It's official.

The top corporate donor to Atlanta's 2007 United Way campaign was AT&T — raising just under $4.4 million.

MARIA SAPORTA • E-mail Saporta Recent columns

A close second was Publix Super Markets, which raised $4.3 million — an increase of nearly $200,000 from a year earlier.

Coming in third at $4 million was UPS, which contributed about $400,000 less than the year before. Sandy Springs-based UPS has been the top private sector donor to Atlanta's United Way for five years. It remains the top national private donor to United Way.

It's probably the first time ever that the top company donor is not Atlanta-based, according to Bonnie Cole, United Way's vice president of the campaign. AT&T is based in San Antonio. Interestingly enough, No. 2 Publix also is not headquartered in Atlanta. It is based in Lakeland, Fla.

Historically, before UPS, BellSouth was the top local donor; before the phone company, it was Coca-Cola.

The AT&T figure, however, is a bit misleading. In 2007, AT&T combined three different campaigns into one — reflecting AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth and Cingular. The year before, BellSouth was contributing more than $3 million and Cingular was contributing nearly $1 million. With the legacy AT&T gift, the total of the three would have been $4.44 million in 2006.

For the record, the Combined Federal campaign, which includes 47,000 employees, was the top overall contributor, raising $4.9 million.

Two companies were at the $3 million mark — Coca-Cola Co. and SunTrust Banks.

The next-biggest contributor was Georgia Power/Southern Co., raising $2.4 million and breaking the $2 million mark for the first time. By the way, Georgia Power President Michael Garrett chaired the 2007 campaign, which raised $81.2 million.

United Way also has more companies at the million-dollar level. Three companies are new $1 million donors: Home Depot, $1.3 million; QuikTrip: $1.06 million; and AGL Resources, $1.06 million.

Others raising at least $1 million were IBM, $1.8 million; the state of Georgia, $1.7 million; Cox Enterprises (including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the WSB broadcasting properties), $1.5 million; Deloitte, $1.3 million; Wachovia, $1.2 million; King & Spalding, $1.18 million; Bank of America, $1.07 million; and General Electric, $1.09 million.

Four companies are knocking at the million-dollar door: Genuine Parts, $961,000; Kroger, $955,000; Ernst & Young, $915,000; and Macy's, $885,000.

The United Way campaign is one barometer of metro Atlanta's corporate philanthropic profile and a good indicator of the local engagement of companies.

Meanwhile, the 2008 campaign planning is under way. Ed Heys, the Deloitte executive who is chairing, convened his first cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Also, Milton Little, Atlanta's United Way president, said the organization is assessing the recovery costs from the recent tornado in downtown Atlanta to determine whether it will need to mount a special campaign to help those who were affected. "It's a work in progress," Little said.

CAP breakfast features big names

The next president of the United States will be familiar with Central Atlanta Progress, the downtown business organization.

All three presidential candidates — Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama — spoke to CAP's annual breakfast through taped videos Wednesday morning.

The meeting, which at the last minute had to be moved from the Georgia World Congress Center to the Atlanta Hilton because of the tornado, also featured a plea from U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) to build Atlanta's proposed Center for Civil and Human Rights.

Receiving special awards were Georgia State University President Carl Patton and Norman Koplon, the longtime director of Atlanta's Bureau of Buildings.

Tornado damages chamber offices

The tornado did cause about $1 million in damage at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce's offices, which sits between the Omni Hotel and Centennial Olympic Park.

"Every single pane of glass on the J.B. Fuqua Rooftop Pavilion was cracked," President Sam Williams said.

Building manager Andre Kearns, who was in the chamber building as the tornado blew over, said the rooftop had 300 large panes that will need to be replaced. In addition, 32 windows blew in, causing water damage inside the building.

Foundation adds new firepower

Philanthropist Stephanie Blank, chair of the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Foundation, has added nine board members to help raise $40 million in 2008.

They are: Liz Blake of Habitat for Humanity International; Dean Eisner of Manheim Auctions (a unit of Cox Enterprises); community volunteer Monica Hagedorn; Dr. Naghma Khan of Children's Healthcare; Keith Mason of McKenna Long & Aldridge; Charlie Ogburn of Arcapita; community volunteer Christy Roberts; Mike Walsh of JPMorgan Private Bank; and community volunteer Nancy Williams.