I've Been Missing in Action

Hi all--

I've been MIA of late. It's work related. . .I'm in Germany right now. Just a few hours ago I was in Switzerland. I'm here for work. Novartis' global headquarters are in Basel, Switzerland and we had meetings there. Now this coming week, there's an annual conference with just about every pharmaceutical supplier known to man. This year the conference in is Frankfurt, Germany. So we're spending the weekend in "Deutschland".

Sounds glamorous? Yeah, I guess it is. It can be a blessing and a curse. I've been very fortunate working for Novartis, and they have provided me with some wonderful opportunities, which include global travel. That said. . .right now I'm in a hotel room with a television that gets only one channel in English. There's carting luggage, lost luggage (that happened this trip), catching trains, missing trains -- we didn't exactly miss the train today, but we missed our stop. So instead of switching trains at Karlsruhe. . .we ended up in Mannheim. . .and we were Steamrollered. Then when we got to our final stop, there were no taxis -- so we had to get on a city bus. . .with 10 suitcases. Again, I've been fortunate. . .but it can have its moments.

And between work meetings and trying to keep up with work e-mails, my United Way stuff has slipped a bit. I plan to fix that. It's a busy time. . . but I know that you are all busy as well. And those of you in the middle of campaigns, or gearing up for your campaign are doing double duty.

More to come. As always, thanks for supporting United Way. Or I suppose I should say "DANKE SCHOEN!" ( I could do a Wayne Newton imitation, but that would just be plain scary.) Dave

Check the Box!

Hi All-

This is a build from my last post. . .

Attached is a cut and paste from this year's pledge form. A goal of ours is to encourage checking that box. This is the box that supports all of the program funded United Way agencies, along with the entire Community Health Charities component. This is the box that gives provides the biggest bang for our buck within our community. This is the "Everyone Wins" box.

So let's do everything we can to see that box gets checked! Thanks for your continued support of United Way! Dave

"Everyone" Wins

Hi All--

I went back and revisited an entry I put out in May on unrestricted giving. This is always a good point to refresh on.

United Way (UW) and Community Health Charities (CHC) entered into a new contract this year. CHC now receives a percentage from the total amount of campaign $$$ raised. So when you give a non-restrictive gift, every United Way and Community Health Charities supported agency benefits. This had led to a better cooperative relationship between UW and CHC . . . and it should lead to better agency funding since "everyone (ALL agencies) wins".

It becomes very important that we campaign coordinators and committee members drive home the point that now an unrestricted allows both UW and CHC to take full advantage of the programs where $$$ have been targeted. Think about ways to encourage unrestricted giving into your campaigns. This can be accomplished through employee education, and even targeting incentives (i.e. jean day, free soda, vacations day, etc.) to persuade people towards the "everybody wins" approach in giving.

Thanks everyone! Dave