Sarah Ford | April 15, 2014
Charities hit OPM鈥檚 federal workplace giving rules, but welcome invitation to discuss them
Leaders of charitable organizations don鈥檛 like major parts of the Obama administration鈥檚 effort to 鈥渞evitalize鈥 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听(CFC), so those leaders get a little testy about changes they fear would do more harm than good.
Among the听: Cash donations will be eliminated, all charities will pay a nonrefundable application fee, and, in an effort to 鈥渟treamline鈥 operations, the distribution of funds to charities will move from more than 150 CFC financial centers 鈥渢o one or a few Central Campaign Administrators (CCA).鈥
Charity leaders have a big problem with too much centralization.
鈥淭he 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,鈥 said Steve Taylor, senior vice president of United Way Worldwide. 鈥淲ith the centralization, with the lack of authority from the local employee committee, you lose that.鈥
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