UPDATED: CFC pledging flat in 2009; leaders honored at White House

John Berry with Michael Miller of the EscaRosa CFC, from Pensacola, Fla.

UPDATE: OPM appears to have made a mistake in their press release. I sent them an inquiry this morning asking why their release called the results “record-setting” while growth was apparently flat from 2008 to 2009, and asked for exact numbers.

OPM spokesman Marcus Williams just sent me an e-mail saying federal employees pledged $282,620,139 in 2009, and $275,898,745 in 2008. That represents a 2.4 percent increase. OPM’s release has not yet been updated as of Wednesday evening.

ORIGINAL POST: Federal employees pledged nearly $276 million to charities during last year’s Combined Federal Campaign, the Office of Personnel Management said last night. That is roughly the same amount that feds raised during the 2008 campaign, and marks the first time CFC donations have not increased noticeably since 2002.

The poor economy may have been a factor in 2009’s flat results. Some campaign leaders were concerned last year that the lingering recession might discourage feds from donating, and some campaigns kept their goals flat from 2008, or even lowered them.

But OPM Director John Berry lauded federal employees for their generosity, and on Monday honored 11 feds for their leadership during last year’s Combined Federal Campaign charity drive. Berry wants to improve the public’s image of federal employees, and has often spoken of their charity during campaigns like the CFC and the Feds Feed Families food drive.

“Just as federal employees work for the American public in communities throughout our country, they also give back to these same communities through programs like the Combined Federal Campaign,” Berry said at the White House ceremony. “I am proud to recognize the volunteer efforts of federal employees, whose donations through the CFC program represent the largest workplace charity program in the world.”

Berry also presented awards to nine regional campaigns that recorded the largest pledge increases over 2008, and five other campaigns that took innovative steps to encourage employee contributions.