Community Health Charities of Illinois

Community Health Charities Sends $271k + To Its 39 Member Groups Plus Others

(Chicago, January 16, 2007) -- Community Health Charities of Illinois (CHCI), the state's only workplace giving program exclusively devoted to health-related causes, has disbursed $271,709.79 to the 39 health-related organizations in the CHCI federation, as well as to other recognized health organizations designated by givers as their payroll-deduction beneficiaries. The funds were donated between July 1, 2006 and September 30, 2006, by employees throughout the state of Illinois.

"We are pleased with the 2006 third quarter disbursements, "said Tom Bugielski, president of Founders Bank, CHCI treasurer and finance chair. "However, the three-month collection represents the least active quarter of the year for workplace campaigns. We anticipate a jump in the first quarter of the calendar year -- as it seems to be the preferred season for corporate campaigns."

Well over $2 million will be provided through CHCI for its July-through-June fiscal year -- funds raised to support medical research, education and patient services, and to stimulate health and wellness awareness, in some 200 public and private sector workplaces. In many workplaces, CHCI shares the stage with social welfare, environmental, educational and other federations. Donors appreciate an extended range of choices and often register their appreciation by giving larger aggregate amounts, which benefits all participating charities.

"The opportunity to designate a health charity is particularly well received," says Barbara Boden, CHCI president, "because everyone has been touched, at some point in their lives, by one or more medical conditions."

CHCI member agencies are actively involved in finding cures and aiding patients with conditions ranging from major scourges like Alzheimer's, breast cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases to lesser-known but equally serious diseases like lupus, myasthenia gravis, and sickle cell disease. (Complete list of member organizations appended.)

Boden says, "Employees like the opportunity to touch the lives of people they know and love, and at the same time help someone they have never met, by choosing to have a charitable donation automatically deducted from their paychecks."

Donors may name a specific cause from among the 39 member groups, or may contribute through CHCI to any other recognized health charity, or they may give CHCI an undesignated gift. The hundreds of thousands of givers to payroll-deduction plans like CHCI and United Way attest to the philanthropic impulse inherent in American workers, Boden adds.

Community Health Charities of Illinois is part of a nationwide federation of America's premier health organizations that have joined together to stimulate health voluntarism and raise charitable contributions in the workplace. Community Health Charities distributes close to $58 million annually, based on contributions from millions of employees in corporations, federal agencies, and state/municipal governments nationwide.