Edwards 2010 Combined Federal Campaign surpasses its goal

  • Published
  • By Kenji Thuloweit
  • 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  The Edwards community rallied together to make this year's Combined Federal Campaign a complete success, campaign organizers said.

The base exceeded its monetary goal of $403,000 by raising $438,666 for approved charities - achieving 108 percent.

"The installation's monetary goal was determined using a formula of a $70 donation for each active duty member and Department of Defense employee working here at Edwards," said Capt. Erin Sturgell, 95th Medical Group, Physical Therapy Flight commander.

Captain Sturgell volunteered for the role of CFC project officer for Edwards this year.
She said the primary installation goal is to have 100-percent face-to-face contact from unit leaders to all employees to create awareness of the campaign.

The CFC is the world's largest and most successful annual workplace charity campaign, with more than 200 CFC campaigns throughout the country and internationally to help to raise millions of dollars each year. Pledges made by federal civilian, postal and military donors during the campaign season - Sept. 1 to Dec. 15 - support eligible non-profit organizations that provide health and human service benefits throughout the world.

"CFC is important for several reasons. The first reason being the sheer number and type of charities that are able to raise money through CFC; there are roughly 2,500 charities available to choose from with more being added every year," said Captain Sturgell. "Some of these charities are even located right here in the Antelope Valley."

Captain Sturgell said the CFC provides a convenient and trusted way for all federal employees to donate. People are given the opportunity to donate right there in their duty section and taking three minutes to fill out a form can provide their chosen charity with monthly gifts all year long if they choose the payroll deduction option.

"People are also more likely to give and give more if they trust the entity handling their money. They are able to see exactly what percentage of their donation goes to the cause spelled out right in the charity booklet and all funds are distributed through the United Way."

Reaching 108-percent of the installation goal is especially noteworthy due to both national and local challenges.

"The most obvious challenge this year was the current state of the national economy. It can be very hard to know that a portion of your paycheck is gone when you are already struggling to save money," the captain said.

She said Edwards faces a challenge because there are several geographically separated units. That puts a fair amount of strain on some of the CFC unit representatives since the priority goal was 100-percent face-to-face contact.

"The hierarchical structure of Edwards is also rather complicated when you take into account all of the tenant units and matrixed personnel, which created some confusion about which representatives were responsible for which personnel. Another challenge to the contact goal was the number of Edwards's people that are deployed or on temporary duty elsewhere."

"I think it was also a bit of a challenge for all representatives to balance their CFC obligations with their daily work duties. Obviously they all managed very well since we were able to raise so much," Captain Sturgell said.