When is the last time you invested in something important to you?
At Lipscomb University, all employees are encouraged to give back to the school monetarily. By donating to the school, the faculty and staff provide academic excellence, spiritual formation and service to the university. This endeavor is called the Family Campaign.
In order to reach the goal this year of increasing participation among staff, a steering committee was formed to aid in marketing the Family Campaign in hopes to reach or exceed the target. Dr. Paul Prill, professor in the department of communications and journalism and director of the Honors College, is the chair of the steering committee.
Sonja Hayes, who works as the assistant director of annual giving and special campaigns, is on the steering committee along with co-chair Pam Eatherly, an employee in Beaman Library, Cynthia Smith, administrative assistant in the facilities department and Walt Leaver, vice president of university relations.
“The steering committee helped us create this year’s campaign and gave several incentives and made numerous suggestions to the way we market the campaign,” Hayes said. “We had a goal of increasing participation this year and trying to educate faculty and staff on the purpose of the Lipscomb fund.
“The fund provides unrestricted dollars to support academic and instructional support, institutional support and technology, physical campus enhancement and allots money for student services such as scholarships and campus life. We use the Lipscomb Fund to give money back to the students, and that is one of the messages we wanted to get out to faculty and staff this year. So we provided a lot of information about how their Lipscomb dollars are put to work.”
Last fiscal year, 38.4% of the Lipscomb Fund was given to help with the labor costs associated with educating students, 18.3% helped aid in student services such as Singarama, campus recreation, athletics and many other activities, 17.8% was used for institutional support and technology, 15.7% was allotted for scholarships and 9.9% was put towards campus upkeep.
“The Family Campaign is basically an opportunity to support the general budget for the institution,” Prill said. “There may be some special projects that the school undertakes and the goal is to have the Lipscomb family and everyone in the community contribute to [the fund] so that the university can continue to function well and conduct its major projects.”
Hayes knows that the faculty and staff are appreciative of Lipscomb and for that reason they helped get the word out.
“The employees know more than anyone how important it is to support the university,” Hayes said. “We wanted all the faculty and staff to go to their colleagues and get that message of importance out there so everyone would participate.”
Employees with a heart for Lipscomb University are anything but few and far between. But the story here is that the facilities department was the largest and most improved department in the entire university to have 100% participation. There are over 100 facilities workers, and they make some of the smaller salaries of the entire faculty and staff at Lipscomb.
Hayes acknowledged this important achievement.
“We recognize and applaud the facilities department for having the most improved participation,” Hayes said.
Hayes worked with human resources and the steering committee to create incentives for employees this year.
“Dr. Lowry approved the offering of one day off during spring break if we achieve 70% participation school wide,” Hayes said. “If we achieve 90% participation we would get two days off. To count as ‘participated,’ everyone had to give at least a $20 their gift to the Lipscomb fund. Additional money contributed could be designated to the areas that they were most passionate about.”
To further entice employees, there was a “pacesetter” incentive put into play for those that chose to participate early. If the faculty returned their payroll deduction form (the fastest, easiest way to make a donation) or gave their gift by August 27, a complementary meal was provided for them in the Bison Café. Over 65% of employees were “pacesetters.”
Everybody that participated in the Family Campaign showed immense confidence and love for Lipscomb University. Not only did they succeed in the campaign, but they also provided a great example to our students and others in the community.
“Facility workers were really pacesetters of their own in this campaign,” Hayes said. “They are not the highest paid people on this campus, yet every single one of them could find it in their heart to participate. If they can see the need and give back, why can’t we?”