Illowa CFC - Serving the Bi-State Area

The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) is the annual fund-raising drive conducted by federal, postal and military employees in their workplaces each fall. Each year these employees raise millions of dollars through the CFC that benefit thousands of non-profit charities. It is the only authorized fund raising campaign for charities permitted in federal and postal workplaces.

CFCs are organized geographically, not organizationally. The Illowa Bi-State CFC covers all federal, postal and military employees in the 37-county area of: Boone, Carroll, Hancock, Henderson, Henry, Jo Daviess, Knox, Lee, McDonough, Mercer, Ogle, Rock Island, Stephenson, Warren, Whiteside, and Winnebago counties in Illinois; and Allamakee, Benton, Black Hawk, Cedar, Clayton, Clinton, Delaware, Des Moines, Dubuque, Henry, Iowa, Jackson, Johnson, Jones, Lee, Lynn, Louisa, Muscatine, Scott, Tama, and Washington in Iowa. The Illowa Bi-State
CFC is managed by a Local Federal Campaign Committee (LFCC) comprised of campaign chairpersons from the major federal organizations in the campaign, union representatives, and a military representative.

Federal and postal employees who run the campaign volunteer and take the chairperson and keyperson duties on as “another duty as assigned,” in addition to their regular jobs. The CFC Chair and Vice-Chair(s) lead and manage the entire campaign along with the LFCC. The individual organizational chairpersons, who make up the LFCC, run the campaigns within their respective organizations. The keypeople are the folks on the front lines who distribute the brochures and pledge forms, provide information, and ask their peers to support charities through the CFC.

The highest-ranking federal leader in the geographic area is the Honorary Chair of the campaign Major General Yves J Fontaine the Commanding General of the Army Sustainment Command, headquartered on Rock Island Arsenal.

The Loaned Executives are the only full-time workers on the campaign. They are on loan to the campaign from their organizations as a three-month developmental assignment. They are the CFC sales force who give speeches, present rallies, distribute materials, and collect pledges at all federal and postal organizations within the 37 county area.

Employees may give one-time cash contribution or choose to give through payroll deduction. They may select as many charities each year as they wish and divide their contribution among those charities any way they choose. All of the money they donate, except for the small 6.9% administrative cost, averaged over the past three years, goes directly to the charities the employees select on their pledge forms.

The 6.9% administrative cost pays for the publication of the CFC brochure, the pledge cards, any incentives used in the campaign (for example, coasters and key person incentives, etc.), awards, travel mileage for the Loaned Executives, the cost of the PCFO services (see below), and any other costs that the LFCC approves.

Per federal regulation, all charities included in the campaign and listed in the CFC brochure must apply every year and meet the qualifications established by OPM. Those qualifications are listed in Code of Federal Regulations, 5 Part 950. It can be found on the OPM CFC Website at www.opm.gov/cfc. National and international charities must apply to OPM in Washington, D.C. Local charities apply to, and are approved or disapproved by their respective LFCC. The Illowa Bi-State LFCC uses government auditors to assist with the evaluation process.

In 2007, the Office of Personnel Management instituted a five digit coding system for all agencies in the CFC brochure that guarantee that all agencies listed in the brochure are qualified not for profit agencies.

All CFCs are required, by regulation, to hire a Principal Combined Fund Organization (PCFO) to manage the campaign funds (accounting, auditing and distribution) and to assist with various aspects of the campaign. The United Way of the Quad Cities Area is the PCFO for the Illowa Bi-State CFC. More information on the Illowa Bi-State CFC can be found on the web at www.illowacfc.org