spread the word about the impact that United Way of Santa Barbara County has in the community. Several Team Leaders went above and beyond: Nonnie Nelson and Alicia Conchas collected additional money in coin jars at
Goleta Family Practice, Mike Lawson and the new Physical Therapy department topped $1,000 and 75% participation, the Lompoc branch had a 150% increase over last year thanks to Lauren Clarkson and Brian White, and HR had 100% participation in the new Denim Day thanks to Susan Kennedy’s help.
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United Way Reps with Pam Hogge, Sansum's hardworking payroll contact. |
The enthusiasm at Sansum was visible during Denim Day and site presentations. Employees at some presentations clapped and cheered for their co-workers who won raffle prizes, and others asked thoughtful questions about United Way’s impact on the community. Posters and email reminders kept the spirit of giving high throughout the 6-week campaign. At the Team Leader Appreciation Luncheon, Paul Jaconette joked with Ortgies and Sauceda that next year they will have to break $40,000. With Sansum’s display this year, anything is possible!
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Inogen, Inc
The
UCSB United Way campaign kicked off on Thursday, January 18, 2007. Last
year the UCSB campaign raised more than $114,000, while this year’s goal
has been set a bit higher at $120,000. 