Charities urge public servants to dig a little deeper

Massive workplace campaign ‘at risk’ of not reaching $19M goal

Ottawa community groups are urging federal public servants to donate to a massive United Way workplace campaign that’s “at risk” of falling short of its $19-million fundraising goal — something the groups say could have a “devastating impact on our city’s most vulnerable people.”

The plea is contained in an open letter to public servants coauthored by Susan Ingram of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ottawa and Kathryn Hill of Family Services Ottawa. The letter was penned on behalf of the 25 agencies supported by the United Way charity organization that distributes the proceeds of the annual campaign.

The current total of donations sits at $14.6 million, Ingram told the Citizen. The deadline for donating is March 31, 2017.

“We are able to provide vital programs and services because of your generous donations to United Way Ottawa through your annual workplace campaign,” the letter reads. "This year, our ability to support those who need it most is at risk.”

Marie Lemay, a campaign cochair and deputy minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada, confirmed the campaign will fall short of its goal but said “below target is still a big amount of money.”

“It’s still a very positive contribution that federal public servants are making to the community.”

She said the campaign total will be announced at the end of the month.

The fundraiser annually encourages federal public servants and federal retirees to donate to the Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign.

A large portion of donations are made through payroll deductions, but due to lingering issues surrounding the Phoenix pay system, some public servants were believed to have been concerned about filing the deduction.

Last year, eight out 10 public servants used payroll deduction to make their contributions. That number slid to seven out of 10 this year, which was still better than organizers had feared.

Lemay said the organizers were worried enough about public servants’ apprehensions about Phoenix that the campaign was adapted so the active canvassing was done later than usual so that Phoenix glitches could be sorted out.

Lemay said it is difficult to explain the decline in donations and that organizers will be studying the “root causes” to determine whether the campaign will have to adapt to new ways of giving.

“We have seen over the years a bit of a decline, and we are looking into the root causes of all that,” Lemay said at the latest technical briefing into the Phoenix pay system, which took place Wednesday.

“Public servants do give and we are in a different world today about how we give, so this might be the right time for us to look at how we are doing this. I know we will have discussions with our partners so we can keep funnelling money to the community.”

Michael Allen, United Way Ottawa’s president and CEO, said he would work with the government to help encourage wouldbe donors to understand the importance of the campaign for the 5,000 charities that rely on it.

Ingram said she was unsure of why the campaign has yet to reach its goal, but remained confident the fundraising target will be reached.

“The public servants are some of the most generous donors that we have in the city,” Ingram said.

“I don’t think that we’re not on pace. We are asking the public servants, as part of the campaign, to have time to continue to donate, and that these are the agencies that they are donating to through the United Way campaign.”