About CFC
 

1940's:  Fundraising for charitable organizations in the Federal workplace took place. It was an uncontrolled free-for-all.

1948:  The then existing Federal Personnel Council attempted to add uniformity and stability to the fundraising effort, but they had no enforcement authority.

1956:  President Eisenhower formally charged the President's Advisor on Personnel Management with responsibility for the development and administration of a uniform policy and program for fundraising within the federal service. General guidelines were issued and an Eligibility Standards Committee was established. The Committee's eligibility criteria formed the basis for identifying charitable organizations recognized for solicitation during 1958 and later years.

1957:  President Eisenhower further formalized the administration of the program and placed it under the supervision of a Presidential Committee. Three separate campaigns were held (for different groups of charities), and operational ground rules were established and eligibility tightened. There was no payroll deduction.

1961:  President Kennedy determined that the program was well-enough established that the President's Committee on Fund Raising within the federal service could be abolished. He did so and assigned the program to the Civil Service Commission. Serious consideration began to be given to both a system of payroll deduction and the possible consolidation of solicitation efforts into a single campaign.

1964:  The first "combined" campaigns, officially called "Combined Federal Campaigns," were conducted as experiments in six cities, consolidating all drives into one. The result was a substantial increase in contributions, ranging from 20% to 125%, and a highly favorable response within the federal community.

1971:  All campaigns had become "combined." President Nixon announced that the CFC would be the uniform fundraising method for the federal service. Another major change at the time was the introduction of payroll deduction as a form of charitable contribution.

During the 1970's, the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) was a relatively non-controversial program in terms of the charities allowed to participate. Growth in the number of participating national charities was slow -- from 23 in 1969 to only 33 in 1979.

In the late 1970's, public policy advocacy groups, legal defense funds, and other organizations succeeded through lower court litigation in entering the CFC. The case that opened the doors to these types of groups was Natural Resources Defense Council v. Campbell in which the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the definition of a human health and welfare charity was too vague and ordered the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to allow various groups to participate in the CFC. OPM, the successor organization to the U.S. Civil Service Commission, assumed regulatory authority over the CFC in 1978.

1982:  Regulations were issued that formally recognized the role and responsibilities of the local groups of Federal officials that manage the campaigns -- Local Federal Coordinating Committees (LFCC's) -- and introduced the concept of Principal Combined Fund Organizations (PCFO's) -- local federated fundraising organizations appointed by LFCC's to administer the local campaigns.

1988:  Congress, at the request of various national charities, adopted permanent legislation for the CFC in the Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government Appropriations Act for FY 1988.

1995:  CFC regulations were revised. Eligibility and public accountability criteria for participating charities remains consistent with congressional guidelines.

1999:  The Combined Federal Campaign consisted of 387 regional campaigns and the 1998 campaign receipts were $206.4 million.

2003:  Combined Federal Campaign collected a record $249.2 million, which represents a 20 percent increase over 1999.
 

This is the official Combined Federal Campaign website for CFC of Greater Arkansas.

This site has been reviewed and approved by the CFC of Greater Arkansas
Local Federal Coordinating Committee for the 2006 CFC Campaign.

For more information, contact the PCFO at (501)376-4567 or info@heartaruw.org