— Bessie Sharpe U.S. Postal Service Cause: Diabetes Research

2018 Event Guide Combined Federal Campaign

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Why Have Campaign Events?

Taking the time to plan well-organized, interesting campaign events will pay off in the overall success of the CFC in your department, agency, or installation. Campaign events help educate donors about the CFC and its participating charities, promote federal employee engagement, and encourage participation in the campaign. Campaign events can be powerful. Donors are motivated when hearing directly from charities about the incredible impact CFC donations have on the lives of people in need. Work with Outreach Coordinator staff to coordinate charity participation in events, ensuring a fair and equitable selection.

Event Planning Guidelines And Regulations • Campaign events offer an additional touch point with potential contributors, but they do not

replace the necessity of the personal ask, which is best accomplished through one-on-onecontact by a Keyworker.

• Cash fundraising events are not permitted under CFC regulations. However, events are a greatway to educate your colleagues on how to make their pledge. Have trained campaign workers inattendance to answer questions regarding donation options. Feel free to demo the online pledgeportal and have paper Pledge Forms and Pledge Tip Cards available.

• Always follow your department or agency's specific regulations and ethics guidelines whenplanning events. This includes obtaining proper approvals before your event.

• CFC funds cannot be used to purchase food or drink. Food and beverages can be donated(e.g., a potluck luncheon).

• CFC funds cannot be used to purchase prizes or entertainment.

“My cause is ocean protection. Growing up in Puerto Rico, the ocean was my life. I cannot recall how many times I have seen beaches littered with trash or how many plastic bags I have reeled in while going fishing.”

— SK3 Immer Nieves U.S. Coast Guard

Event Planning Guide1

Types Of Events From kickoff to closing out the campaign, events are critical to encourage participation and increase awareness. Events can be part of something already scheduled, like inviting a charity speaker to weekly staff meetings, or they can be a stand-alone, like a chili cook-off.

Awareness Events These events educate your community on the options and benefits of supporting charities through the CFC. Invite guest speakers such as leaders at your agency or installation and representatives from CFC-supported charities. These events are a great way to spread the word about the campaign and build motivation to support charities through the CFC. Awareness events can be held at the beginning of the campaign (e.g., a kickoff event) or throughout the campaign (e.g., a charity fair).

Special Events These events are often held in conjunction with an event that is already taking place at your agency or installation (e.g., leadership calls and staff meetings, farewell parties, bazaars, training/safety days, etc.). Hosting a friendly CFC competitive event can boost energy around the campaign and add a fun element to an existing event (e.g., push up contest) and provide bragging rights to the winning office or unit. This year, consider planning special events in support of the Cause of the Week, #GivingTuesday (Nov. 27), International Volunteer Day (Dec. 5), or the last five days of the campaign.

Recognition Events Recognition events allow department, agency, or installation leaders to publicly recognize and thank campaign workers for their dedication and thank all employees for their generosity through the CFC. These are usually held toward the end of the campaign, as a finale event, or even a few weeks after the completion of the campaign.

How To Plan A Successful Event

1 Establish an active event planning committee. Recruit committee members from all areas and include a variety of ranks/pay grades. Assign each committee member a specific task and deadline. Encourage creativity!

2 Request leadership support. Ask leadership to send an email invitation to CFC events. Invite leadership to speak at and/or participate in CFC events. Publicize leadership participation via your website, intranet, newsletter, social media, etc.

3 Motivate your co-workers to attend. Ensure there is a “draw” (e.g., a prize, a competition, free food). Make it fun! Publicize, publicize, publicize: be sure everyone knows about the event and is reminded to attend.

4 Utilize the Event Planning Checklist. Follow the checklist, which offers tips for planning a successful CFC event.

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Campaign Event Ideas

CFC Kickoff Implement the idea in the Start Strong toolkit and/or show the CFC video. Invite a guest speaker. Explain how the campaign works and how to pledge. Have a federal agency head or installation commander endorse the campaign. Invite a guest speaker from a CFC-supported charity to show the impact of the campaign.

Charity Fair A stand-alone event or with other events such as kickoff, staff meetings, or campaign contests. Reserve a common or public space and invite CFC charities to set up information booths. Invite federal employees to come learn about CFC-supported charities.

Charity Speaker Invite speaker(s) from CFC charities to share positive impact stories. Incorporate into a CFC kickoff or charity fair event, or meetings.

Charity Tour Reserve/rent a bus, or carpool to local CFC charities to learn about the impact of CFC contributions.

