CIBC Mellon kicks off fundraising campaign
Mark Hemingway, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Governance and General Counsel at CIBC Mellon gets cooking at the pancake breakfast kick off. You can view more photos from the day in Flickr.
Kicking off their annual fundraising campaign for United Way Toronto and United Ways in five other Canadian cities on Friday, October 21, CIBC Mellon employees enjoyed a delicious pancake breakfast at their Toronto head office. A seasonal favourite with employees, the breakfast sees CIBC Mellon executives prepare a variety of pancakes, waffles and even French toast for employees to enjoy. The competition is stiff among executives for the honour of serving the best breakfast treat, explains this year’s United Way Campaign Chair, Denise Sellar, Senior Manager, Information Services at CIBC Mellon.
“The pancake breakfast is a chance for executives to get in front of all the employees and show that they are supporting United Way. It’’s a nice event—it’s relaxed, it’s a good kick off, it’s really a big awareness event for United Way. It’s not our big money maker, by any stretch, but it really does kick off our pledge week.”
While the pancake breakfast usually raises a couple thousand dollars, it’s the efforts of employees throughout CIBC Mellon’s fundraising week that catches up the difference—this year, they’re hoping to raise an outstanding $335,000 for United Ways across Canada. With most of CIBC Mellon’s employees based in Toronto, more than $300,000 of the funds raised will go toward helping United Way Toronto reach the 2011 fundraising goal of $116-million for our community.
“CIBC Mellon’s goal for this year is $335,000—it’s very ambitious and we’re looking at a 40% participation rate as well, which is what we’re after,” she says.
Along with a bingo, raffle, vacation-day draw, art sale, and payroll donations, employees are showing they care about our community by giving back and volunteering, too. This year, CIBC Mellon is aiming to get 250 volunteers to volunteer with various United Way agencies in the six cities CIBC Mellon is donating to. Volunteer events are also held at a number of United Way Toronto agencies, such as FoodShare, Mid-Town Community Services, Eva’s Place, Youth Without Shelter and Sunshine Centre for Seniors.
“We’re really trying to get our participation rate up and we’re trying to go after some of the new and younger givers,” adds Denise.
By condensing their campaign into a one-week affair, CIBC Mellon’s campaign committee is aiming to make the experience meaningful for employees. Employee feedback at CIBC Mellon has shown a high level of commitment and interest in supporting youth and seniors, which helps underscore the employee engagement value of CIBC Mellon’s corporate gift in helping the United Way agencies that serve these groups.
“The employees understand that we’re supporting what they’re interested in, so this is how we’re trying to connect up what the employees care about and our corporate gift,” explains Denise.
Thank you for your continued support CIBC Mellon—we couldn’t do it without you.
