2014 Non-Substantive Request

The CFC regulations set forth at 5 CFR § 950.204(b)(1) states:

An organization must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the LFCC of the appropriate local campaign, that it has a substantial local presence in the geographical area covered by the local campaign, a substantial local presence in the geographical area covered by an adjacent local campaign, or substantial statewide presence. Eligibility to participate in an adjoining campaign on the basis of adjacency or statewide presence may be discontinued upon implementation of appropriate electronic technology that allows removal of the need for geographic restrictions on giving as determined by the [U.S. Office of Personnel Management] Director.

OPM Director Katherine Archuleta has approved the implementation of ‘universal giving’ as of the 2014 CFC solicitation period. Universal giving allows donors to access an online search of all 24,000+ participating charities and make a pledge regardless of the geographic locations of the donor and the charity whereas, previously, donors could only give to the charities participating in their local campaign.

OPM requests approval to make a non-substantive change to the 2015 CFC Local Independent Organization and Local Federation Applications (OPM Forms 1647-C and D) to remove references to adjacent and statewide presence options. Copies of the revised documents are enclosed. This change does not impact a charity’s ability to participate in the CFC. However, it does provide the following benefits:

• It eliminates 47% of the applications that were submitted to local CFC regions in 2013, totaling 8,188 applications.

• It reduces the risk of improper eligibility decision-making by various local offices that each reviewed the same charity application and;

• It reduces the workload of the Federal employees who were required to review the same application submitted to multiple CFC regions.

Please contact Curtis Rumbaugh, CFC Operations Specialist, at (202) 606-2564 or [email protected] if you have any questions.