Why give through the King County Employee Giving Program (EGP)?

In the 1950s, labor unions across the country began forming community chests as a way of giving back to the community and building employee unity.  These were the first workplace giving campaigns. Over the years, charities, philanthropy, and civic engagement have changed.  Accordingly, some of the reasons for choosing to participate in a workplace giving campaign have changed, too.

Benefits to King County employees

Pre-screened nonprofits

The Employee Giving Program screens all nonprofit participants so employees can be assured their donations are going to a legitimate nonprofit.  Each participating organization is: registered as a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization; registered with the Secretary of State to solicit donations in Washington; in compliance with the non-discrimination policies to the same ordinance standard set by King County; and has total administrative costs of 25% or less.

Plan your giving

Even with the best intentions, people make commitments to donate to a favorite organization and then do not follow through.  Nonprofit organizations spend valuable resources on mailings and phone calling to prompt donors to fulfill pledges.  The set-it-and-forget-it nature of automatic payroll deduction helps employees follow through on pledges.  Moreover, it allows organizations to use more of their valuable resources on programs and services.

Ability to give time

Not only may employees participate in the employee charitable campaign by setting up automatic payroll deductions or writing a direct check, but you can also can convert available vacation or compensatory hours to cash and donate the net cash value to a participating organization of your choice.

Anonymity

There are so many stories of people writing a check to a nonprofit and suddenly being inundated with solicitation letters from all sorts of nonprofit organizations.  The Employee Giving Program is able to serve as a mediator of sorts: employees may remain anonymous to the nonprofit and the Employee Giving Program will ensure employees receive documentation of their donations for tax and other purposes.

Benefits to participating non-profit organizations

Predictable income

Because organizations receive notification of your payroll deduction pledge for the following year, they can efficiently plan services and programs – maximizing the benefit of your gift.  Furthermore, payroll deductions provide a dependable, steady stream of revenue that can be used to leverage other sources of income, such as grants, because the organization can document the support received through the charitable campaign.

Lower fundraising costs

Workplace giving is more cost-effective and efficient for nonprofit organizations.  The cost of participating in a workplace giving campaign is far below the cost that would be incurred if participating organizations had to solicit donations for an equal amount of money. Workplace giving allows organizations to spend more resources on their services rather than fundraising.

Undesignated donations

Nonprofit organizations benefit by receiving a portion of "undesignated" campaign funds.

Other benefits

Participation at workplace giving fairs and events broadens nonprofit organizations’ community outreach, often resulting in new volunteers - and sometimes - new clients.  In fact, we have even heard some employees hang on to the catalog as a resource guide.

Benefits to King County

Employee unity

There are few things more empowering than creating social change and building community -together.

Service to the community

Allows King County to be "good neighbors” and community partners.

Less disruption

By centralizing charitable giving through the Employee Giving Program, we can give back to the community with minimal disruption to King County business.

Why not just send a check directly to the non-profit?

It increases cost to the nonprofit

Even with the best of intentions, people make commitments to donate to a nonprofit and then do not follow through.  Or, they follow through in January and February but forget by March.  Nonprofit organizations spend valuable resources on mailings and phone calling to prompt donors to fulfill pledges.  The set-it-and-forget-it nature of automatic payroll deduction helps people follow through on pledges.  By writing a check directly, 100% of your donation makes it to the organization but what portion thereafter must be used to fundraise the remainder of your pledge over the year?  Unless you are able to fulfill your annual giving in one lump sum by check, you are likely reducing the power of your gift.

Planned gifts are bigger gifts

A basic truth of human nature is that most people spend more when using future dollars versus present dollars. (It is also why we use credit cards so much)  By participating in the annual charitable campaign and using the automatic payroll deduction option, you are leveraging that basic truth to increase your donation capacity.