Ding Cleek Week

Linda Cleek's competitive spirit and sense of humor led her to offer her own Campaign USI: Elevating Excellence challenge to her co-workers in USI Outreach and Engagement. She dubbed the effort "Ding Cleek Week" and offered to match gifts up to $50 per person targeted to one of seven separate areas in Outreach and Engagement that will benefit from the capital campaign: Adult Learner Scholarships, Historic New Harmony, Historic Southern Indiana, New Harmony Gallery, Outreach and Engagement General Fund, ROTC Cadet Fund, and Student Veteran Association Fund.

Cleek, who is co-chair of the USI Family division of the capital campaign, is executive director of USI's Center for Continuing and Professional Education in Outreach and Engagement.

She inspired 12 employees who had not previously made gifts to the campaign, and raised $950. "People got a good laugh out of it. It was sort of like being on the dunking stand," she said. The idea came to her during a campaign cabinet discussion about how to motivate more giving among University employees.  "I had to ask myself how much I could afford to be "dinged" by the match. So I counted the possibilities and calculated that I could do up to $50 per person. The total "ding" was not as much as I had feared or as much as I had hoped," she laughed.

Employees who make a minimum gift of $50 to the campaign (which can be spread over five years) will have their gifts matched by an anonymous donor.  "In the same way that Linda Cleek's generosity doubled gifts in her Office, employees from across the University can double their giving with a gift of at least $50," said David Bower, president of the USI Foundation. He invites all employees to participate, stressing that "all gifts to the campaign are important, regardless of their size.

"In the first USI capital campaign, 70 percent of all USI employees participated in the campaign, impressing donors and friends alike in the community, and pushing the campaign well over its original goal.  We sometimes don't realize how our dedication to USI can inspire others to elevate the excellence of this University," he said.