For United Way Capital Area’s annual Workplace Giving Campaigns, two dedicated volunteers help promote the importance of giving through the workplace by serving as Campaign Co-Chairs. This year’s Co-Chairs are Ben Bentzin, CEO of Interactive Health Technologies, Inc., and Jeff Thomas, Regional Vice President for H-E-B. They answered some questions about their role in the campaign in the last of this three-part series. Why do you think it’s important for people to give through their workplace? Jeff: First, it’s easy. If your workplace sets up a program that allows you to contribute a small amount each week over the course of a year, that small amount can mean a whole awful lot to an individual and collectively to the agencies United Way supports. Employers who set up processes and systems that make it easy for their employees to give, can make a big difference in that way. How does workplace giving encourage philanthropy throughout Austin? Ben: A workplace giving campaign does three things: 1. It gives companies a chance to raise their corporation’s profile in our community. It extends and enhances the value of their brand because they’re seen as a good citizen. 2. It gives companies an easy way to do some social good in our community and be sure that those dollars are going to be spent in a way that’s really helping people living in poverty. 3. It’s a chance for employees to work together as a team. A lot of employees […]
Read More ?>Campaign Co-Chair Q&A, Part 1
For United Way Capital Area’s annual Workplace Giving Campaigns, two dedicated volunteers help promote the importance of giving through the workplace by serving as Campaign Co-Chairs. This year’s Co-Chairs are Ben Bentzin, CEO of Interactive Health Technologies, Inc., and Jeff Thomas, Regional Vice President for H-E-B. They answered some questions about their role in the campaign in the first of this three-part series. What is the role of the Campaign Co-Chair? The role of the Campaign Co-Chair is to be the cheerleader for the campaign. It’s a lot like being in a political campaign, except instead of running for yourself, you’re running to raise money for our community. I love being Campaign Co-Chair, it’s a chance for me to go out every day- I’ve been out every day this week- and talk about all the impact we can have through education, income and health. I also love seeing the diversity of the campaigns that we have and how these employee-driven campaigns are totally different but perfect for their individual companies- they’re motivating for employees, it gives them a chance to get to know each other better and do some good in the community. Why did you choose to become this year’s Campaign Co-Chair? I’ve been associated with United Way almost my entire H-E-B career and in fact early in my management years with H-E-B in the early 80s, I was the coordinator for H-E-B’s United Way campaign for one of those years. Ever since then I’ve had a connection to […]
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