The Combined Federal Campaign is a highlight of the season of giving for many Postal Service employees — and as with other forms of workplace giving, ethics rules apply.
The campaign, also known as the CFC, allows federal employees and retirees to easily donate to the nearly 5,000 charitable organizations under its umbrella. It consolidates donations into a single, officially supported effort across the federal workforce.
General rules to keep in mind when it comes to campaign giving:
• All donations to the CFC must be truly voluntary. USPS employees may give or not give as they choose and are guaranteed confidentiality of their donation decisions.
• Contractors cannot be solicited but may give a one-time donation by check.
• All charities must be treated equally during CFC season. While it is permitted to promote a CFC cause of the week, postal employees may not endorse or give preferential treatment to any individual charities.
There are also rules specific to CFC events:
• Permission is required from the USPS Ethics Office for all CFC events; requests should be sent to ethics.help@usps.gov at least two weeks in advance.
• Postal funds may be used to support CFC events if the funding is available and approved. Outside sources and businesses may not contribute and may not be solicited to do so.
• CFC events can only be used to raise awareness of the campaign — no fundraising or soliciting is permitted. Everyone must be welcome to attend, whether they make a charitable contribution or not.
• Gambling at CFC events is prohibited. Raffles are permitted but only if there is no cost to enter, all postal employees can participate, and the prizes are modest.
For more about CFC rules, email the Ethics team at ethics.help@usps.gov.
