News and Knowledge

The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), the federal government’s annual charitable campaign and historically one of OAR’s greatest sources of support, kicks off next month.

“Military service members, federal employees, and employees in comparable state campaigns have generously supported autism research and OAR to the tune of $100,000 to $300,000 annually for the past five years.” says Mike Maloney, OAR executive director. “Among other things, these contributions help maintain the Operation Autism Web site and support the free distribution of Life Journey through Autism: A Guide for Military Families.”

Last year, members of the U.S. military and federal employees around the world pledged $73,340 to OAR. However, our workplace campaign success did not end with the CFC. Pledges and contributions from employees in several state and municipal charitable drives, along with others in private corporate workplace campaigns contributed brought last year’s CFC/workplace campaign combined total to $122,415. OAR will receive these funds in monthly distributions over the next year and will use them immediately to support its ongoing research and information programs.

“The donations we receive through the CFC significantly increase our capacity to deliver quality information and resources to the people who need them,” says Maloney. “In less than three years, we’ve delivered more than 10,000 guides to military families impacted by autism.”

OAR participates as a national charity, and as a member of the Health and Medical Research Charities of America federation. OAR has once again met all the qualifying standards for the CFC this year and will participate in the campaign this fall.

To qualify for the CFC, a charity must apply and meet a series of standards each year. Principal among these is to have a ratio of expenses to revenues of less than 25 percent; for national eligibility, an organization must demonstrate viable program services in at least 15 states over the last three years.   In addition to qualifying, OAR has once again been recognized among the “Best in the CFC” by Independent Charities of America.

“OAR has earned a reputation for being an excellent steward of the funds it receives,” says Maloney. “We are very proud of that.”

For more information on OAR’s CFC participation, or in state and local charitable campaigns, please contact Mike Maloney, executive director, at 703-243-9727 or via email.