Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign Newsletter: 2024 Launch Edition
Colleagues,
We are excited to share the first edition of the 2024 GCWCC volunteers’ newsletter!
It includes tips, turnkey messaging, and links to toolkits to support your communications with employees. You will also find out more about the GCWCC’s Youth Council initiatives, key campaign dates, and the impacts your contributions make in communities across the country.
Help us spread the word! Share this newsletter with your communications and volunteer teams!
We are so grateful for your dedication to the GCWCC. We look forward to working with you and supporting you during the campaign season.
- 2024 GCWCC Team
Ready, set, let's go!
Our theme this year is the GCWCC connects us to our communities, including the ones we live in, belong to, and support. Through our contributions and charitable actions, we continue to make a difference and have a positive impact on communities. The campaign is a concrete way to project and reinforce the values of the public service - including respect for people and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Did you know?
Payroll deductions are an easy way to contribute. For example, $14 per pay provides a Chromebook and food for one student from Edmonton so they can be successful in their studies. $5 per pay provides short-term and emergency financial assistance to residents to cover medical and other expenses associated with kidney disease and its treatment. Visit the Named Recipients page for more dollar impacts from donations.
Save the Dates!
- September 5 (11 am to 12 pm, ET): Campaign Launch – Opening Ceremony (hybrid) – register today using this link!
- October 7 to 21: Walk Run Roll Challenge
- November 28 (1 to 2 pm, ET): DM Trivia Live event (final round)
- December 3: Giving Tuesday
- December 5: Payroll deduction deadline (November 22 for military and NPF)
- February 13, 2025 (1 to 2 pm, ET): Awards and Closing Ceremony
Join the September 5 launch event!
Be part of the celebration as we launch the GCWCC with a fun hybrid event on Thursday, September 5, from 11 am to 12 pm (ET). Find out how your support and contributions make an impact in our communities.
We have a great program planned with some special guests, including:
- Elder Verna McGregor, GCWCC’s Elder-in-Residence
- John Hannaford, Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet
- An EDI panel, with deputy ministers Caroline Xavier, Tina Namiesniowski and Valerie Gideon
- Lillian Thomsen, GCWCC Cabinet member and Retiree Champion
- Representatives from the Named Recipients, United Way Centraide and HealthPartners
- And a few surprises!
Meet the GCWCC’s Youth Council
The GCWCC Youth Council supports the modernization and renewal of the campaign by engaging and inspiring young and new public servants.
With members from 10 different departments and 5 regions across Canada, the GCWCC Youth Council aims to connect public servants to local communities by raising awareness, encouraging volunteerism, and fundraising through their initiative, ProjectBe.
Check out the 2024 GCWCC Youth Council members: https://tinyurl.com/3fssypps.
Exciting GCWCC Event for Young Professionals – Share with Your Networks!
On September 6, the GCWCC Youth Council will host a special event offering a fantastic opportunity for young professionals across the Government of Canada to meet the GCWCC national Chair and Co-Chair and interact with fellow colleagues.
To register, please complete the MS Teams form.
Toolkits, vExpo, and other userful links
The 2024 launch toolkit materials are now available. We encourage you to use these materials as you launch your campaigns. You can personalize the content to your departmental campaigns, or copy and paste it in your communications to employees.
The GCWCC vExpo hub is a one-stop destination for campaign events and materials, to support departmental efforts. We’re also pleased to share the updated Chair’s Office kiosk, with useful links to key materials and content. You can explore the banners and visit the other 6 kiosks available to you to source some of the best practices across campaign teams.
The team has been busy the past few months updating the GCWCC website. Explore the features, and various sections to learn more about the campaign, where donations go, and to source graphics and logos. You can also view the guidance on solicitation and gifts for 2024 and check out the newly newly updated commonly asked questions.
Need more information or have questions?
Contact the Chair's Office Team!
Campaign Tips
Here are 3 steps to ensure success with your campaigns:
- Educate: Raise awareness about the impact of the Named Recipients. Be creative at events with interactive displays. Reach out to your Local Manager for ideas.
- Donate: Include a clear call to action in all your communication messages, for example: Make a pledge today! Display QR codes (downloadable zip file) for an easy way to donate during events.
- Celebrate: Celebrate and have fun! Recognize volunteers, engage your teams. Celebrate your GCWCC accomplishments!
The Impact of the Named Recipients
Helping People Like Mariya is Why We Give
Mariya was able to jumpstart her new life in Canada through a United Way-funded training program.
My husband and I decided to emigrate to Canada, and we arrived in 2016.
The first challenge when you emigrate is the absence of family, relatives and friends you leave behind. I came into contact with a United Way-funded organization that provides services to immigrants when I saw an advertisement on social media to recruit ‘intermediaries’. I would also receive training that would be useful to me.
Read more about Mariya's story here: https://uwhh.ca/impact-stories/mariya/.
Hope in Research
After his 7-year-old son’s muscular dystrophy diagnosis, Alfred and his wife were devastated but had to adapt quickly.
Right after Éloi’s diagnosis, we were referred to Muscular Dystrophy Canada. We received moral and financial support to adapt our home.
In November 2011, Alfred discovered that he was a Duchenne carrier. At about the same time, he and his wife Marie-Ève were told that their little boy, who was 4 years old at the time, had Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare hereditary degenerative neuromuscular disease with no known cure.
Once they got over the shock, Éloi’s parents quickly started doing what they thought was necessary to help and support their son. Éloi’s father says his family is placing its hope in research.
Read more about Alfred’s story here: https://healthpartners.ca/how-we-help/living-proof/alfred-breton-pare/.
Page details
- Date modified: