TI Worldwide Facilities volunteers put their muscle behind helping Camp Fire Girls, a United Way of Metropolitan Dallas partner.

TI employees and retirees and the Texas Instruments Foundation gave a combined $4.9 million to benefit United Way during this year's campaign. Nearly 5,600 employees across the U.S., including 350 new donors, contributed $2.8 million, an increase over last year's participants and contributions.

In North Texas, almost 46 percent of TI employees gave $2.4 million to the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas (UWMD). These gifts combined with a TI Foundation grant resulted in $4.1 million for UWMD.

The contributions go to the local United Way and partner agencies, making an impact and addressing issues in the areas of education, income and health.

Andy Smith, TI director of corporate philanthropy, said employees across the country not only provided financial support, but also volunteered their time and expertise in 2011 to positively affect their communities.

"The effort put forth this year by TI employees to accomplish a successful campaign focused on creating meaningful change in our communities is inspiring," Smith said.

Smith said dedicated TI volunteers across the U.S. led a successful campaign. The competition between the United Way campaign teams is friendly but intense. In Dallas, the Worldwide Procurement & Logistics (WPL) achieved more than 80 percent participation and led the pack.

"WPL is a fun and competitive group," said Shannon Suber, TI's director of Economic Inclusion. "We finished first in business unit participation for the second year in a row. Our 2011 goal was to grow our results and enjoy some fun events along the way. Because United Way is such an awesome organization, folks are excited to participate."

In Dallas, the number of new hires who participated increased to more than 40 percent. TI sites across the U.S. increased participation, with those in Rochester, MN, Tucson, AZ and Stafford, TX, seeing significant growth.

"TI employees take a lot of pride in helping our communities," Smith said. "We are proud of our employees who led our campaign teams and those who gave their money and their time to make a difference. Our communities will benefit because of these efforts and many lives will be permanently improved."

United Way remains TI's and the TI Foundation's primary health and human services focus because the organization reliably identifies the most pressing community challenges, partners with proven agencies, and provides financial support that provides measurable results.

TI's commitment is demonstrated at all levels of the company from TI President, Chairman and CEO Rich Templeton's serving as the company's campaign chairman and numerous employees volunteering with United Way in various capacities.