Support Our Troops® has been appointed to one of the three directorships of the Military Support Groups of America Federation within the Combined Federal Campaign. The board of this federation reviews and admits federation CFC applications primarily from charities focused on servicemembers and their families presently and recently serving in the national defense community. Marin C. Boire, Chairman of SOT, is one of those three votes.
2011 is the 50th anniversary of the Combined Federal Campaign. Established in 1961, the CFC is a program which enables certain carefully screened and approved charitable organizations to solicit contributions from employees of the Federal Government of the United States. The CFC is one of the most successful charity campaigns raising well over $100 million annually.
Overseen by the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM), it is the largest and most successful workplace charity campaign in the world. By law it is the only campaign authorized to solicit for and collect charitable contributions from U.S. federal employees, including civil servants, postal workers, and military personnel.
The Military Support Groups of America Federation was established in 2010 to bring Federation listings of military support groups into alignment with CFC approvals made in compliance with law. The Military Support Groups of America Federation will assure that groups supporting the military and their families are always properly and fairly treated in the CFC.
Many of the charities participating in the Combined Federal Campaign are grouped into federations, each federation being organized around a particular topic. This enables donors to more easily locate and donate to causes in which they are interested, and allows charities to save money and effort by better organizing their donor awareness campaigns.
This federation approach to CFC participation was created by Congress in 1987 at the request of federal employees who disliked exclusion of charities to which they might like to contribute, and the OMB which wanted to avoid any closed-shop arrangement developing as with the United Way. The purpose of this change was to prohibit a monopoly of access to the CFC. New principles were followed in which the charities already in the CFC could no longer vote to keep out qualified new applicants. If an applicant charity met the legal CFC standards, that charity's application would be accepted for participating in the CFC. The standard was to be fair, evenhanded, and equitable administration. Charities are to be listed, and the donative evaluation and decision left up to the donor and not pre-made for the donor based on an exclusion by others.
But in recent years many good charities supporting the military community and their families experienced difficulties with a CFC federation known as Military, Veterans, and Patriotic Organizations of America. According to information provided, the board at the time these practices arose was comprised of: Linda Mansfield, President, no member affiliation; Joe Sternburg, Treasurer, Vietnam Veterans Assistance Fund; Kathleen Burke, Secretary, National Military Family Association; Stacy Ale, Director, PVA; Nancy O'Brien, Director, DAV. This Board arbitrarily excluded groups which had been legally approved for participation in the CFC by the OMB under the promulgated CFC rules. These practices of course in turn harmed the military community and their families because the charities that were applying were not included in that federation list to be found by donors looking for them in order to support the military. That board perhaps erroneously believed that by keeping new applicants out, those that were already in would receive more or avoid a decrease. A number of the groups which applied and were turned away by the board of that federation had overhead and performance ratios equal and superior to those of some of the groups within the Federation.
In response, just as the federal employees, Congress and OPM moved against monopolization in 1987, the Military Support Groups of America Federation was created in 2010 to step away from this type of federation protectionism and monopolization and assure that groups supporting the national defense community and its families are always properly and fairly treated in the CFC.
Support Our Troops® appreciates the opportunity to perform the important responsibility of the Military Support Groups of America Federation, and will do so in a manner befitting the honor and integrity of America's troops and their families. The fidelity of Support Our Troops led to this appointment, and it is our covenant to follow the same principles and business acumen in properly executing our duties in this critical position. When it comes to nonprofit work to benefit the national defense community it is the philosophy of Support Our Troops that we can all do best by the troops by assisting everybody that is do anything to help them. It is not a contest between competitors, and groups which merely look out for their own self-interest are not acting in the best interest of the troops. It is not Coke versus Pepsi. It is not the case that a dollar might go to one that could've gone to another. It is the simple fact that all groups are working for the same beneficiaries, the troops deserve the best that we can offer them, and the Military Support Groups of America CFC Federation will work diligently to do so.
SupportOurTroops.Org was previously in the "Charities With Overhead Less Than 5%" federation. SOT's overhead is consistently below 5%. The record growth of Support Our Troops® in combination with such extremely low overhead, results from successful execution of a sound business plan built upon strong fundamentals and financial acumen. Support Our Troops will continue to build upon those same principles into the future to maximize its mission for the troops.
