Professor ​“Honest Tea” Takes On A New Crusade

Yale staff and faculty took a total of $1.1 million from their paychecks and gave it to the United Way in 2012. That’s an impressive number, but it came from only a small fraction of the entire Yale workforce, according to a professor pushing to increase the percentage.

The professor, Barry Nalebuff of the Yale School of Management, the cofounder of Honest Tea and a widely read expert on business strategy and game theory, heads up his department’s annual workforce giving campaign with the United Way.

Big employers like Yale that participate in the campaign set up a way for employees to give straight from their paycheck, and encourage them to do so. The campaign is a major part of the United Way’s annual fundraising, to support a wide variety of social service initiatives in and around New Haven.

Nalebuff (pictured) acknowledged that Yale gives a lot to the United Way. But the university could do much more, he said. Compared to Quinnipiac University, where between 20 and 30 percent of staff and faculty give, the participation rate could be better, Nalebuff said.

Nalebuff calculated the participation rate for the staff and faculty of most of the universities schools at 5.9 percent. He said that rate would drop even lower if you factor in the total number of workers at Yale in all of its many offices and programs.

The United Way’s Josh Mamis said Yale is ​“at every level a great partner for the United Way.” He pointed out that Yale has more than doubled its contributions, from $448,827 in 2002 to over $1 million in 2012.

According to 2012 workplace giving campaign figures from the United Way:

• Yale raised $1,108,692 from 1,329 donors, for an average donation of $834.

• Quinnipiac University raised $57,281 from 274 donors, for an average donation of $209.

• University of New Haven raised 35,211.27 from approximately 247 donors, for an average donation of $143.

UNH’s website says the university has about 1,052 faculty and staff, which would mean a participation rate of, very roughly, 23 percent.

Brian Kelly, who heads up Quinnipiac’s United Way campaign, said the university had a participation rate of about 30 percent. He said the university has just under 1,100 total faculty and staff, which would put the participation rate at around 25 percent, given the figures the United Way provided.

“We can do better,” Nalebuff said. As a way of ​“throwing down the gauntlet,” he compiled some statistics (see chart at top of story) on 2012 participation rates and average contribution size by school within Yale. Nalebuff said he gathered the numbers to try to ​“peer pressure” Yale.

His figures show the architecture school coming in last in terms of participation, with only 2.9 percent of employees giving to the United Way. The School of Drama, however, had the lowest average contribution: $6.22. That’s not even enough for a ticket to a Yale theater performance, Nalebuff noted.

Staff and faculty at the Yale Divinity School opened their wallets the most often. Perhaps motivated by a religious sense of charity, 20.15 percent of them gave.

But the biggest average donation was found among the titans of industry at the Yale School of Management: $760.07.

Nalebuff said the overall donation size — calculated at $834 based on the figures provided by the United Way — was so high because a few individuals at Yale gave huge amounts of money, up to $70,000.

“We could be raising $5 million for the United Way,” Nalebuff said. ​“And New Haven could use that. New Haven has substantial needs.”

Mamis said Yale’s workplace contributions amount to about a quarter of the total raised in 2012 by the United Way in workplace giving and individual donations: $4,251,173.

“We could be half, or three quarters,” Nalebuff said.

“In absolute numbers, $1.2 million is a lot,” Nalebuff said. But, he continued, think about what a small fraction of the ​“well-to-do” faculty and staff at Yale are contributing.

Asked about the comparison between Yale and Quinnipiac, Mamis said fundraising is more difficult at Yale because the school is so much larger. The most effective fundraising method is face-to-face interaction, he said. ​“Yale’s a very big institution. You just can’t get in front of everybody.”

Mamis said he’d love to see a higher participation rate at Yale, but ​“if there’s room to grow, the onus is on us and not on the leadership at Yale.” Mamis said the Yale administration has ​“done all kinds of things to increase participation,” including recording videos and speaking at events. ​“Anything you ask of them, they’re there.”

Nalebuff said Yale doesn’t do enough to promote workplace giving. ​“In other places, if people don’t give, they get a call.”

Kelly said Quinnipiac has fundraising ​“captains” for different sections of the university, charged with encouraging their colleagues to give.

Nalebuff said Yale sends out an email each year about giving to the United Way, ​“but no one follows up with phone calls.”

“It’s not a real campaign,” Nalebuff said.

Asked for comment, Yale spokeswoman Karen Peart said only, ​“Yale University’s United Way campaign has an ambitious goal of raising over $1 million this year. and we’re confident we will meet that goal.”

“I think Yale should match employee contributions to the United Way, or match just new contributions,” Nalebuff said. He said he is personally matching at School of Management donations this year.

Mamis also said that Quinnipiac and UNH United Way numbers are bolstered by student participation in bake sales and raffles. The participation rate among Yale students is not as high, he said.

“It’s not a knock on the students; we just haven’t gotten there yet,” he said. ​“We do a lot of work with our Yale partners to grow participation, and I think it’s going to grow.”

“It’s not just about the dollars,” Mamis stressed. ​“It’s about building a community that wants to see positive change.” The United Way could try different approaches to fundraising that might lead to more money or higher participation, Mamis said. But getting people involved and caring is more important, he said. ​“We really want people to be engaged in the community. It’s just as important as getting people to sign a pledge form.”

“I can’t stress enough how important that is to the overall strategy: engagement, not dollars,” Mamis said. In terms of engagement, Yale ​“couldn’t be better,” he said.