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Fund drive puts focus on choice

Donors in UH Faculty and Staff campaign can direct how their contributions are used

By Anne Marie Nguyen
The Daily Cougar

Organizers of the UH Faculty and Staff campaign hope a more personalized approach will help encourage faculty and staff members to give back to the University.

The annual campaign began a few years ago when it became possible for employees to support UH through payroll deductions. In the past two years, fund-raising efforts have focused on the expansion and renovation of the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library and The Honors College, said Director of Annual Giving Amy Leggio.

In this year's campaign, donors may choose which area of the University their contributions will support, from academics to Athletics to the improvement of campus programs.

"This year is focused on what each individual wants to do," Angie Shortt, president of the Staff Council and co-chairwoman of the campaign, said. "Whether it's their department or program or staff scholarships that they support, it still helps the University."

Among the programs to which donations may be applied are $500 Staff Council scholarships, the operating funds of KUHF and KUHT, and programs within UH's colleges such as the Keeland Design Exploration Center in the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture, and a fund for geosciences equipment and field trips.

Not only do donations help the University directly, but they also lead to grants. Participation in the fund raising for the Anderson expansion, for example, led to a $500,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation.

To make giving easier, the campaign's Web site (www.uh.edu/annualgiving/ employees) lists all the gift codes that allow each donor to choose where his or her money goes. Although the campaign is a continuing effort, Leggio said it's best to return pledge cards by the end of August so donations can begin in the next fiscal year.

In 2003, the campaign raised $372,872, with 14.7 percent of faculty and staff participating.

For more information, visit the Web site or call (713) 743-8865.
 

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