Federal employees in a 21-county area around Chattanooga collected a record $1.9 million in donations and pledges for charitable agencies in 2012.
The Greater Chattanooga Area Combined Federal Campaign raised $1,976,621, exceeding its goal by almost 10 percent.
“This campaign continues to amaze me,” said John McCormick, senior vice president of TVA River Operations & Renewables and chairman of the campaign. “’Make It Count’ is an appropriate theme because that’s exactly what the federal employees in this area do year after year. Not only is $1.9 million a record amount raised, but almost 70 percent of employees are supporting needs in their communities or other charitable causes.”
A team of federal employees assisted Mr. McCormick, including the campaign manager John Fornicola (TVA), Neal Dekich and Denise Carter (U.S. Postal Service), two loaned TVA executives, Bob Rupe and Angela Sims, and Delores Lewis, CFC director with United Way of Chattanooga.
The 2011 campaign was recognized for having one of the highest increases in pledges from the previous year, exceeding the $1.6 million raised in 2010 by 9 percent, and for using innovative strategies to increase participation and contributions, such as establishing a Young Generation Leaders group to interest younger employees.
Federal employees in the Greater Chattanooga area campaign area have raised more than $38 million for local and national charitable agencies since 1985 and have been recognized for the highest average gift per person in campaigns raising $1 million worldwide. The Chattanooga Area Combined Federal Campaign includes 91 federal agencies with about 8,600 employees.
CFC is the largest and most successful workplace charity campaign, raising millions of dollars each year for those in need. The 185 CFC campaigns across the globe are composed of federal civilian, postal and military personnel. Since the campaign was founded in 1961 federal employees have raised nearly $7.2 billion for thousands of non-profit organizations. The 2011 CFC raised more than $272.7 million dollars.