CFC giving last fall was down again, but not nearly as much as was in 2022: just 2.7% in 2023, vs. a decline of 9.6% in 2022.
And if you exclude the DC-area CFC – where the threat of a government shutdown hung over the entire campaign season -- overall CFC giving was up by nearly $1 million.
The average CFC gift was also up, to $917. The average gift is so high because most donors (about 85%) give a recurring pledge through payroll deduction, rather than a one-time gift.
And one donor group – retirees – keeps growing. They gave more than $5 million in 2023, nearly $1 million more than in 2022. The number of retiree donors was up 27%, to more than 4,000.
This increase in retiree donors is a big contrast to the steady decline in the overall number of CFC donors, which dipped just below 75,000 in 2023. In 2016, the year before the CFC changed how it runs CFC campaigns, more than 409,000 federal employees and members of the military gave through the CFC.
The oversized impact of the DC-area CFC
In 2023, the DC-area CFC accounted for all the decline in CFC giving and most of the decline in the number of CFC donors. The DC CFC is by far the largest campaign, contributing 44% of all CFC giving.
But the DC campaign raised $2.8 million less than in 2023 than it did in 2022, a decline of 8.5%. Why? We think it was the uncertainty about whether the government would shut down, uncertainty that continued throughout last fall’s CFC campaign, with resolution coming only after the CFC ended on January 15.
The shutdown threat gets much more attention in the DC area, where there are so many federal and military employees. It’s also where the political struggle over funding the government takes place. Uncertainty about one’s next paycheck is a big disincentive to give to charity.
Most other CFC campaigns stayed constant or had small increases. The second largest campaign, the Chesapeake Bay Area CFC (based in Baltimore), raised almost the exact same amount as in 2022 (just over $4 million). The third largest, the Mountain States CFC, had a tiny decrease, while the fourth largest, the Southern California CFC, went up slightly.
Who Benefited from CFC Donations?
The charitable cause that did best in the 2023 CFC was “Arts, Culture and Humanities,” up 51.6%. Giving to arts and culture charities also went up nationally, according to the Giving USA report.
The biggest declines in CFC giving were in the areas of Civil Rights and Social Action (down 12.6%), Housing and Shelter (down 11.6%), Education (down 9.2%), and Medical Research (down 7.2%). There were large percentage declines in other areas, but those areas account for a very small percentage of overall CFC giving. (For example, “Social Science” giving was down 29.1%, but less than $10,000 went to this area in 2023.)
As usual, the biggest recipient of CFC donations was St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which received $3.63 million, three times the second largest recipient, the American National Red Cross. Doctors Without Borders was number three. A local DC charity, the Capital Area Food Bank, was number four. World Central Kitchen continues to do very well, after a huge spike in 2022, when it was responding to the war in Ukraine. In 2023, it was the eighth largest recipient, bringing in nearly $557,000.
The impact of current events on the CFC is seen in the big increase going to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, which raised $93,685 in 2023. In 2022, before the war in Gaza, it had raised just $25,732.
Also impacting CFC giving was the order of charities: in 2023, local charities were listed first. In 2022, they were last. The order of charities has a big impact when employees search on the CFC giving website.
One example: In 2022, the Humane Society of the U.S. was the 85th largest CFC recipient, raising $102,106. In 2023, when local charities were first, it raised $94,626, falling from #85 to #103. Meanwhile, the San Diego Humane Society rose from #436 in 2022 ($28,466) to #319 in 2023 ($37,083). Why? A search on “Humane Society” put the U.S. Humane Society on the third page of search listings, behind all the local Humane Societies.
Among CFC federations, the largest recipient was CHC: Creating Healthier Communities, whose charities were pledged $9.7 million. The second largest federation was United Way of the National Capital Area, following by America’s Best Charities, America’s Charities and Global Impact.
The CFC recently completed a five year “trend analysis” of CFC giving, looking at the 2018-2023 period. As soon as it is released, we will report on this analysis as well as offer our analysis of why CFC donors and donations have declined so much since 2016.