August 12, 1999 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Federal workers last year donated $206.5-million to charities through the Combined Federal Campaign, the government’s annual workplace-giving drive.
That was a $9.4-million rise — an increase of nearly 5 per cent — over the previous year, when the drive raised $197.1-million.
Although donors are giving more — the average gift increased from $118 in 1997 to $126 last year — fewer and fewer of them are participating in the federal drive. Since 1992, the percentage of federal employees who give has dropped from 49 per cent down to 39 per cent, with just 1.5 million out of 3.9 million federal workers giving last year.
“Charities are probably losing $30-million to $50-million because of that,” said Don Sodo, president of America’s Charities, which represents 70 national charities included in the campaign last year.
Mr. Sodo noted that the decline in the percentage of donors in the federal campaign was similar to drops he had seen in other on-the-job drives. He said his organization has formed a committee of government and corporate officials to come up with ways to reverse the decline in the number of people who give on the job.
The Combined Federal Campaign, held each year from September 1 to December 15, is run by the Office of Personnel Management.
Gifts to the campaign from people who chose to have a certain amount deducted from their paycheck were nearly three times higher than gifts from those who gave a lump sum: The average gift of federal workers who gave a percentage of their paycheck was $159.71, while other employees donated only $55.22 on average.
Donors could choose to give to one or more of nearly 1,200 charities. To be included in the drive, charities must meet several criteria, such as spending less than 25 per cent of their budgets on fund-raising and administrative expenses.
More information on the Combined Federal Campaign is available at: http://www.opm.gov/cfc.
