NIU pledged $41,804 of their $50,000 United Way goal despite the lack of pledging from students this year.

“We recieved almost no money from the students”, said student fund raiser Michelle Roberts, “but we have a couple of months left to get more pledges.”

Roberts said representatives from sororities, fraternities and honor organizations were informed of the goal and were asked if they could inform their organizations of the fund-raising efforts at their meetings.

“One of the reasons we had no response was that we asked for pledges right before Christmas. But we understand that the holidays are hard for everyone,” Roberts said.

The United Way is a not-for-profit organization that raises funds for smaller groups. The funds will help support Big Brothers and Sisters, the Salvation Army, the Boy Scouts and the American Red Cross. Local funding will be received by the Two Rivers Council family service agency, the Kishwaukee YMCA and the DeKalb County Coordinated Child Care center.

Roberts said she and others working with United Way will go directly to organizations to talk rather than relying on representatives.

“Our goal for student pledging is just $700 and if just a few sororities and fraternities would contribute we could reach our goal,” she concluded.

NIU’s faculty and staff contributed the most funds to the overall goal.

Finance Professor William Wilbur said fund raising was done by passing out literature and by approaching colleagues. He also said, “A follow up letter was sent, as well as a regular letter.”

Wilbur added another reason for their success was the effort of Richard Brown, business college dean, Albert Pender, business education associate professor and himself.

Though the fund-raiser was successful as a whole it did not reach NIU’s goal. Peggy Sullivan, campaign chairman and college of professional studies dean, gave specific reasons for not reaching the goal. “There were no salary raises and people were making revisions in allocations because of the new tax laws,” she said.