Combined Federal Campaign Update

May 1, 2023 MEMORANDUM FOR HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES FROM: KIRAN A. AHUJA, DIRECTOR Subject: Combined Federal Campaign Update As we celebrate Public Employee Recognition Week, a special thanks goes out to the overwhelming spirit of generosity expressed by Federal, postal, and military personnel who pledged $72.6 million to local, national, and international charities during the 2022 Combined Federal Campaign (CFC). This represents monetary contributions of $70,576,460 from more than 80,800 people. While the amount of money pledged is down, the 3.1 percent increase in the number of CFC donors is the first increase since before the pandemic. • • • The value of volunteer hours added $2.1 million to this total, an increase from 2021. Not included in this total is more than $600,000 pledged earlier in 2022 as a part of the Special Solicitation for the humanitarian needs arising from the war in Ukraine. Civilian and military retiree and annuitant contributions totaled more than $4.2 million of the 2022 total, a 13.6 percent increase over retiree giving in 2021. Special gratitude goes to Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough for serving as the 2022 honorary co-chair. As we look ahead, I am pleased to announce that the Honorable Michael Reagan, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will be the Honorary Chair of the 2023 campaign.

Every successful campaign starts with committed leadership. I also am writing to you today to ask you to start the internal planning now for an effective 2023 Fall Campaign. The CFC solicitation period will run from September 1, 2023 – January 15, 2024. Outside of that period, new employees may pledge within 30 days of onboarding and retirees may pledge when they end their federal service career. The CFC Needs Your Leadership Your active and visible leadership is critical. Please recruit highly qualified and emerging leaders who can run an exceptional internal employee engagement campaign. Ask your leadership team to develop a department- or agency-level campaign plan, that is consistent with the regulations in 5 CFR part 950, to reach every employee to let them know how they can make a monetary contribution and pledge volunteer time to support organizations they care about and help people in need.

Page 2 This is key since employees are most likely to participate if asked by someone they know. 1 Encourage your employees to become CFC leaders. The success of the CFC is due in no small part to the dedicated service of Federal leaders who administer the campaign within their agencies and in 36 CFC zones around the world. Consider allowing employees from your department or agency to serve on the Local Federal Coordinating Committee (LFCC) in geographic areas where your organization has a substantial presence. Your employees can also serve as CFC campaign managers, loaned executives, coordinators, and key workers to the extent permissible during and after the annual solicitation period. These positions are a great way for employees to gain exposure to senior leaders in your agency and develop professional skills, and can even augment the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to advance to more senior-level positions, including Senior Executive Service. Benefits of CFC Giving through the CFC has never been easier with the Online Giving System (cfcgiving.opm.gov), recently secured with Multi-Factor Authentication to better protect privacy and security. For any employees who may not have access to or decide not to use the electronic giving system, we also will continue to accept PDF versions of the traditional paper forms. Special Events We encourage campaign kickoffs and other non-solicitation events to increase awareness for the CFC and support employee engagement. We encourage highlighting information at these events and in campaign communications about cause weeks, the CFC Giving Mobile Application and the text-to-give feature which was added in 2022 and can supplement payroll deduction and other e-giving methods. If you have any questions, please email cfc@opm.gov or call (202) 606-2564. Thank you in advance for your continued support of the Combined Federal Campaign. Cc:

Federal Executive Boards Chief Human Capital Officers Council Local Federal Coordinating Committees Outreach Coordinators Under 5 CFR § 950.108 (a), the solicitation of employees by their supervisor or by any individual in their supervisory chain of command is not allowed. This does not prohibit the head of an agency to perform the usual activities associated with the campaign kick-off and to demonstrate his or her support of the CFC in employee newsletters or other routine communications with the Federal employees.