Penn's Way won't have a specific goal

Drive missed target last year The University's 1993 Penn's Way donation drive, which begins this week, will have no specific dollar goal this year, campaign chairperson and Engineering School Dean Gregory Farrington said last night. Penn's Way – which solicits donations from University employees on behalf of several charity organizations – fell $58,000 short of its $425,000 goal last year. Farrington, who begins his second year as the campaign's chairperson, said he hopes to surpass last year's total, but added he wants to run a "humane" campaign that does not put excessive pressure on employees to give. "We're trying to give everyone in the University the opportunity to give to charitable organizations, without hitting people over the head with our demands," he said. "So, this year we have a 'sought' goal – which means we will be trying to do as well or better than last year's campaign." Farrington said he has found the pressure of a goal is not effective in persuading people to donate money to charity. "We learned that people give because they feel strongly that their money will go to a particular agency," he said. "The value of goals and strong internal pressure is less important in inducing people to give." Executive Director of the President's Office Linda Hyatt said an informal questionnaire distributed to some University employees after the Penn's Way drive ended last January indicated that some employees resented the pressure placed on them to give. "Clearly Penn is an academic community that prides itself on its independence," she said. "Intensive pressure to give donations was frowned upon." Hyatt said the questionnaire revealed that some employees were hesitant to give small amounts. "Often people thought their gifts were too modest," she said. "But even the most modest gifts take on credibility. Fifty dollars for one group may mean a meal for several senior citizens." Farrington said employees tend to give to charities when they feel like they are "really doing some good." "What consistently works best is when people see very clearly that they have the opportunity to do real good through Penn's Way campaign," he said. "If they see the resources work for good for the community then they tend to be generous." Farrington said he is optimistic about this year's campaign, adding he is not discouraged by last year's results. "We didn't get as much money last year as we did the first year, but when you look across the country, charity giving was down everywhere," he said. "Even so, we were not as down as the rest of the country." Since this is only the third year of the Penn's Way campaign, Farrington said the University is still in an experimental stage. "We're trying to design a campaign that works for Penn," he said. "Penn's Way is a bit of an experiment in itself and it's a fairly large undertaking. This is the third year and we're still experimenting with new strategies." Farrington said another change in the Penn's Way format this year is that the campaign will officially end December 15 – a month earlier than last year. He said the new end date is more convenient for University employees and Penn's Way volunteers. "The new date works out better all around," he said. "When you run into Christmas holidays, it's not a particularly convenient time to be running a campaign."

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