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Employee Giving Campaign Nears Fundraising Goal

More than 1,300 Duke employees have donated toward “Doing Good in the Neighborhood”

Duke’s annual employee giving campaign, “Doing Good in the Neighborhood,” has surpassed its all-time donor record by having 1,390 employees give money to the campaign so far in 2014.Employees have contributed about $628,192, according to the Duke Office of Durham and Regional Affairs, which organizes the fundraising effort. During the 2013-14 campaign, 1,307 donors contributed about $669,931.Even though the “Doing Good in the Neighborhood” campaign officially ran from Oct. 13 to Nov. 21, donations are accepted year round, and campaign organizers will spend the beginning of 2015 reaching out to previous donors.Even though the campaign has included a record number of donors this year, progress is still slow when it comes to increasing employee participation in the university-wide giving program, said Phail Wynn Jr., Duke’s vice president for Durham and Regional Affairs.“The needs in Durham among both our legacy nonprofit partners and new nonprofit partners who benefit from the Community Care Fund continue to increase,” Wynn said. “Since Duke is the largest employer in the county, it is really important for us to step up and show leadership in providing charitable contributions to the community.”As part of the campaign, faculty and staff can donate to any of the campaign's six categories: Schools, Youth, Neighborhoods, Health, Community Care Fund and United Way of the Greater Triangle.The Community Care Fund, which awards competitive grants to local nonprofits, received the most donations this year, said Lindsey Naylor, senior program coordinator with Duke’s Office of Durham and Regional Affairs. The application process for nonprofits interested in that funding will begin in early summer 2015. Twenty-three departments also participated in the campaign this year and appointed “champions,” or representatives who helped with fundraising in their offices.“As we continue to get more champions for ‘Doing Good,’ more people see it as a way to chip in with their colleague,” Naylor said. “As donations grow, we’re able to give more and more and have a greater impact throughout the community.”Doriane Coleman and her husband, Jim, both law professors in the Duke Law School, have donated to the Doing Good in the Neighborhood campaign since around its start in 2008. For years, they have made monthly contributions through automatic payroll deduction. “It’s a way to give back to the community that gives so much to Duke, and the university makes it so easy to do through this ‘sustainer program,’” Doriane Coleman said. “Helping the underprivileged in the community is just a natural thing for Duke.”