Federated Health Charities is very grateful to our volunteers and donors across the OPS, OPP and provincial agencies that make each Federated Health Charities campaign a success.
Thanks to their hard work and generosity, the Federated Health Charities campaign is one of Canada’s largest and most successful workplace giving campaigns.
It sounds impressive (and it is) but if you’ve ever wondered “What is a workplace giving campaign?” you’re not alone. Simply put, a “workplace giving campaign” refers to any charitable fundraising that happens in the place where you work.
“Workplace giving” can include anything from informal fundraising like sponsoring a colleague running in the local 5km, up to major events like a posh evening event. But when people talk about “workplace giving campaigns”, they generally mean campaigns like ours – an annual campaign sponsored by the employer that allows employees to make charitable donations (and receive tax receipts) through their payroll.
The Federated Health Charities campaign works exactly like that: the employer – i.e. the Government of Ontario – supports our campaign by permitting us to reach out to provincial employees for donations and processing donations made via payroll pledges through the government’s payroll systems.
The government also provides support by allowing volunteer fundraising groups with ministries, agencies and the OPP to take time during the work day to plan, organize and execute fundraising events that are fun, provide bonding workplace experiences and allow groups to raise funds within their organizations.
Federated Health Charities also has a special relationship with the Government of Ontario, going back to our roots in fundraisers organized by provincial employees for the Canadian Cancer Society and Hearth & Stroke in the 1960s and 70s. At the government’s request, our member charities took over the administration of the organization in the 1990s but our annual campaign is still made up of employees in OPS ministries, agencies and OPP detachments across the province, just like it was back in 1983 when Federated Health Charities was founded.
There is no Federated Health Charities without the Ontario Public Service and the people in provincial workplaces across Ontario that give generously, not just financially, but with their time, their creativity and their enthusiasm each year to make our campaign a success.
To all the OPS, OPP, and agency workplaces hosting Federated Health Charities campaign this year, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all you do.
