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Combined Federal Campaign prepares for Oct. 1 kickoff
(Published September 7, 2004)

By ROBERT ARKELL
Staff Writer

Federal employees in the D.C. area can choose to donate to local and international charities through payroll deductions when the Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area launches its annual charity drive on Oct. 1. The campaign will last until Dec. 15.

"This is a one time per year campaign that’s directed entirely by the donors," said Steve Heath, executive director of the D.C. area campaign.

The Combined Federal Campaign of the National Capital Area intends to raise $54 million for charities this year, about a $3 million increase from the $50.7 million raised in 2003, according to CFC officials. The CFC trained 400 new campaign managers Sept. 2 to help launch this fall's campaign.

"In terms of volunteering, we have 13,000 to 14,000 volunteers. It’s a massive effort," Heath said.

"We’re beginning in October because we need to do a lot of training up front. We want to do the training phase effectively," said CFC spokesman Tony DeCristofaro. DeCristofaro is a representative from Global Impact, an international relief and development charity selected by the federal Office of Personnel Management to manage the CFC’s 2004 campaign.

The CFC is the largest workplace charitable campaign in the country and the only national, authorized gift drive for federal employees. DeCristofaro said that even though the CFC runs charity campaigns all across the country and overseas, it distributes to the greatest number of charities in the D.C. area.

"It’s kind of like United Way, but United Way makes grants and uses dollars that donors don’t direct to a specific agency," said Heath. The CFC sends each contribution to the charity group designated by the donor. "Every dollar goes to where the donor wants to send it," Heath said confidently.

DeCristofaro said the major goals for the CFC’s 2004 campaign include raising the participation rate among D.C. area residents from 46 percent to 48 percent, increasing the average gift per employee to $338, a 7,500 increase in new donors and improving the training programs for CFC workers. The gift-giving rate went up by 9 percent from 2002 to 2003, and CFC officials are hoping that they will see a 5 percent increase in 2004.

"Some of the...workers we want to attract will be starting their careers. As younger workers come in, average gifts will not increase as quickly," said DeCristofaro.

If the CFC achieves its goal of 7,500 new donors, then it will raise its total donors to 165,000 military and civilian employees. Of the 340,000 in the federal workforce in the D.C. area, over 155,000 employees participated in last year’s campaign.

The local CFC drive sends donations to approximately 3,200 charities throughout the national capital area, DeCristofaro said. These groups range from local arts groups and United Way charities to Children’s Hospital, the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross. DeCristofaro said the most donations in 2003 went to So Others Might Eat, American Red Cross, American Cancer Society, Whitman-Walker Clinic and Doctors Without Borders.

DeCristofaro said that individual contributors decide which charities receive the most money.

"It is the results of the individual charity responses that determine how much money goes into each charity. We make no decisions," he said.

Most of the funds from donors are contributed through payroll deduction and will be paid out to charities on a monthly basis until April 2004.