CFC Cabinet Meeting
Minutes of June 18, 2008
Host: Steve Tanner & Dave Ragan
US Dept of Agriculture
6501 Beacon Dr., Kansas City, MO
Cabinet Members in attendance:
Gail Allen, GSA Jackie Beard, EPA
Victoria Davidson, NTEU #66 Velerie Eddleman, USDA
Larry Hisle, CFC Stan Mosier, USACE
Mark Nelson, USDA Don Sanders, USDA
Dave Ragan, NTEU Chapter 217 Debbie Schmidt, USDA
Harry Strader, CFC Steve Tanner, USDA
Quo Tyler, USPS Joan Wissbaum, GSA
Dorothy Witherspoon, DOL
Cabinet Members on the phone:
Dennis O’Connell, GSA Yvette Lewis, IRS
Alternates & Others:
Carolyn Kelley, SSA for Ethel Johnson
Cara Christenson-Riley, FEB for Cindy Hillman
Welcome & Introduction – Steve Tanner and Dave Ragan
The chairs thanked the cabinet members for being involved in the campaign this year. Each member in attendance introduced themselves.
Labor Cabinet Update – Dave Ragan:
· Reminded the group of the Union Partnership Meeting taking place on July 23rd at the Children’s Center for the Visually Impaired. .
· The purpose of the Union Partnership Council is to secure the support of representatives from more than 20 area federal employee unions.
· Up-dating of the Union Listing is an on-going process
· We are doing a much better job of obtaining Labor Co-Coordinators
· Labor Division Co-Chairs with make peer calls on the Bargaining Units in their area. Labor Co-Coordinators were to be encouraged in all Agency Head Calls
· Larry was to send a reminder of the meeting
Agency Head Calls & Division Goal Setting by Each Division Chair
Each Division Chair was asked to update the percent of agency heads calls completed and a proposed goal for the division
Division 0 – Mike Brincks, GSA and Yvette Lewis, IRS, are at 100% of calls that have been completed or scheduled. We will loss $70,000 in donations due to the closing of DFAS. Goal: $569,824 Down $30,535 from last year
Division 1 – John Askew (EPA) and Jackie Beard from EPA have completed 100% of calls for this division.
Goal: $462,727 Up $22,569 from last year
Division 2 – Ethel Johnson (SSA) and Team Leaders from Social Security & HHS have completed 100% of calls for this division. They saw retirements being a large problem
Goal: $442,956 Down $20,371 from last year
Division 3 – Dorothy Witherspoon (Dept of Labor) and Joan Wissbaum (GSA), have completed 100% of calls for this division
Goal: $286,000 Up $3,441 from last year
Division 4 – Don Sanders and Mark Nelson (USDA) are currently at 97% of calls completed & all have been scheduled. They found a lot of their accounts had lost employees Goal: $430,660 Down $22,058 from last year
Division 5 – Steve and Larry had a good meeting with the USPS District Manager – Mark Martinez on July 10th. There was not any representative from the postal service at the meeting to report on calls made or goals. This goal was a estimation.
Division 6 – Col. Roger Wilson (USACE), Lt. Col. Mike Fitzgerald, (USACE) and Stan Mosier (USACE) are currently at 74% of calls that are completed.
Goal: $236,675 Up $14,434 from last year
Topeka/NEKS – Richard James, (USPS) and Harry Strader (CFC) have currently completed the majority of calls
Goal: $261,000 Up $7,194 from last year
Fort Riley Area – Steve, Larry & Harry reported out on their visits. They felt there would be an increase in this area. This is a guess, without knowing troop size
Goal: $230,000 Up $1,589 from last year
Rural Kansas - Larry reported. Calls to these locations are on-going
Goal: $40,000 Up $11,185 from last year
TOTAL: $3,509,842 Last year’s goal: $3,400,000
There were several factors that suggested the goal should be set lower than what was raised in 2007- Economic Climate, War, BRAC, Downsizing and retirements. The cabinet discussed and voted to present a 2008 CFC goal of $3,500,000 to the Federal Executive Board at the next FEB meeting. Dorothy Witherspoon made the motion, seconded by Gail Allen. Unanimously voted for by the cabinet
Committee Reports:
Awards & Recognition – Debbie Schmidt
Orders have been placed and most have arrived. The cabinet was reminded of what has been approved:
· Flying Disc as the Rally Gift
· Coffee Mug and Magnets for all Coordinators and Canvasser
· Travel Tote Bag as a post gift to the Coordinators
· Medal Heart Key Tag for 1% or $390 Donors
· Business Card Case for 2% or $650 Donors
· Pewter descending eagle with gold tips for Eagle Donors.
· The Double Eagle “Soaring Eagle Club” for those people who donate at least $2,000. They will receive the eagle and a the prestige Travel Mug
· We have also placed orders for the Eaglet Club.
· We will continue on with the Caring for Community Awards and would like to show you the copy of ACE Award Certificate for this Year.
Bronze Level (50% Participation $80 per capita)
Silver Level (66% Participation $100 per capita)
Gold Level (80% Participation $120 per capita)
· Agencies achieving these levels would receive a certificate
Communications –Gail Allen
Reminded the cabinet that “Dare to Care-A Hero Lies Within You” is our theme for this year.
