July 27, 2011
UW Combined Fund Drive a finalist for award — and you can help
The UW Combined Fund Drive, the Universitys workplace giving campaign, has been selected as a top 25 finalist in the “Most Successful Fundraiser by an Individual or Group” category of the third annual CLASSY Awards. And the UW community can help boost the fund drive into the winners circle.
As a finalist, the fund drives story is featured on a public voting page through Aug. 26. Anyone can visit and vote once for each of the 12 CLASSY Awards categories. The top 10 finalists will be selected by popular vote. Then a panel of judges will choose the final winner in each category.
The national awards, which honor “outstanding philanthropic achievement,” are sponsored by StayClassy, an organization that helps nonprofits market themselves on the web.
To enter the competition, the UW submitted a nomination on the StayClassy website along with hundreds of other submissions, said Kerri Everly, Combined Fund Drive campaign manager. The public viewed the StayClassy Facebook page and “liked” submissions; submissions with 100 likes qualified for evaluation by a panel of judges, who picked the top 25.
The story of UW employees and retirees raising over $2 million for various nonprofits and charities stood out as “most inspiring and impactful,” the judges said.
“We are so excited to have made the top 25,” Everly said. “Weve never entered this contest before.”
If the CFD wins the top award in its category, it will receive $10,000 in cash and in-kind prizes which would go to the Friends of the Combined Fund Drive General Fund, Everly said.
She credited volunteer campaign coordinators for the success of CFD in the competition. “Theyre really the heart of the Combined Fund Drive, the key to the success of our campaign,” she said.
Learn more about the UW CFD at its website.
