A RECORD YEAR FOR UNITED WAY
Young Aspen Ziraldo peeks out from behind one of the numbers as United Way of St. Catharines and District announces its 2016 fundraising campaign totals Tuesday night at the Holiday Inn and Suites Parkway Convention Centre. More than $3.5 million was raised. Shown from left are Sean Simpson, Frances Hallworth, Peter W. Partridge, Donald and Victoria Ziraldo with Aspen, Ted Hoxie, Robin Ridesic, Heidi Burgess and Jane Gretsinger.
It’s the biggest amount raised in its 63 years.
United Way of St. Catharines and District has raised $3,517,000 for its 2016 campaign, slightly above the previous year.
The total was announced at its annual awards celebration on Tuesday night.
With Sean Simpson, owner of Simpson’s Pharmasave, as campaign chair, new supporters were encouraged to donate, said United Way executive director Frances Hallworth prior to the event.
He returns as campaign chair for this year.
“Sean is incredibly creative. And very persistent,” Hallworth said.
“And able to help bring new people into the United Way family.”
Case in point: the Ziraldos. Donald Ziraldo, co-founder of Inniskillin Wines, and his wife Victoria became leadership co-chairs. They brought together 26 Niagara wineries to collectively contribute $130,000 to the charity’s Leadership Match initiative. Usually, the program receives about $50,000 in funds.
Simply put, whenever there is a new donor who gives $1,000 or more, the pool of funds in the Leadership Match initiative will match the donation dollar for dollar.
“It’s a great motivator,” said Hallworth. “People really want to know that their dollars are going even further.”
In other words, when someone new donates $1,000, the result for the campaign is $2,000, she said.
As well, the United Way’s major giving program of donors who give $2,500 or more has been growing every year, she said. In 2016, it increased by 29 per cent.
And finally, its New Donor Match program, for which contributions of any amount by new donors are matched, received just shy of $270,000 in donations. Beatties provided the $25,000 matching funds for this campaign, Hallworth said.
United Way of St. Catharines and District funds about 70 programs and initiatives.