With $447,043 in donations from Emory employees in its coffers, EmoryGives, the University’s workplace giving campaign, exceeded its goal of $415,000 by nearly 8 percent.

When matching gifts are figured into the final equation, the final tally is estimated to rise by about $25,000 more.

“That’s almost half a million dollars,” said Michelle Smith, director of corporate realtions. “That’s pretty doggone good, particularly when we raised around $381,000 last year.”

But it almost didn’t happen.

On Dec. 18, less than two weeks before the close of the program, EmoryGives had collected just $384,184, 7.5 percent short of its goal. That day, President Bill Chace sent out a campuswide e-mail urging the Emory community to give.

Chace’s message worked, as over the final 13 days of 2001, nearly 230 new donors wrote the checks necessary to push Emory beyond its goal.

A majority of the money, $344,952, came from employees of the University. It, Emory Clinic and Oxford College, all exceeded their institutional goals for donating. Oxford College, in fact, finished more than 20 percent above its goal.

EmoryGives expanded its scope beyond the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, Emory’s longtime charitable giving partner. Employees had the option of donating to any of six charitable partners. United Way remained the top destination of donated money, but as the table at right shows, each organization received a significant gift.

Just over 70 percent of Emory’s donations went to the charities’ community funds. The remainder was given to specific causes, and .5 percent went to the Sept. 11 Fund.

A total of 131 employees donated at least $1,000 to qualify as Emory Angels, 27 more than in 2001. More than a third of those donors (51) were new to EmoryGives. Three people qualified as Alexis de Tocqueville donors, giving $10,000 or more.

One aspect of the program yet to be completed is its volunteer component. Around 350 people (more than 25 percent of all donors) indicated an interest in volunteering. Smith recently met with several campus organizations about partnering in a yet-to-be-scheduled outreach activity, and she hopes to complete the effort by the end of the academic year.

One area Smith said she will focus on next year is participation. Just 1,345 people donated to the program, well short of her original goal of 2,500. The people who participated, though, gave a great deal more per person than was expected.

“What I think you’ll see us doing in the future is focus on our participation rates,” Smith said. “Money gives us the goal we shoot for, but what we’ll really be pushing is getting 15 or 20 percent of a department giving.”

Smith lauded the more than 70 campaign coordinators Universitywide, saying their work was crucial in helping the campaign meet its goal as well as put a face on a program that can often appear distant.