Spirit Awards

ACCES Employment

ACCES Employment continues to improve its campaign every year — this year was no exception. A personal approach to ensure the campaign was promoted and presented to staff, board and community members brought them to a 30% increase over last year. The enthusiasm and positive attitude of the volunteers really helped this agency go above and beyond and run an excellent campaign.

Photo: Sarah Segal (presenter), Andrew Reddin, Allison Pond, Yezdi Pavri (presenter).

Deloitte.

By recruiting and training over 170 canvassers, Deloitte's diligent, hands-on approach ensured every employee was "touched" by a United Way message making sure that everyone had the opportunity to make an informed and educated decision to support United Way.

Using good old-fashioned elbow grease and enthusiasm, and implementing every best practice, with over 1,000 donors contributing on the first day of their campaign, the end result was an 82% participation rate and over $1.6 million in pledges alone.

Photo: Marina Panourgias, Melanie Spurway, David Dalziel, Bruce McCuaig (presenter).

BMO Financial Group

In 2009, United Way was supported by many wonderful corporate partners, but this corporation stood out among its peers. BMO Financial Group made an exceptionally generous corporate gift of over $2 million; supported key initiatives like United Way's Neighbourhood Strategy and Sponsored Employee Program; helped launch the 2009 campaign; and provided United Way with numerous opportunities to bring its message to the broader community.

In addition, their senior leadership team volunteered to solicit support from outside their own campaign from individuals and other organizations.

Photo: Rob MacLellan (presenter), Nada Ristich, Michael Thornburrow, Bob Cronin (presenter).

» $25,000 to $499,999

Davis + Henderson

Davis + Henderson is not new to the United Way family. Year over year, they continue to sustain an outstanding level of support, and increase their results. This year, they took the relationship year-round, encouraging staff to volunteer at United Way agencies, added new committee members to veteran volunteers, provided exemplary senior management support, and incorporated all other best practices. Their total dollars increased by 22%, and their participation rate increased to 93%!

Photo: John Tory (presenter), Barbara McBurney, Kathryn Reid, Susan Monteith (presenter).

» $500,000 to $999,999

Procter & Gamble Inc.

Building on a theme of excellence, Procter & Gamble increases its results year over year…and they did it again this year: campaign results are up, special events are up, and the per capita gift and participation rate are up. The recipe is a combination of old and new. The old — face-to-face canvassing, awareness-building, and events. The new — venturing into social media — launching a dedicated website and a facebook page; using twitter and email to communicate and build awareness; and reaching out to retirees through an online pledge strategy.

Photo: John Tory (presenter), Martin Kearns, Lisa Cleary, Susan Monteith (presenter).

» $ 1 million+

BMO Financial Group

Led by an exceptionally strong senior management team, BMO Financial Group mobilized every unit with a clear objective to support United Way Toronto. They focused on awareness opportunities which included: over 400 participants in 50 Days of Caring projects, 38 agency tours with 550 attendees, 150 opportunities for their employees to hear from agency speakers, and over 800 canvassers identified to approach their peers for support. With their slogan "Our Way to Make a Difference," they certainly did. The results were outstanding — an increase of $1 million this year!

Photo: Rob Bruce (presenter), Kim Mayer-Clack, Susan Payne.

» $25,000 to $999,999

John Macdonald, OMERS

In his third year as Employee Campaign Chair, John Macdonald felt that employees wanted to learn more about United Way and its work in the community. Starting with the theme "Why not give, why not learn, why not appreciate" — employees were encouraged to send in questions through a blog, and to ask questions directly to United Way experts at two Town Halls for all staff. They must have liked the answers because the participation rate increased from 32% to 60% and their overall results increased by 170%. John guides, inspires, encourages, and leads by example. He took his vision and put it into action with outstanding results.

Photo: John Macdonald of OMERS.

» $ 1 million+

Rob MacLellan & Kevin Whyte, TD Bank Financial Group

Rob and Kevin showed leadership and enthusiasm in every step of the campaign: rallying the executive committee, personally participating in many events, sharing personal stories, chairing meetings, and recording messages to motivate and encourage support. The pledge campaign alone raised in excess of $4.7 million from over 8,700 donors and the overall results are up by 21%.

Photo: Kevin Whyte, Rob MacLellan, Bill Downe (presenter).