· CFC Film:
a. Showed a draft copy of the video for this year.
b. The film which is titled “The Great Debate” highlights the many ways that Federal employees can themselves be stars by contributing to this year’s campaign. In keeping with this year’s national election and the political debates they bring, the film focuses on a Federal worker who debates the need of the CFC in today’s world. One film has an endorsement and introduction from President Bush and the other Admiral Allen, the honorary Chair for this year’s campaign.
c. The cabinet preferred the video with Admiral Allen and did not see a need to create a local version. We will wait to see a final copy before making any further recommendations
· Graphic Design: Purpose to create graphics to brand and market the Heartland CFC Theme used in catalog, newsletters, posters and on the website.
The graphics for 2008 were shown
· Flat Stanley Project
Reminded Cabinet that we need people to be a Flat Stanley and provide testimonials.
· Federal Employee Appreciation Nights
Just had one at the Wizards Game on June 28th and the next event is August 8th at the Kansas City Royals. We are also working with Ticket Deals Networks on a ticket discount system which is currently on the website.
Next Steps
Web Design
Newsletter
Media
Flat Stanleys
Please contact Gail Allen with any comments or suggestions.
Eligibility Status – Larry for Dennis O’Connell
· We have completed our eligibility process. In total we will have 434 local agencies in the book, and are awaiting two appeals. (An email came on July 15th that these appeals were denied)
· We have received the information back on the OPM review through the IRS for current 501(c)3 Status. We needed additional information on about 20 non-profits which has been resubmitted.
· As mandated by the Office of CFC Operations, a compliance audit is completed on Heartland CFC. We are scheduling a time to complete that by the end of this month.
· All of the approved National/International Organizations codes have been assigned and we have received their information. In total, there are an additional 2,258 national/international agencies in the 2008 charity list, a 8% increase of prior years.
· In total there should be around 2,700 possible choices in this year’s Charity List.
Events – Larry Hisle:
· Kick-off
· The Kick-off is set for Wednesday, September 24th at the Ilus Davis Park. Invitations have been set to many special guests.
· We are holding on second meeting tomorrow on July 15th and have all the chairs of the committee assigned.
· Planning is coming along extremely well, and all paperwork that can be submitted had been submitted.
· Golf Tournament
· CFC Championship Golf Tournament has been scheduled for October 13th (Columbus Day).
· We plan to have this at the Blue Springs Country Club again this year.
· Save the date flyers will be sent to all campaign coordinators for both of these events.
Training Committee - Recruitment & Workshops – Velerie Eddleman
Invites to the workshops have been mailed out to campaign coordinators (CC’s)
· CC’s will be given a choice of either August 7th or August 13th in Kansas City and August 27th in Topeka to attend the CC Workshops. (They will only need to attend one workshop)
· Initial RSVP’s have been strong for all of these events
· August 7th training will be held at the Harvesters
· August 13th training will be held at Salvation Army Harbor Light Village
· August 27th training will be at “Topeka Rescue Mission”
· We are still working through the up-dating the training manual and powerpoint for that day.
LE Training
· CFC LE Training is scheduled for September 9th, 10th & 11th at various non-profit agencies each day, (Alphapointe, Children’s Mercy Hospital & Jewish Vocational Services)
· We are working on a Draft timeline of the LE Training
· The following Speakers are needed for the LE Training – Sales Training, Communication Skills, and Marketing Skills.
· Some former LE’s will be asked to be speakers.
· If you have a speaker in mind or if you would like to volunteer for this, please forward that information to Larry at Larry.Hisle@gsa.gov or call at 816-823-2010.
Speakers Training
· We will continue to offer a Speaker Workshop for the Local Independent Organizations to attend and learn more about CFC. This workshop will be held on August 21st at the Kansas City Plaza Library
· Larry will attend the other federation speaker’s trainings and present on CFC.
Other Discussion
Employee Express-Online pledging options
Larry continues to have conference calls on this, a test site will be up in August
Showed a listing of offices that may be involved in Employee Express
Offices that may be able to do so are: (new agencies are in red)
· Commodity Futures Trading Commission
· Consumer Product Safety Commission
· Department of Education
· Department of the Interior
· Department of Transportation
· Department of the Treasury
· Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
· Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
· General Services Administration
· International Trade Commission
· National Labor Relations Board
· Office of Personnel Management
· Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp
· Railroad Retirement Board
· Small Business Administration
Merger Requests & Opportunities
· Steve has sent an email reaching out to the Ozark Area CFC to propose a merger of our two CFC’s for the 2009 campaign, but has not heard back from anyone
2008 Website
§ The website is currently being reviewed by the Communications Committee. Once the campaign material is up-loaded we will need official LFCC approval in September.
Awards:
· The cabinet was given awards of appreciation for their service this year at this meeting, instead of waiting until the end of the year.
Next Cabinet Meeting
· Discussed the need for any additional meetings for this year (tabled)
Upcoming events
Agency Head Calls completed by June 30
July Cabinet Meeting July 14
Campaign Coordinator Workshop – (Harvesters) August 8
Campaign Coordinator Workshop – (Salvation Army) August 13
Campaign Coordinator Workshop – (Topeka Rescue Mission) August 27
CFC Citywide Kick-off September 24
CFC Golf Tournament October 13