This year’s Combined Federal Campaign has been about as chaotic as the larger political world, but it is still proceeding and raising more money than many thought possible.
The latest estimate as of last week was about $35 million. Every year a lot of money is given in the campaign’s last two weeks, so hopefully this figure will go up. Last year’s CFC raised $66 million.
Given the very large number of employees who no longer work for the federal government -- and the uncertainty of many who still do – this is an impressive amount. In the DC region alone, about 72,000 federal jobs were lost last year.
Overall, about 335,000 federal workers left the government from January to November. About half retired or quit, many of whom took the buyout offer that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency had made early last year.
To put this number in perspective, at the end of 2023, just over 2 million people worked for the federal government. Between 2019 and 2023, the federal workforce grew 7%, according to data from the Partnership for Public Service. (This total does not include postal workers and members of the military, both of whom can also give through the CFC.)
The 2025 CFC Continues, but without the Outreach Coordinators
At the end of August, the director of the Office of Personnel Management suddenly announced that the 2025 CFC would not be run, issuing a Stop Work Order to the people who run the campaign, known as Outreach Coordinators.
A hastily assembled Save The CFC Coalition organized widespread opposition to this decision, pointing out that charities had already paid for this year’s campaign, through application and listing fees. OPM relented, saying it would run the campaign, starting Oct. 1, ending December 31, 45 days shorter than a normal campaign.
But on Oct. 1, the government shut down, for a record 43 days. The CFC campaign continued through the shutdown, since the Outreach Coordinators are private contractors. Donations trickled in from employees who continued to work, such as postal workers and military service members.
When the shutdown ended, the Save The CFC Coalition asked OPM to extend the campaign, given how much campaign time had been lost. OPM agreed to do this, but at the same time it issued another Stop Work Order to the Outreach Coordinators, ending their contract prematurely on December 31.
OPM Refuses to Open the Application Process for 2026 CFC
OPM Director Scott Kupor said in a blog post that the application process, which normally begins in December, would not begin as he was “evaluating changes to the CFC for 2026 (including whether to continue the program).” An OPM spokesperson told The Washington Post that the agency was working on developing “more cost-effective ways for federal employees to donate to charities than the current CFC.”
OPM’s director asked an internal OPM group to evaluate the CFC and make recommendations, a group that doesn’t include CFC charities, which pay nearly all the CFC’s expenses. The group is expected to recommend ending the CFC.
OPM also appears to be drafting an Executive Order that would end the CFC. The modern CFC was begun in 1961 by an Executive Order signed by President Kennedy.
Save The CFC Coalition continues to push back on effort to end the CFC
A coalition of CFC federations and individual CFC charities continues to meet weekly to find a way to preserve the campaign. The Coalition is overseen by The Nonprofit Alliance and works closely with Capitol Counsel, a lobbying group.
The coalition tried unsuccessfully to get language preserving the CFC into the two massive appropriations bills that need to be passed by January 31 to avoid another shutdown. It is now preparing a sign-on letter or set of principles to show widespread opposition by CFC charities to the idea of ending the campaign.
We have summarized the reasons why the CFC should be saved. We also did an analysis of the CFC’s efficiency, since OPM is probably going to say that it is ending the CFC because it is inefficient. This document is still in draft form. Both documents reflect the views of Charitable Choices, not of the Save The CFC Coalition.