November 26, 2011
The SOT Team Support Our Troops® Appointed to Directorships in the Military Support Groups of America Federation within the CFC
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Support Our Troops® has been appointed to one of the three directorships of the Military Support Groups of America Federation within the Combined Federal Campaign. The board of this federation reviews and admits federation CFC applications primarily from charities focused on servicemembers and their families presently and recently serving in the national defense community. Marin C. Boire, Chairman of SOT, is one of those three votes.
2011 is the 50th anniversary of the Combined Federal Campaign. Established in 1961, the CFC is a program which enables certain carefully screened and approved charitable organizations to solicit contributions from employees of the Federal Government of the United States. The CFC is one of the most successful charity campaigns raising well over $100 million annually.
Overseen by the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM), it is the largest and most successful workplace charity campaign in the world. By law it is the only campaign authorized to solicit for and collect charitable contributions from U.S. federal employees, including civil servants, postal workers, and military personnel.
The Military Support Groups of America Federation was established in 2010 to bring Federation listings of military support groups into alignment with CFC approvals made in compliance with law. The Military Support Groups of America Federation will assure that groups supporting the military and their families are always properly and fairly treated in the CFC.
Many of the charities participating in the Combined Federal Campaign are grouped into federations, each federation being organized around a particular topic. This enables donors to more easily locate and donate to causes in which they are interested, and allows charities to save money and effort by better organizing their donor awareness campaigns.
This federation approach to CFC participation was created by Congress in 1987 at the request of federal employees who disliked exclusion of charities to which they might like to contribute, and the OMB which wanted to avoid any closed-shop arrangement developing as with the United Way. The purpose of this change was to prohibit a monopoly of access to the CFC. New principles were followed in which the charities already in the CFC could no longer vote to keep out qualified new applicants. If an applicant charity met the legal CFC standards, that charity's application would be accepted for participating in the CFC. The standard was to be fair, evenhanded, and equitable administration. Charities are to be listed, and the donative evaluation and decision left up to the donor and not pre-made for the donor based on an exclusion by others.
But in recent years many good charities supporting the military community and their families experienced difficulties with a CFC federation known as Military, Veterans, and Patriotic Organizations of America. According to information provided, the board at the time these practices arose was comprised of: Linda Mansfield, President, no member affiliation; Joe Sternburg, Treasurer, Vietnam Veterans Assistance Fund; Kathleen Burke, Secretary, National Military Family Association; Stacy Ale, Director, PVA; Nancy O'Brien, Director, DAV. This Board arbitrarily excluded groups which had been legally approved for participation in the CFC by the OMB under the promulgated CFC rules. These practices of course in turn harmed the military community and their families because the charities that were applying were not included in that federation list to be found by donors looking for them in order to support the military. That board perhaps erroneously believed that by keeping new applicants out, those that were already in would receive more or avoid a decrease. A number of the groups which applied and were turned away by the board of that federation had overhead and performance ratios equal and superior to those of some of the groups within the Federation.
In response, just as the federal employees, Congress and OPM moved against monopolization in 1987, the Military Support Groups of America Federation was created in 2010 to step away from this type of federation protectionism and monopolization and assure that groups supporting the national defense community and its families are always properly and fairly treated in the CFC.
Support Our Troops® appreciates the opportunity to perform the important responsibility of the Military Support Groups of America Federation, and will do so in a manner befitting the honor and integrity of America's troops and their families. The fidelity of Support Our Troops led to this appointment, and it is our covenant to follow the same principles and business acumen in properly executing our duties in this critical position. When it comes to nonprofit work to benefit the national defense community it is the philosophy of Support Our Troops that we can all do best by the troops by assisting everybody that is do anything to help them. It is not a contest between competitors, and groups which merely look out for their own self-interest are not acting in the best interest of the troops. It is not Coke versus Pepsi. It is not the case that a dollar might go to one that could've gone to another. It is the simple fact that all groups are working for the same beneficiaries, the troops deserve the best that we can offer them, and the Military Support Groups of America CFC Federation will work diligently to do so.
SupportOurTroops.Org was previously in the "Charities With Overhead Less Than 5%" federation. SOT's overhead is consistently below 5%. The record growth of Support Our Troops® in combination with such extremely low overhead, results from successful execution of a sound business plan built upon strong fundamentals and financial acumen. Support Our Troops will continue to build upon those same principles into the future to maximize its mission for the troops.
November 26, 2011
The SOT Team