2021 CAMPAIGN AWARDS
2021 Campaign Awards
United Way of Greater Lafayette recognizes outstanding volunteers and corporate partners each January during the Annual Meeting and Awards Celebration, but this year, things were a bit different. We celebrated all of our award winners in March! Check out the winners below.
Best Overall Campaign Awards
This award will recognize the results of an organization’s United Way campaign efforts. Organizations will be ranked compared to their peers by numerically evaluating the following criteria: employee per capita giving levels (35%), employee percent growth over previous year giving levels (30%), employee dollars raised (25%), and total dollars raised (10%).
500+ Employees
Purdue University
2021 Best Overall Campaign
500+ Employees
Best Overall Campaign Award of Merit
Caterpillar, Inc
500+ Employees
Best Overall Campaign Award of Merit
500+ Employees
Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc.
101-499 Employees
DeFouw Automotive
2021 Best Overall Campaign
101-499 Employees
Best Overall Campaign Award of Merit
Kirby Risk Corporation
101-499 Employees
Best Overall Campaign Award of Merit
101-499 Employees
Bob Rohrman Automotive
1-100 Employees
Raeco Realty
2021 Best Overall Campaign
1-100 Employees
Best Overall Campaign Award of Merit
Stall and Kessler Diamond Center
1-100 Employees
Best Overall Campaign Award of Merit
1-100 Employees
Landis + Gyr
Corporate Rookie of the Year
Each year, we like to shine the spotlight on our rookies. These are the individuals who are new to the United Way campaign but perform like long-time champions.
Indiana’s State Bank will be opening a branch right here in Lafayette in late 2022. Though the physical location is currently being remodeled to house a team of branch staff, one staff member kindly gifted the United Way $600 during the 2021 Campaign. We look forward to the addition of the bank to our community and future campaigns. Look for the full-service branch at the intersection of Veteran’s Memorial Parkway and Concord Road.
Saab, Inc. opened its 7th facility in the United States right here in Tippecanoe County in November 2021. With the worldwide company already supportive of United Way, it didn’t take long to partner with local leadership to quickly run an employee campaign. Saab, Inc. in West Lafayette had just over 50 employees, 20 of which provided an astounding amount of support- $2,866- on such short notice and at a brand-new facility. It’s exciting to anticipate the growth of the West Lafayette facility, its collaboration with Purdue and the Lafayette community, and the Saab, Inc. United Way campaigns in the years to come.
State Bank
Corporate Rookie of the Year
Corporate Rookie of the Year
SAAB, INc.
Employee Campaign Coordinator of the Year
The Campaign Coordinator of the Year Award always presents a difficult decision to make. There are coordinators throughout this community who work tirelessly on our behalf. But every year, one individual stands out among the rest.
This volunteer is no stranger to the United Way, in fact she has coordinated many employee campaigns over the years through her career. Her current association with the United Way is through her role as a human resources manager with the Bob Rohrman Auto Group. Rohrman employees have generously donated to the United Way for years, making the Rohrman Auto Group one of the top contributors to the campaign year after year. She has gone above and beyond the call of duty, holding meetings for an entire week at each Rohrman location, coordinating the presence of a food truck (free of charge to employees) during the meetings, and even sharing her own experience and knowledge of the United Way and local agencies it supports at the start of these meetings. We can’t thank Ann enough for her ongoing support and passion for both the United Way and the Lafayette community.
Ann Royer
Employee Campaign Coordinator of the year
Bill DeFouw Campaign Leadership Award
We meet so many people throughout the campaign who invest their time and energy into helping us achieve our goal of changing lives in Greater Lafayette. There are always individuals who go above and beyond their volunteer roles and stand out as examples of what happens when we work together.
The Bill Defouw Leadership Award is presented to an individual in honor of Mr. Defouw’s memory. This award recognizes an individual who leads the way in promoting United Way of Greater Lafayette’s work with great care and compassion.
This past year there were TWO active campaigners who redefined how you communicate, energize, and engage volunteers and donors on the largest scale in our community, all the while pushing the theme of COMMUNITY! They achieved campaign success by rallying large teams of volunteers, holding virtual staff meetings, providing potential donors with feedback on impact of gifts, sharing United Way stories, running reports again and AGAIN, and running an online silent auction.
