Charities hit OPM’s federal workplace giving rules, but welcome invitation to discuss them

Source: The Washington Post

Leaders of charitable organizations don’t like major parts of the Obama administration’s effort to “revitalize” the annual federal workplace giving campaign, but Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta has succeeded in tamping down their outrage.

Almost 850,000 federal employees contributed more than $258 million in 2012 to 25,000 organizations through the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), so those leaders get a little testy about changes they fear would do more harm than good.

Among the new rules: Cash donations will be eliminated, all charities will pay a nonrefundable application fee, and, in an effort to “streamline” operations, the distribution of funds to charities will move from more than 150 CFC financial centers “to one or a few Central Campaign Administrators (CCA).”

Charity leaders have a big problem with too much centralization.

“The way charitable giving works best in the workplace is when a fellow employee asks another employee to give to something that they care about and that they know about,” said Steve Taylor, senior vice president of United Way Worldwide. “With the centralization, with the lack of authority from the local employee committee, you lose that.”

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