How to be a Bigger Tipper…

by Bob Buddemeier

On the left of the figure below is the total take for the Employee Thank You fund at the end of the donation period –just shy of $570K.

That’s pretty good — but I had hoped it might be even better.  Any employee who makes it through 2022 will have survived Covid precautions (for self, colleagues, and residents), supply chain disruptions, and major staffing shortages that demanded more work and more flexibility.  I kind of figured that we might be more generous.  Part of that is altruistic, but part of it is enlightened self-interest.  We residents will be happier and better served the more good employees we can attract and retain.  And it is no secret that money plays an important role in both attraction and retention.

How generous are we and might we be?   Let’s assume that RVM has 900 residents.  I figure that 200 are in a physical or mental state that precludes them from worrying about things like this.  I suspect there might be another 100 who are on a tight budget and/or worried about their financial future.  Finally, let’s allow for another hundred that are just basic skinflints with a strong sense of entitlement.

That leaves 500 people who are solvent, somewhat aware, and fairly decent.  If each of them chipped in $100/month, we’d edge up to $600K. How could we boost that further?

Well, having asked the question, I do have a few suggestions to offer.

RVM offers a convenient option for contributing to the Thank-You fund by way of a monthly charge on your RVM statement– see Sheila Johnson in the business office to sign up (x7672),  Quite a few people use that, some write individual checks, and some use a combination.

For individual residents:

• If you use monthly payments, go see Sheila and sign up for 10% more.
• If you don’t, sign up for a monthly amount equal to at least 10% of your greatest past total donation.
• Paying this way makes the amount feel smaller, and insures against missing the payment for some reason.

For the Residents Council and RVM:

• We put a lot of begs in a very brief askit.  Instead of compressing the process into a couple of months of bad poetry, perhaps we could spend more effort in gradually building a foundation of ongoing giving by recruiting more people into the monthly donation via the service bill.
• A longer season would provide more time to make personal contacts with new residents, and to solicit larger donations.
• Inform the residents — what are the salary levels in the area that we are competing with, and what will it take to be and stay competitive?  I’m sure that a lot of us would rather voluntarily support leadership in staff recruiting than chasing wages from behind with mandatory fee increases.

So, how do we do that?  Surprise, surprise, I have some answers here, too.

• Stop pretending you can get it done in a couple of months, and make it an ongoing committee of two people with staggered 2-year terms. They can have a big push, but in the off-season they can concentrate on education and recruitment.
• More publicity for the program as a whole and especially for the monthly donation option. Include it in new resident orientation.  Occasional ads or notices in Bits & Pieces, hillTopics, and on Channel 900.  Talk to neighborhood meetings or resident groups and organizations.
• Set up a thermometer with a “number of sign-ups” goal. The total number of people (and total dollars) signed up for monthly payments should be compared year to year, since the total will drift downward if there is not continuous recruiting.
• On the MyRVM Meritgram page, post a notice that the user can also offer more tangible rewards to all of the employees – with directions on how to give, or to sign up.  AND, include the where and how-to information with all of the mentions.

Moral of the story:  figure out how to give so it doesn’t hurt – and then do it, and enlist others.