Employees
working to enhance the quality education in their communities will get a
helping hand from Alaska Airlines with the launch of a new matching gift
program.
Under the plan, cash contributions by full- and part-time employees to
non-profit educational institutions and organizations will be matched by the
company dollar-for-dollar up to $1,000 per employee, per year.
The program, budgeted at $50,000 per year, will not increase Alaska
Airlines’ total annual corporate contributions. Instead, the matching gift
program will redirect a portion of the airline’s existing cash
contributions through employees.
"This provides an opportunity for the company to join with employees
in furthering our long-standing commitment to improving the quality of life
in the communities we serve," says Bill MacKay, vice
president/public and government affairs.
Why focus on education? Although there are many worthy causes,
"employee services researched other corporate matching gift programs
and found that education was the area of greatest interest to the largest
number of employees," says MacKay.
Under the new matching gift program:
- Employees will be required to make a minimum gift of $50 to qualify
for a company match.
- Individual employees are limited to five requests per year.
- No single educational institution may receive more than $5,000 per
year.
- The employee’s contribution must be a personal gift paid (not merely
pledged) by cash, check or credit card.
With an annual budget of $50,000, employee requests will be honored on a
first come basis. When the annual budgeted amount is reached, no additional
employee requests will be accepted. However, employees may resubmit their
request the following year, provided their contribution was made within the
previous six months.
Both public and private schools in the United States, Mexico and Canada
are eligible for the program. This includes grades K through 12 and
institutions of higher learning, such as four-year colleges, vocational and
technical schools. School district foundations, parent teacher associations
(PTAs) and tax-exempt educational funds, such as the United Negro College
Fund and the Independent College Funds of America, are also eligible for a
matching gift.
Athletic teams, choirs, bands, drill teams, fraternities, sororities and
alumni groups are among the education-related organizations that are not
eligible for the program.
Completed forms should be sent to the school or educational institutions
with the employee’s cash contribution. The school may then request a
matching contribution from the company.
Completed requests are due by May 30 for distribution on June 30 and
November 30 for distribution on December 31. Questions may be directed to Donna
Hartman, corporate contributions administrator, co-mail SEAZP.
