[UPDATE AS OF 5:15 P.M EST TODAY: HEARING HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL JULY 10]
For anyone who hasn’t seen it, here is the official witness list for this Wednesday’s House hearing on the proposed revamp of the Combined Federal Campaign. Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., will lead off, followed by:
Mark Lambert, Associate Director for Merit System Accountability and Compliance
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Kalman Stein
President and CEO
EarthShare
Debby Hampton
President and CEO
United Way of Central Oklahoma
Ju’Coby Pittman
President and CEO
Clara White Mission
Ken Berger
President and CEO
Charity Navigator
The hearing is scheduled for 1:30 EST Wednesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on the federal workforce, chaired by Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas. Lambert formerly headed the CFC; it’s not clear why he is testifying instead of the current director, Keith Willingham. On Saturday, incidentally, OPM finally released hundreds of comments received on the proposed overhaul.
Anyone reading this post probably knows the background here, but if not, here’s a brief recap:
Back in early April, OPM published its draft plan for overhauling the CFC in the Federal Register. Among the draft’s more significant features: A shift to online/electronic giving; elimination of the current framework of about 184 local and statewide CFCs in favor of an unspecified number of regional campaigns; an application fee for charities to participate in the campaign; and creation of a permanent disaster relief program.
The public comment period ended June 7. As might be expected when you’re talking about overhauling a $250 million annual enterprise, reaction has been mixed.
Even before OPM formally released all the comments this weekend, a few dozen had become public. Based on that sample, the Workplace Giving Alliance, a coalition of a dozen CFC federations, has put together a breakdown showing which aspects of the plan attracted the most attention from federal employees and other commenters. At or near the top of the list were the provisions dealing with the charity application fee; electronic donations and changes to the local governance structure.
