What? Another Fundraising Record?

Oh Yeah: $9.5 Million

You would have to figure that with 10 straight fundraising records, Trident United Way is one of the fastest growing United Ways in the nation. You’d figure right.

With another 6% increase in the fundraising campaign ending Dec. 31, 2007, TUW has raised $9,512,118, double its total from 10 years ago and far outpacing inflation. And it came in a weak fundraising environment with the housing market sinking and the stock market bouncing like a bungee jumper.

Roughly 35,000 people contributed to the campaign, for an average gift of more than $250. That includes 127 “Tocqueville Society” members who each contribute $10,000 or more, and another 1,700 “Palmetto Society” members who each contribute $1,000 - $9,999. By way of comparison, Tocqueville membership locally stood at just four in 1998.

“I was so honored to chair this marvelous fundraising campaign,” said Lonnie Carter, CEO of Santee Cooper. “One of the most rewarding things you can do is lead tens of thousands of people all joining together to do something good for our shared community.”

Of course, fundraising is just part of the Live United experience. It’s TUW’s cutting edge, results-focused efforts that are attracting so many donors, and so many big supporters.

For example:
• Trident United Way is on the leading edge of research into after-school programming that shows that learning works best when total community involvement is woven into the schools. That’s the theory behind TUW’s “Links to Success” sites dotted around Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties.
• Trident United Way’s pioneering “Community Issues Management” (CIM) marries national, state and community data collection and analysis with computer mapping to find and demonstrate issues and solutions in the three counties.
• Using CIM to demonstrate the need for universally available four-year-old kindergarten in South Carolina, TUW is lobbying state lawmakers to fund it. Research shows that early learning is the key to success in school and in life.