Today, Nonprofit Quarterly published my article on the decline of the CFC. Much of the article’s information and opinions will be familiar to readers of this blog. However, the article adds historical perspective about the CFC and workplace giving in general to data published in WGA’s annual Million Donors Choose reports. It also considers how some private-sector workplace giving initiatives are thriving today even as public sector campaigns decline, and it suggests lessons the CFC might learn from those corporate successes.

​We now know that total pledges in the 2017 CFC were $101 million, down nearly 40 percent from 2016. This was reported Friday in the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

​For the first time in 55 years, one can question whether the CFC will survive.

Today the Chronicle of Philanthropy published an op ed by our CEO, Marshall Strauss, about the steep decline of the CFC, how government blunders have contributed to its demise, and what might be done to save it. If you subscribe to the Chronicle, you can read the full article: https://www.philanthropy.com/article/Opinion-Federal-Charity/242184. Meanwhile, here are the main points.

​The new CFC fees imposed by OPM for the 2017 campaign contributed to a dramatic decline in charity participation.  Overall, from 2016 to 2017, the number of charities in the CFC dropped by more than half.

​The government has published its admission fees for the 2018 CFC.  For the most part, OPM has maintained its policy set a year ago, which clearly makes it harder for lower performing charities to participate in the Combined Federal Campaign.