Volunteer Event If allowed by your agency, set up a volunteer event at a local CFC-supported charity or have the charity come to your location with an activity (e.g., packing bag lunches to be delivered to the homeless or writing thank you cards to send to U.S. troops serving overseas.)

Motivational Invite a local celebrity or dynamic speaker from your federal agency to share stories about the positive impact of charitable giving.

Physical Challenge Coordinate a sporting event for friendly competition between federal agencies, offices, installations or units. Examples include: softball game, basketball tournament, flag football, bubble soccer, etc.) Make it a friendly competition or a kickoff event.

Cutest Pet Photo Incorporate into other events or use as a virtual/social media event for agencies with a large number of employees. With permission, post pet photos from your federal co-workers or leaders in a public area or on your agency’s social media page. Encourage employees to vote for the cutest pet. Consider capitalizing on the cause of the week and holding this contest during Animal Welfare week.

Costume Contest This can be held at a specific date, time, and location or on social media. Around Halloween, invite co-workers to dress up in costumes and encourage employees to vote for the winning costume. If done via social media, employees can submit their own photos online.

Service Auction Get members of your campaign team, leadership, and others to pledge a service that will be rendered when employees win the bid and agree to make a CFC contribution in that amount. Services might include washing a car, giving a haircut, baking a dessert, or taking a pie in the face. The more creative the donated services are, the more interest you will draw to this event. The event could be a live auction or virtual silent auction.

Pie in Face Get members of the leadership and campaign team to volunteer to take a “pie” (paper plate with whipped cream) in the face the if agency reaches certain campaign milestones.

Charity Popcorn This is a fast paced event that works well as part of a CFC kickoff or charity fair. Rent or borrow a buzzer, bell, or gong and place it on stage or in the front of the room. Invite charities to give a 30-second “pitch” to the audience to explain who they are. Encourage charities to use props, dress in costumes, and otherwise make the speech memorable. Get someone to time each charity and sound the gong when their time is up. It goes fast, like popcorn! Have attendees vote on their favorite pitch by round of applause and award a “prize” to the winner.

Race or Golf Participants can be encouraged to pledge a certain dollar amount per kilometer or per hole. Place signs about a different charitable cause at each mile marker or hole. Participants could be encouraged to come dressed in a costume or carry a prop that represents their favorite charitable cause. Set up a photo area to encourage participants to post selfies on social media with a challenge to co-workers to “sponsor” them by completing their own online pledge.

Office Mini Golf Have each office in your agency set up a miniature golf hole. Each hole should represent a charitable cause with facts about the cause. Participants will learn about various causes as they play the course. Award a prize to the office with the best overall, most challenging, and/or most inspirational hole.

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Event Planning Guide

Event Planning Checklist

Use this checklist to help plan and implement a successful campaign event.

o Set a date/time. Avoid conflicts with other events or routine meetings. Check with your agency head or commander’s calendar.

o Obtain approval. Receive proper event approval from the legal department and/or leadership. Ensure you are aware of methods for coordinating and completing the approval process.

o Choose a location. Book the space to allow enough time for set up. Consider: sound systems, video equipment; restrooms; parking; handicap accessibility; directions; trash collection; additional cleanup.

o Publicize your event. Utilize announcements, flyers, emails, newsletters, splash screens, social media, website, intranet, bulletin boards and word of mouth. Provide the who, what, when, where, and how to get more information. Contact your local public affairs office and/or radio station for event coverage.

o Provide promotional items/incentives. When your budget doesn’t allow, find ways to offer incentives or raffle items. Prizes and awards can include crafts, baked items, donated items, premium parking spots, and other “perks” authorized by your leadership. These can sometimes be sponsored by vendor donations, local restaurants, or merchants.(Clear this with your agency’s ethics office, first. Some departments do not allow federal employees to solicit donations from businesses or individuals.) Allow time for solicitation and collection of items.

o Confirm. Confirm the location, guest speakers/charities, public affairs support,special equipment, etc.

o Recruit help. Ensure you have enough assistance on the day of the event.

o Don’t forget your camera! Pictures of CFC events are a great way to promote the creative ways your agency is implementing the campaign. Submit photos and an event recap to your local CFC office to be shared on their website and social media channels. They canalso be emailed to the CFCNCA Marketing team: marketing@cfcnca.org. Please follow youragency's photography policy on whether employee photos may be shared.

o Thank everyone involved. This is VERY important! Ensure you show appreciationby sharing notes, calls, emails, and photos with everyone who helped make theevent a success.

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