Spirit Awards

Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre

They ran an exemplary agency campaign through consistent and clear communications to its staff, board and community members on the importance of United Way support to their agency and the community. Their results? A 52 per cent increase in donations, and a 100 per cent participation rate!

Photo: Recipients Rosemarie Powell, Peggy Lau and Mary Crabbe with presenters Howard Green and Richard Lococo, 2008 Campaign Cabinet.

Molson Canada

This year’s winner used good old-fashioned elbow grease and enthusiasm, implementing every best practice to increase their participation to 87 per cent — up from 47 per cent last year! They also created a custom-made event calendar that was personally delivered with pledge packages to all employees, giving everyone the opportunity to meet their canvassers. The result of all their efforts — their donations increased by 18 per cent.

Photo: Recipients Pat Reid and Sarah Eby with presenters Doug McCuaig and Marg Rappolt, 2008 Campaign Cabinet.

Procter & Gamble Inc.

Procter & Gamble stood out amongst its peers by assisting United Way with a number of initiatives. They amplified their employees’ donations by matching their contributions dollar for dollar; held a warehouse sale with all proceeds going to United Way; provided Leadership training and mentoring to Youth Leaders identified through the Youth Challenge Fund; participated in both corporate events and GenNext events; and provided numerous supports to our agencies.

To add to their exemplary support, their president is an active member of United Way’s Major Individual Giving Cabinet, and was last year’s Campaign Chair.

Photo: Recipients Brenda Prevado and Arlene Stratton with presenter Casey Antolak, 2008 Campaign Cabinet.

» $25,000 to $499,999

Davis + Henderson

Their success resulted in an increase of donations by over 10 per cent, with an incredible 94 per cent of their employees participating! They not only contributed financially, but over half of their employees volunteer throughout the year in the community including with United Way agencies and through Days of Caring.

Photo: Recipients Kathryn Reid and Barbara McBurney.

» $500,000 to $999,999

Procter & Gamble Inc.

With their fun "super hero" campaign, Procter & Gamble exemplified best practices to increase employee participation to an amazing 92 per cent! In addition, they recruited 33 new Leadership donors, increased their average gift-giving, and increased donations by nearly 15 per cent over the prior year.

Photo: Recipients Kathy Burgers and David Blackmore.

» $ 1 million+

Scotiabank Group

In this challenging economic climate, this organization has been with United Way every step of the way. Not only do they embrace every campaign best practice, they are creative and make enhancements along the way! For example, their "Agents for Change — a PhilanthroParty" event enabled GenNexters to hear about volunteer initiatives in support of the community and United Way.

Photo: Recipient Steve Gaskin, Scotiabank Group with presenters Bill Downe and Chief Bill Blair, 2008 Campaign Cabinet.

» $25,000 to $999,999

Melinda Gasson & Anthony Rasetta, Kraft Canada

Melinda and Anthony revamped the entire campaign plan for 2008 by focusing on pledging and communication. They inspired their colleagues by setting up an intranet site containing vital information about United Way, key campaign dates and activities; sending emails to highlight progress; and organizing the largest Day of Caring event in the GTA. Their focused efforts paid off with participation increasing from 63 per cent to 81 per cent, donors increased by 30 per cent, and 30 donors became first time Leaders.

Photo: Recipients Melinda Gasson and Anthony Rasetta.

» $ 1 million+

Benjie Thomas, Matthew Tedford & Inka Bari,
KPMG LLP

Returning to their roles, determined to exceed last year's results, Benjie, Inka and Matthew inspired their colleagues to give most generously of their time and money. The team built awareness of United Way by providing information through their internal website, by sending video broadcasts of their CEO prior to the launch, and and so much more! They were continually monitoring their campaign progess and adjusted course to maximize results — which paid off!

Photo: Recipients Benjie Thomas, Inka Bari and Matthew Tedford.

Toronto Transit Commission & Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113; Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 2; International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Lodge 235

This award is given to a unionized organization that exemplifies collaboration and teamwork between labour and management in running their United Way campaign. With over 10,000 employees, this organization has a 60 per cent participation rate, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars through employee contributions. Add to that the heightened awareness of United Way across Toronto through their partnership with the Pizza Pizza family, and you get an all-round outstanding campaign.

Photo: Recipients Les Moore and Paul Nacedo with presenters John Cartwright and Agatha McPhee, UWT Board of Trustees.

» Private Sector Award - $25,000 to $499,999

Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil

This team led a very successful campaign, recruiting 24 new Leaders, and attaining a 95 per cent renewal rate! This dedicated team not only met but exceeded their fundraising target.

Photo: Recipients Adela Nae and Domenic Di Bratto.

» Private Sector Award - $500,000 to $999,999

IBM Canada Ltd. and IBM Employees' Charitable Fund

This team surpassed their fundraising goal, no doubt in part to the incredible support from their president who actively participated in the campaign activities and encouraged the team in their efforts. They also utilized the @work pledge tool to full advantage — customizing their Leadership messages and sending out links weeks in advance of their kick-off to inspire staff to give at a Leadership level, which resulted in raising over $385,000 in their Leadership campaign.

Photo: Recipients Joe Sehl and David Robitaille with presenters Martine Irman and Robert Brouwer, 2008 Campaign Cabinet.

» Private Sector Award - $1 million+

Deloitte & Touche LLP

With a strong communication plan, a dedicated senior team, and an executive canvassing team that personally followed up with every employee — they succeeded. Deloitte & Touche ran a phenomenal campaign which enabled them to retain over 98 per cent of their Leadership donors.

Photo: Recipients Mark Wayland, Bill Stamatis and Peter Yien.

» Public Sector Award

Ontario Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure

This exceptional campaign saw the Leadership Chair throw himself completely into the campaign, tackling every task that was given. With extremely strong support throughout the organization, including their Minister, this organization saw an 89 per cent increase on Leadership giving over the prior year!

Photo: Recipients Michael Stewart, Laura Mirabella and Tai An with presenter Eric Tripp, 2008 Campaign Cabinet.

» Public Secondary School

Earl Haig Secondary School

Achieving good campaign results is all about strong communications. This school utilized new technology to create awareness. By creating a Facebook page, advertising key fundraising activities to students, as well as using homeroom representatives to help raise awareness, this school increased their donations by a whopping 172 per cent!

Photo: Recipients Boaz Wu and Kelly Mark.

» Private Secondary School

The Anne and Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto - Wallenberg Campus

Through a strong communication plan, this school created excitement and fun events that everyone could participate in. This strategy helped the school raise over $7,200.

Photo: Recipients Mira Katz Blumenthal and Sari Papular.