Workplace Giving Alliance – A family of federations in the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC)
Serving Charities - Honoring Donors
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
    • Contact Us
  • Our Federations
  • Workplace Giving and the CFC
  • Research
  • WGA Blog
  • Login

​2017 CFC: In Memory of the Departed (Charities, that is)

11/9/2017

0 Comments

 
​For the first 50 years of its life, number of charities in the Combined Federal Campaign increased steadily, and in later years, dramatically. It’s no wonder. The CFC, as originally conceived, offered charities a way to connect with donors – old and new – without incurring any upfront cost. And it spawned recurring donations.
According to the government’s CFC website, only 23 national/international charities participated in the campaign in 1969. In 2014, when the CFC celebrated its 50th anniversary, there were more than 2,600. Another 19,000-plus participated as local charities – that is, only in the smaller geographic areas that they served.

The number of charities slid down slightly in 2015 and 2016. But in 2017 it has plummeted, with fewer than half as many total participants as in 2016. Looking at only national/international charities, 754 of the 2,603 participants in 2016 are not in the 2017 campaign. The two lists linked below provide detail.
​
  • National/International charities in 2017 CFC

  • 2016 National/International charities not in 2017

We believe upfront admission fees, instituted by the government and assessed for the first time in 2017, led many charities to drop out.  Never before had applicants been asked to make advance payments for the privilege of participating in the CFC. They paid in prior years, to be sure, but their payments were withheld from campaign donations before the funds reached the charities, so the process was almost invisible. No invoices, no checks to cut. The charities just received less money than donors were sending their way. When suddenly asked to pay before any pledges had been made, many charities balked.

Most but certainly not all of the dropouts were smaller organizations. The government designed admission fees so that many smaller charities paid proportionately much more than before, whereas larger charities often paid less. We are sorry to see the little ones go. The impact of their departure is especially evident among local charities, whose ranks were decimated. Watch for our list of local charities in the 2016 CFC that are absent in 2017. It’s coming soon.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    WGA Blog

    We are the Workplace Giving Alliance, a group of federations participating in the Combined Federal Campaign and dedicated to its success. These posts are written by Marshall Strauss, CEO of WGA.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    October 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011

    Categories

    All
    2017 CFC
    2018 CFC
    CFC 101
    CFC Admission Fees
    CFC Federations
    CFC Pledge Results
    CFC Search
    Future Of Charity
    Government Shutdown
    Million Donor Choose Reports
    New CFC Regs

    RSS Feed

Workplace Giving Alliance | P.O. Box 2052 | Salem, MA 01970 | 978-594-0404 | Staff Login