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Statement by OPM Director Linda M. Springer on the Combined Federal Campaign

A Government Accountability Office report issued earlier this year identified two vulnerabilities within the Combined Federal Campaign.

With one issue, we worked with the Internal Revenue Service to develop a system whereby OPM will be notified of any CFC-participating charity in 2005 or 2006 that had lost its tax-exempt status, an eligibility requirement for participation. Once lost – and until the tax-exempt status is re-instated by the IRS – OPM will suspend payment of contributions designated to the charity. Currently, only 132 charities out of 22,000 CFC charities have failed to confirm their tax-exempt status, and payments have been suspended.

Further, GAO identified some CFC-participating charities that had not paid their payroll taxes. Current law bars OPM from requesting taxpayer information from the IRS, and OPM is prohibited from legally receiving this information.

Each year, federal employees, postal workers and members of our uniformed services open their hearts and wallets, giving generously to the CFC and the social, medical and environmental groups it supports. Since 1961, federal civilian and military employees have contributed almost $6 billion, and the CFC received nearly $269 million in contributions this past year.