CFC Info Center

Many people are reducing their spending because of economic woes, but Combined Federal Campaign officials don't expect federal employees to cut charitable donations this fall.

Several CFC officials told Federal Times that they expect to raise slightly more money in 2008 than they did in 2007.

"We're cautiously optimistic," said Linda Siegle, chairwoman of the Local Federal Coordinating Council for the Chesapeake Bay Area CFC, which includes Baltimore.

But their increases are expected to be smaller than in previous years. For example, the National Capital Area CFC, which encompasses Washington and parts of Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland, raised $60.8 million in 2007. This year, Executive Director Anthony De Cristofaro hopes the campaign will raise $61 million, an increase of 0.3 percent.

"We've set more modest goals than we have in prior years," De Cristofaro said. "In the past, we've had [increases of] 3 percent, 4 percent, 5 percent."

From Sept. 1 through Dec. 15, federal civilian, postal and military donors are called on to make charitable pledges through more than 300 CFC campaigns throughout the country and overseas. Each campaign sets its own pledge season within that timeframe.

Siegle said the Central Maryland Area CFC and Eastern Shore Area CFC — which were combined into the Chesapeake Bay Area CFC in February — raised slightly more than $6.1 million in 2007. The Chesapeake Bay Area CFC hopes to raise $6.2 million this year, a 2 percent increase.

The Chicago CFC is setting a more aggressive 6 percent goal. Martin Baumgaertner, chairman of Chicago's Local Federal Coordinating Council, said the campaign hopes to raise $4.7 million this year — nearly $300,000 more than in 2007.

In printed material distributed to federal employees, campaigns are trying to encourage feds to donate despite the rising gas prices and falling stock markets that are hurting their Thrift Savings Plan accounts.

"We're trying to let donors know that while times may be difficult for them, we hope that they will look at how fortunate they are to be federal employees and have relatively stable jobs, as compared to a lot of other folks," Siegle said. "A bad economy doesn't mean hurricanes stop and disasters go away."

Baumgaertner expects feds who work at agencies that have extensive contact with the public, such as the U.S. Postal Service, will be moved to donate because they see every day how economic troubles have affected citizens.

"When the economy is down, the need for CFC expands," Baumgaertner said. "If anyone understands this, it's civil servants. They're an enormously generous group of people."

CFC donations have thrived during past economic troubles, De Cristofaro said. In 1987, the nation also reeled from a major stock market plunge. But nationwide donations increased by about $15 million that year, he said, and the National Capital Area raised almost $2 million more than in 1986.

The Office of Personnel Management does not set nationwide goals for CFC. The campaign last year raised $273.1 million, the fifth consecutive year of record pledges.