SCHRIEVER SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Overseen by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the Combined Federal Campaign is the official workplace giving campaign for federal employees and retirees, allowing them to donate a portion of their income to a variety of charitable organizations of their choice.
Since its inception, the CFC has raised $8.5 billion for charities and people in need. During the 2020 campaign, the federal community generously pledged over $83.6 million. This year, the CFC celebrates its 60 years of giving. For six decades, those who have participated as “faces of change,” have made a meaningful difference to countless numbers of individuals throughout our nation and world. The CFC is the largest and most successful annual workplace charity campaign with almost 200 CFC campaigns throughout the world, raising millions of dollars each year.
In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally moved for the development and administration of a uniform policy and program for fundraising with the federal service. That year, general guidelines were issued for the conduct of campaigns and an Eligibility Standards Committee was established. By 1961, President Kennedy had determined that the program was well-enough established and assigned the fundraising program to the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission by Executive Order 10927.
The Peterson-Schriever Garrison is again campaigning for CFC fundraising with two kick off events: Oct. 29, 2021, (Final Friday at Peterson SFB) and Nov. 5, 2021, (First Friday at Schriever SFB). The program will run until Dec. 15, but people can freely continue to give online through mid-January.
“Our mission is to enable and execute space operations to defend the interests of our Nation and our allies in the space domain” said U.S. Space Force Col. Shay Warakomski, Peterson-Schriever Garrison commander. “Space operations enable our way of life and provide capabilities such as GPS for all of humanity. The Combined Federal Campaign offers another opportunity for members of the Peterson-Schriever Garrison, as well as our hosted mission partners, to extend that generosity even further towards charities and endeavors that find cures for diseases, fight hunger, support families, and promote equality to make our communities, our Nation, and the world a better place to live.”
U.S. Air Force Capt. John Rosson, 21st Comptroller Squadron director of operations, is the Peterson-Schriever Garrison CFC lead and point of contact.
“The Combined Federal Campaign is designed to be a one-time ask for charities,” said Rosson. “CFC has thousands of charities that you can give to through the program. Aside from giving money one time, you can set up an allotment to donate dollars every paycheck.”
Money can be given with a hard paper check, or you can go to the Mountain States CFC website. Alternatively, people can donate volunteer hours to various charities, and those hours will be monetized into donated dollars, working towards the garrison’s giving goal.
“It's a unique opportunity for groups, flights or squadrons to get out, volunteer and do acts of service that benefit charities in a way other than just straight-up donations,” said Rosson. “The goal we’ve set for the garrison … is about 20% more than we collected last year, and it's in line with the trend over the last five or so years of slightly increasing every year.”
Under Rosson, unit point of contacts have been organized to reach out to all personnel, to create a streamlined network of communication and information distribution — and to accept donations via paper checks.
“For the garrison right now, we have 40 unit POCs, and they will have key workers assisting them,” said Rosson. “We want to make 100% meaningful contact throughout the bases during the first week of the campaign. We will be distributing unit codes before the kick-off; when you donate, you enter your unit code so that your squadron will get credit and those will roll up to the garrison.”
Those unit identifier codes are how the accounting will be taken to know how much the garrison gave in total.
A 16-page Stars and Stripes supplement featuring information about the CFC was included as an insert with the Oct. 14, issue of the Space Orbital. For more information about the CFC, contact your unit representative or access the CFC website at: https://mountainstatescfc.givecfc.org.