Who’ll take a pie in the face to raise money for United Way Suncoast? Monica DeFrancisco, Sr. Manager, Regional Service Center at Paychex/St. Petersburg did not hesitate to answer that call in this year’s workplace giving campaign.

With her dedicated campaign co-chair, Denise Onesto, Monica coordinated a CEO Call with a member of the Paychex leadership team, elevating the campaign to a new level, and led the St. Pete office in the national Paychex virtual campaign kick-off, with decorations, candy and ice cream to celebrate. The Paychex national campaign exceeded their goal, raising more than $900,000 this year!

Monica always makes herself available to meet virtually or in-person and quickly responds to emails. We are grateful for her contributions as a member of the Campaign Coordinator Steering Committee and speaker at our Campaign Coordinator Workshops.

Monica and Denise were a powerful duo, increasing donor participation by the 400+ hybrid employees on the Paychex/St. Pete team, and exceeding the goal of last year’s fundraising events by 75%.

To get their team involved and excited about United Way giving, they planned a number of fundraising events throughout their two-week campaign, including a next-level bake sale, a wine-bottle ring toss, a basket raffle (with one employee buying more than 70 tickets for the sought-after bourbon basket), and an ax-throwing contest (don’t worry – the axe was plastic!).

Monica and Denise are working with UWS to make sure Paychex employees have information about and access to UWS financial stability programs, with high interest in VITA and two presentations by our UWS Financial Stability team scheduled in August.

Her attention to detail (including counting and rolling thousands of pennies from their Penny Wars fundraiser) and strong commitment to United Way giving make her a superb campaign coordinator. Thank you, Monica! We are #PaychexProud!