The Combined Federal Campaign Goes Dark

The Combined Federal Campaign, an annual effort to collect charitable donations from government workers, said it would pull the plug on the web portal nonprofits use to apply to participate in the program and track donations. Decommissioning the site, charity experts said, appears to be the first step in scuttling the program altogether. 

Charities got a notice on February 20 that the site would go dark today, March 4.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s director, Scott Kupor, has not formally announced the end of the campaign, which was started by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and has raised more than $9billion for charities. But Kupor has criticized the high overhead cost of running the campaign across the huge federal bureaucracy and noted that the campaign’s annual haul has declined in recent years. The agency did not respond to several requests for comment.

In 2024, the CFC brought in $68 million in charitable donations, down from $104 million in 2017 and significantly less than its 2009 peak of $282 million. Last year’s tally is not final, but it is expected to be much less, perhaps $40 million, according to participating charities. A variety of factors, including reductions in the federal work force under President Trump and the government shutdown last fall, have contributed to the decline.

While the amount raised is smaller than the campaign’s draw in its heyday, $40 million is still a significant amount of money for needy nonprofits, said Jim Starr, president of America’s Charities, which serves as an intermediary for about 100 of the 4,500 or so organizations that participate. When nonprofits are accepted into the campaign, federal workers can choose to steer gifts to them that are deducted from their paychecks.

Starr said his organization has not received final word on the future of the program, aside from the notice that the portal would be shut down. Ordinarily at this time of year the portal would be accepting applications from charities that want to take part. The campaign typically runs from October 1 through the end of the year.

“We haven’t received any notification that the CFC is not going to run in 2026,” he said. “But the fact that the portal is closing down is an indication that that is likely going to be the case.”

Nonprofits Shut Out of the Process

In a September blog post, Kupor, a successful venture capitalist before Trump picked him to lead the OPM, said the workplace campaign made little sense in the age of the internet.

For every dollar a federal employee donates through a payroll deduction using the program, 33 cents is set aside to pay for marketing and distribution costs, Kupor wrote. By comparison, a donor-advised fund that offers online donations will often collect less than 1 percent in fees, according to Kupor. 

The Chronicle could not independently verify Kupor’s 33 percent claim. The agency charges nonprofits different fees for applying to the program, maintaining a listing, and distributing the charitable gifts. 

“Donors expect their dollars to benefit the very causes they intend to support and not to lose the effectiveness of their donations because of excessive administrative costs,” Kupor wrote.

None of the campaign’s overhead cost is borne by taxpayers, said Rosie Allen-Herring, interim president of United Way Worldwide, the umbrella organization for many local affiliates that participate. The cost of the program is covered by a variety of fees charged to participating charities. The campaign’s operations aren’t perfect, she said, but nonprofit leaders have always been willing to work with the Office of Personnel Management to make the CFC more efficient.

Nonprofits that participate in the program haven’t been asked to provide input or comment on changes and neither has the public, she said. 

“We’ve always had an open door with the director of OPM,” she said. “What we’ve had in the last couple of months have just been executive mandates.” 

Allen-Herring and other nonprofit leaders tout the campaign as a good way to secure recurring donations. When they sign up, federal workers’ donations are automatically deducted from their paychecks. The deductions accumulate over the course of the year and are likely to result in a greater cumulative gift from each employee, Allen-Herring said. 

By giving through the campaign, federal employees can easily make charitable gifts to nonprofits that have been vetted by experts, she said.

It’s not clear to what extent workers who currently participate in the campaign will give to charity if the CFC is shuttered, said Anthony DeCristofaro, a former deputy director of the Combined Federal Campaign. The campaign, he said, gives charities access to millions of potential donors.

 “When you knock on the door of a military base, a VA hospital, or a postal facility, you’re reaching all the employees behind that door,” he said. “It’s a very efficient way of raising money.”

Correction: A previous version of this article referred to Scott Kupor, director of the Office of Personnel Management, as Scott Topor.