SEFA Campaign

State Employees Federated Appeal (SEFA)
P.O. Box 550, Binghamton NY 13905-0550
(607) 240-2012       fax: (607) 240-2002
e-mail: sefa@uwbroome.org

SEFA is an annual, unified fund-raising campaign directed and implemented by state employees to help raise money for human services in communities locally and abroad. Surprisingly, rather than consisting of a large bureaucracy, SEFA's structure is made up of state employees who make the decisions about the campaign and distribute the undesignated proceeds to those who need it most. The local SEFA campaign covers New York state employees in Broome, Chenango, and Tioga Counties.

SEFA is the only authorized fund-raising campaign among state employees. The Office of General Services (OGS) has the responsibility of overseeing the broad guidelines that regulate the campaign, but most of the decision-making power lies in the community-based SEFA committees, composed of representatives from state public employee unions and management and of human service agencies.

Since charitable giving is a personal decision, SEFA has been carefully structured to provide a system that encourages choice. State employees can choose precisely where their money goes by designating their contribution to any of an array of agencies which participate in SEFA; or, they may make an undesignated gift which the SEFA committee would distribute in its campaign area. The campaign also affords the convenience of payroll deduction, if desired, or the ability to make a one-time contribution. Contributors may direct their gift to an organization in the county where they work or send their contribution to an organization in any other county they desire by selecting the appropriate community code printed on the back of the pledge card.

In each community where a campaign is held, SEFA utilizes the services of the federation of not-for-profit charitable agencies which in state statute has been termed the "Federated Community Campaign" (FCC). Local United Ways have been approved by the Commissioner of the Office of General Services as the FCC for all SEFA communities and has served in this capacity for 20 years. The local SEFA committee utilizes the fund-raising services of the Federated Community Campaign on behalf of all the agencies which participate in SEFA.

For more information, , SEFA Staff Coordinator at United Way,

Updated March 19, 2009