The Toronto Star and Graphic Communications Conference/ International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 100M; Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 87M, Southern Ontario Newsmedia Guild; Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 500G, including Photoengravers; The International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, Local 235 and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 353

With a strong working relationship between unionized and management committee members, and a dedication to United Way, the Toronto Star and its Union Partners pulled out all the stops to help strengthen our community.

A strategic approach to communicate the importance of supporting United Way and a desire to continue their tradition of success, despite a smaller employee base, makes this nominee a deserving winner.

Photo:Peggy Nash (presenter), John Honderich, Howard Green (presenter)

» Private Sector, $25,000 to $499,999

Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP

Cassels Brock & Blackwell raised more than $290,000 in Leadership pledges, significantly increasing their overall results. Canvassers were specifically trained to ask for Leadership gifts and all attended an agency tour to further prepare them to speak to the increasing need in our community. This resulted in over 100 leaders this year, 23 of them new. Leadership donations alone accounted for 90% of their total achievement of $319,000.

Photo: Andrea FitzGerald, Mark Young.

» Private Sector, $25,000 to $499,999

Celestica

For their 2009 Campaign, Celestica took their Leadership campaign to new heights. They did this by doubling their number of Leadership events and the number of employees who attended those events. In addition, the Leadership Chair hosted a special women's event in support of United Way. The results — over $260,000 in Leadership pledges — a 72% increase over last year and a 39% increase in Leadership donors.

Photo: (back row) Rob Durrant, David Rampersadsingh (UWT Sponsored Employee), Darlene Gablenz, Jim Fitzpatrick, Sean Khazaeli, (front row) Jordannah Korus, Betty Delbianco, Pam White, Simone Davidek.

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

IBM Canada Ltd.

IBM Canada utilized United Way's online pledge tool — United Way @work — to full advantage. They customized its Leadership messages and sent out links weeks in advance of its kick-off to inspire staff to give at a Leadership level. As a result, they surpassed their fundraising goal, no doubt in part to the incredible support from their president and senior executives who personally encouraged Leadership giving and actively participated in campaign activities. IBM was successful in raising over $400,000 in their Leadership campaign, a 14% increase over their 2008 results!

Photo: (back row) Jeffrey Freedman, Dave Robitaille, Joe Sehl, (front row) Anne Mcintyre, Ellen Kim.

» Private Sector, $1 million+

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP was determined to exceed their previous year's results — recruiting a dedicated team from across their organization to promote Leadership giving and United Way's Community Fund. With a solid communication plan and an executive team who was diligent with their monitoring and personal follow-up, they achieved their objective of inspiring colleagues to give very generously again this year. The results? A 19% increase in their Leadership dollars, representing over 90% of their overall total campaign results.

Photo: Eric Tripp (presenter), David Craig, Kim Davies, David Forster, Stephen Bear (presenter).

» Private Sector, $1 million+

TD Bank Financial

TD Bank Financial went far beyond even its own high expectations in this year's achievement. They improved significantly on an already well-established Leadership campaign. They identifed executive support in all major business lines; added a Major Gifts event that brought donors, agency staff and service recipients together to talk about United Way services; and included a retiree campaign with a match incentive by one of their own retirees. The results — over $4 million in Leadership pledges alone — a 24% increase over last year, representing almost 85% of their overall campaign total.

Photo: Eric Tripp (presenter), Paul Clark, Stephen Bear (presenter).

» Public Sector

Ontario Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure

With their Deputy Minister committed to provide any support required, the Ontario Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure's Leadership campaign was destined to succeed. A Leadership breakfast, face-to-face canvassing, regular communication to staff encouraging Leadership gifts — all this and more — resulted in a 35% increase in their Leadership results.

Photo:Eric Tripp (presenter), Barbara Ko, Stephen Bear (presenter).

» Public Secondary

Northern Secondary School

Achieving good results is all about effective communication. Northern Secondary School utilized technology to build awareness of United Way's impact on the community. By creating a facebook page, advertising key fundraising activities to students, and setting up their own United Way website, this school increased its donations by more than 10%, raising over $13,000 from 1,700 students.

Photo: Daniel Sorek, Caroline Hayes, Casey Li, Brandon Bloch, Rachel Nakamoto, Peggy Wang.

» Private Secondary

The York School

Through a strategic campaign plan, effective communications, and innovative event ideas — including its Gladiator Games — The York School rallied students and staff to get involved and to support their community. The end result: $3,500 from over 300 students.

Photo: Natalie Chu (presenter), Caroline Leps, Serena Goel, Jennifer Kim (presenter).