Culminating a year in which they won the United Way Spirit of America Award for their charity work, employees of Microsoft Corp. found out that their efforts helped raise more than $16 million for charities across the country -- a 39 percent increase from last year.

Microsoft's annual Giving Campaign saw employees from all levels of the company making donations and encouraging fellow workers to give.

Using an online auction format, the campaign brought in more than $150,000 from items donated by and sold to the company's 21,667 employees. Among the items was a tour of Bill Gates' home (donated by Gates himself), and a ride in a stock car with a professional driver, donated by the Charlotte, N.C. sales office.

Other activities in the campaign included car washes, a basketball tournament and a golf tournament.

The Giving Campaign has been more successful each year of its existence. This year it raised $9 million from Microsoft employees, a sum partially matched by the company. The first campaign in 1983 raised $17,000.

Forty percent of the money raised goes to the local United Way of King County -- near Microsoft's main campus -- and other United Ways across the country.

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