The 2021 Bill Defouw Campaign Leadership Award belongs to Purdue’s Steve Abel and Megan Eberly!
Steve Abel & Megan Eberly
Bill DeFouw Campaign Leadership Award
Campaign Chair Award
The Campaign Chair Award is given at the discretion of the Campaign Chair to individuals or companies that demonstrate true leadership during the campaign.
Selecting the recipient for the chairman’s award for me was relatively easy when reviewing the work done as the campaign was wrapping up its last few weeks. It was without a doubt to me this person was very dedicated to United Way, serving the organization over many years and in several different capacities. Dedication and compassion were his daily approach to everything he would do in his personal, professional, and philanthropic life. His daily interaction was with kindness, sincerity, and humbleness to and for everyone he came in contact with. He supported local schools with his guidance and commitment and built great relationships with the student-athletes for whom he cared.
He put together effective and productive cabinet teams over the years and supported other cabinet work on calling days leading to amazing success for numerous campaigns. He was a champion of those in need and was always willing to help through his caring, guiding, and mild-mannered approach.
He was a past campaign chair, and served on the United Way board and on numerous committees for United Way of Greater Lafayette. He was always there, willing to help as time allowed.
It is with great emotion that with this Chairman Award, I honor Dr. Bob Hagen for all that he did and what he meant to United Way of Greater Lafayette. His love for the organization and its work in our communities was unmatched. Everyone who worked with Bob on campaigns, on cabinets or on committees was always encouraged to do more, to raise the bar in an effort to match Bob’s energy and commitment to United Way.
Dr. Bob Hagen
Campaign Chair Award
2021 Gary Henriott Community Impact Leadership Award
The Gary Henriott Community Impact Award is given to an individual or group who has demonstrated a commitment to action and made an impact to causes, programs or projects that create lasting change in Greater Lafayette.
In March 2020, United Way had to figure out how it was going to respond to news of the Covid-19 pandemic. One-way United Way knew how to respond and make a substantial impact was to convene a group of willing volunteers tasked with distributing critical funding to meet growing needs and services due to the ongoing community health crisis. In partnership with the Community Foundation of Greater Lafayette and Greater Lafayette Commerce, the Covid-19 Response Fund was created, and the Covid-19 Grants Committee was quickly formed. This group of volunteers have been tasked with reviewing and approving more than 100 grants since the pandemic began. Investing a total of nearly $2.8 Million dollars into Tippecanoe County & surrounding Counties over the past 20 months, these volunteers have been busy!
We would like to recognize and award Heather Francis, David Lasater, Jacque Chosnek and David McGaughey with the 2021 Gary Henriott Community Impact Leadership Award for their participation in the Covid-19 Response Fund Grants Committee.
COVID 19 RESPonse fund Grants Committee
2021 Gary Henriott Community Impact Leadership Award
2021 VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR
This next award recognizes an individual whose exemplary volunteer service has set them apart from others.
The person that has been selected as this year’s Volunteer of the Year joined United Way as a volunteer in 2018 when she became a Community Investment Committee volunteer. It became evident quickly that she would become an invaluable volunteer. After two years on the committee, she was asked to become Co-Chair, serving in that capacity as the pandemic began and we had to take our annual CIC process virtual. Because of her demonstrated leadership and willingness to serve, she was asked to be Chair of the CIC in 2021, which also welcomed her as a United Way Board Member and Executive Committee Member. In addition to her incredible leadership on the CIC, she was instrumental in her research and thought-provoking questions as a member of the Covid-19 Grants Committee that was quickly established in March 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, she also willingly agreed to serve on the newly established Sarah Rounds Price Equity Fund Grants Committee, continuing to review grants applications and providing recommendations of funding to the Board that align with the organization’s mission. Always willing to help where she is needed, it is clear why this award is being presented to her today.
It is our honor to recognize and present the 2021 Volunteer of the Year award to Heather Francis. Thank you for your commitment and dedication to our community and to our organization.