Are you one of the lucky feds that got the following message?

"Congratulations! You have been selected to be a Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) Keyworker or Team Captain/Coordinator."

Designed by Federal workers and managed by Federal workers on behalf of Federal workers, the CFC is the federal government's way to show how much ($$) they care about those in their local and global community by contributing cash to local, national and international charities.

The stakes are high as each federal agency has a goal to meet, and not meeting that goal can be quite embarrassing to the organization's leadership. While it is stated that CFC is voluntary, it is expected that donation goals are exceeded and 100 percent contact is made with all federal employees to give them an opportunity to contribute. 

Competition is high among organizations as well as the pressure.  High achieving organizations are recognized with:

• The President's Award for achieving 75 percent participation or $275 per capita gift.*
• The Chairman's Award for achieving 67 percent participation or $225 per capita gift.*
• The Honor Award for achieving 60 percent participation or $175 per capita gift.*
• The Merit Award for achieving 50 percent participation or $125 per capita gift.*
• The Million Dollar Circle Award will be presented to any CFC Reporting Unit Number that generates more than $1 million.

*A per capita gift is the total amount of contributions collected divided by the total number of employees per agency.

Those that did not make the cut but increased participation are recognized with the Participation Leaders Award. And those that don't make the cut and don't increase participation receive the sort of recognition no one wants. Because of this, key workers and team captains are under a tremendous amount of pressure to make sure their organization and its leadership looks good, sometimes to the degree that one wonders if it truly is a voluntary program.

So if you've just been assigned or "volunteered" to do yet another ancillary duty as a member of the CFC team, your work load will be larger than anyone will tell you and the pressures to deliver may be very high. But the reward to your organization - should you meet your goal - is considerable.

There is another way to contribute and it means a whole year away from your job. Senior Executive Service (SES) members can apply for the Loaned Executive program which was initiated in 1961 by President Kennedy. A Loaned Executive is a Federal Employee that is "loaned" by their agency to work on the CFC. The role of a Loaned Executive is to conduct all solicitations among the federal employees in a campaign area.

Background on the Combined Federal Campaign

The mission of the CFC is to support and to promote charitable giving through a voluntary program that is employee-focused, cost-efficient, and effective in providing all Federal employees the opportunity to improve the quality of life for all. The CFC is the only authorized solicitation of employees in the Federal workplace on behalf of charitable organizations.

Nearly four million federal employees and military personnel are able to contribute to the charities of their choice during the annual charity drive, which runs from September 1 through December 15 of each year. Pledges made by Federal civilian, postal, and military donors during the campaign season support eligible non-profit organizations that provide health and human service benefits throughout the world. These contributions can be made either by cash or check, or can be automatically deducted from these employee's paychecks.

Federal employees created the original CFC-One campaign. Established by a Presidential Executive Order signed by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, it continues to be the largest and most successful workplace fund raising model in the world.

Individual contributors that make substantive contributions get either the Eagle Award pin for contributors who pledge 1 percent of their salary or the double Eagle Award pins for contributors who pledge 2 percent of their salary.

If you would like more information about the finances, services, benefits or programs an organization provides, you may contact the organization directly using the information provided in the charity listing available through your local campaign office. To receive a listing of local charities in your area, please visit the Campaign Locator section of the website where you can access a listing of local campaigns.